Guy Davidson is the Managing Director of Cobalt Recruitment, whose goal it is to provide the best in class recruitment solutions for their clients in Property and Construction, Engineering and Architecture and Professional Services. Guy manages a team of recruitment professionals in Auckland and Christchurch. 

 

Guy wanted his team to develop an understanding of their strengths and blind spots and for them to develop more effective communication skills to better manage their key stakeholders. He engaged us early in 2016 to run a workshop for Cobalt's senior team members. The first workshop focused on using the Myers Briggs Type Indicator to understand each team member's preferences for taking in information and making decisions and thus their preferred communication style. The workshop gave the participants a new depth of understanding about themselves, their way of communicating and their management style.

 

"...the skill with which I am able to effectively manage my team has significantly increased. The biggest learning for me was gaining a better understanding of the way that I receive and process information, communicate and as a result lead my team. When combined with gaining a clearer understanding of each of my team members personality types, this new found knowledge has contributed to a higher performing team within which all the members are engaged and enjoying themselves. I would thoroughly recommend the course, as I believe that it has been a very powerful concept to add to my management toolbox..."

James Stephenson, Manager, Auckland

 

In early 2017 we ran a second workshop for a number of the sales managers at Cobalt. This time the focus was more around influencing skills with their key stakeholders: clients and candidates. The participants received their MBTI Profiles and a copy each of the Pocket Personality Communication Cards and did a number of experiential exercises, including several case studies. A month after the workshop we also did a one-on-one insights interview with each participant to see how their learning had progressed and if they had implemented the skills learned on the workshop.

 

"Before going into the workshop, there were certain types of personalities who were quite frustrating to communicate with. What happened during the workshop was enlightening; learning more about how and why everyone communicates differently. It has made me more comfortable with my own tendencies."

Chandler Morehardt, Manager, Christchurch

 

In September 2017 we ran a third workshop with a group of sales managers and this workshop. In addition to the experiential exercises and case studies, we also gave each participant a real life task to carry out to embed the learning from the workshop, to be discussed at the Insights Coaching Interview a month later.

 

"The workshop taught me to really listen to what people are saying. I've been thinking more about what and how I say things. I've also been thinking more about the bigger picture. The day also gave me a much better understanding of my colleagues."

Kat Evans, Sales Manager, Auckland

 

Listen to Guy Davidson as he talks about the challenges that they have faced in stakeholder engagement and the solutions that Brian and Life Trails employed to address these challenges here: