Employees work and learn differently – but where do these differences lie and how can companies leverage them for sustainable success in training? “Insights Discovery” coach Michael Portz provides the answers in this interview – with exciting practical tips for all HR professionals!
About the speaker: As a coach, Michael Portz works with individuals and teams who want to achieve even more. INSIGHTS is a tool he likes to use to support teams in leveraging the differences and strengths of each individual for the benefit of their community.
An excursion to start with: What is Insights Discovery?
We all know that every person is unique! This is reflected in their entire behavior: in their communication style, their way of working, and also in how they collaborate with other people. Insights Discovery is a model used to analyze these behavioral preferences and make them visible using four basic color energies.
The special thing about Insights Discovery is not only that the color types are easy to understand and remember. The analysis also takes into account the individual mixtures of the different colors. This makes untapped potential visible, which can make teams and companies more efficient.
The 4 basic colors in Insights Discovery:
Cool Blue: The Analyst. Accurate, deliberate, and questioning
Earth Green: The Empath. Compassionate, mindful, and constant
Sunshine Yellow: The Entertainer. Sociable, dynamic, and entertaining
Fiery Red: The Doer. Decisive, purposeful, and demanding
You have been working as a coach with the Insights Discovery color system for many years. Why is it important for companies to know the different color types of their employees?
According to Peter Drucker, I can boil the function of management down to two points: retaining employees and achieving results. And Insights Discovery contributes heavily to both:
The more employees a company has, the more relationships develop among them. Consequently, there is also a high potential for conflict. Through personality analysis, employees get to know each other better. As a result, they can work together more efficiently and feel better in their interactions with one another – which ultimately yields better results for the companies. Through the analysis, employees also develop more understanding for each other, which leads to them staying longer with the company.
The four color types have different preferences in their way of working. What differences in learning behavior can be derived from this?
If we look at the archetypes of the four color energies, we already get clues as to what learning ideally looks like for each person:
Let's first consider the blue color energy, where everything is highly thought through and the result must be 100% perfect. The analyst is absolutely focused on the subject matter and less on social aspects. Learning for the analyst is very book-oriented and relies on many sources – in other words, comprehensive study. Everything must be logical; models and systems are important. Learning is heavily based on causality because it is always being proven that what I am currently observing is indeed true. Learning is highly fact-based.
For the blue color type, the focus is on synthesis: searching for many facts and information and synthesizing them into a learning outcome.
People with a lot of green color energy are what we call "the amiable ones." Green energy is values-oriented energy. Values and relationships are at the forefront. For this learning type, experiences with other people are the preferred learning method. Learning happens systematically and step-by-step through shared experiences. Green types need time to process things. The green learner reflects and thinks things through a lot and is generally highly reflective.
Reflecting is central to green energy: reflection requires time and peace, and also a lot of feeling.
In yellow energy, learning is very hands-on, interactive, and often highly collaborative. Shared learning is the focus. These are usually concrete experiments: practical trials where everyone is involved and new knowledge is generated from them. The experimentation can also simply be an enjoyable experience – whether the learned material can actually be put into practice is rather secondary. This is the crucial difference to red energy.
In yellow energy, experimentation is the preferred learning method: trying things out, hands-on, and learning from it together.
Red color energy goes straight to concrete action: "get practical" is the motto here. This means taking a topic, understanding it theoretically to a certain degree, and then immediately seeing how it can be implemented in reality. This is partly experimenting, but more to find the way that ideas and concepts can exist in the real world. In red energy, I want to see results in a real context.
Red color types learn pragmatically and goal-orientedly: the focus is on application and a concrete result in reality.
Even with these different learning preferences, it all depends on the mix! For employees, this means that these different approaches are individually mixed depending on the situation.
Own illustration: The four color preferences in the Insights Discovery model and their respective preferred learning method.
What conditions do companies need to create so that they can cater to these four different learning types in training courses?
There are two possible ways to do this:
The first way is a mixed group in a seminar room or in a virtual room. In a mixed group, it is the trainer's task to ensure that all color energies and preferences are addressed equally. This means scheduling time for reflection for employees with a green color preference, even if other participants need more patience for this. It is just as important to go into details and synthesis, which is important for the blue color energy in the room. In between, there should be room for open-ended experiments, simple trial and error – this then appeals to the yellow energy. Finally, the red energy must also be supported in learning through pragmatic, realistic application.
This sequence - from blue to green to yellow and red - has proven successful. This is difficult for employees with a lot of red energy, as they have the least patience, but it allows the green and blue types the necessary time in the learning process.
The second way is to offer different learning models for different learning types. This is of course very time-consuming. For example, with a science lab for blue energy, featuring lots of facts and data for synthesis. We can form another group that does a lot of reflection exercises. Another group does open-ended experiments. And one group can pragmatically apply a concept.
With the second path, there is always the risk of a monoculture because it suggests to employees that they can only learn using one method. Based on years of experience, I always recommend the integrative method!
Thank you very much for the exciting insights, Mr. Portz!
Conclusion
Different learning types show that successful further education cannot work on the "one-size-fits-all" principle.
People learn in different ways: analytically via facts, reflectively via exchange, experimentally through collaborative trial, or pragmatically through direct application. Training and courses are therefore particularly effective when they combine different forms of learning with one another.
For trainers and HR developers, this means one thing above all: learning offers should be designed to be as diverse as possible. Through different methods, exercises, and learning formats, various preferences can be addressed without excluding individual learning types.
This is how further education is created that not only transfers knowledge but also accommodates the different learning habits of the participants and thus has a more sustainable impact.
Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
What is Insights Discovery?
Insights Discovery is a personality model that describes behavioral preferences based on four color energies. It supports companies in better aligning cooperation, communication, and learning with different people.
Why should companies consider different learning types?
Employees learn in different ways. Combining different learning methods increases the likelihood that content will be understood, applied, and retained in the long term.
How does digital learning support different learning types?
Digital learning platforms allow for the combination of different formats such as videos, exercises, reflection tasks, or discussions. This allows multiple learning preferences to be accommodated within a single training course.
Should companies develop separate training sessions for each learning type?
Not necessarily. The article recommends an integrative approach in which different learning methods are combined within one training course, rather than offering separate training for each learning type.
Which learning methods are suitable for different learning types?
Depending on preference, analytical content, reflection phases, practical experiments, or application-oriented exercises can be useful. A varied combination often achieves the best results.
