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Lisa Dunbar, CEO

How Self-Led Personality Insights Boost Engagement and Retention at Scale—Without Adding to HR’s Workload

How Self-Led Personality Insights Boost Engagement and Retention at Scale—Without Adding to HR’s Workload

Employee engagement is one of today’s biggest business challenges. Turnover is costly. Burnout is widespread. And people are craving more meaningful work. Managers and HR leaders want to support employees better, but launching yet another program is an unlikely solution. What often gets overlooked is that disengagement doesn’t start with workload or lack of recognition. More often, it begins when employees don’t understand how they naturally work best, or how to apply that knowledge in their roles. Engagement Starts with Employees Knowing Themselves When personality differences go unrecognized, friction builds. People get placed in roles that do battle with their… Read More »How Self-Led Personality Insights Boost Engagement and Retention at Scale—Without Adding to HR’s Workload

Why Aligning Employee Strengths to Roles Unlocks More Than Training Alone

Why Aligning Employee Strengths to Roles Unlocks More Than Training Alone

Every year, organizations spend billions on training and development programs hoping to fix “people problems.” But if someone’s role works against their natural strengths, all the workshops and coaching in the world won’t change the outcome. Instead of unlocking engagement, you get: Short-lived performance spikes that fade within weeks. Frustrated employees who feel like they’re swimming against the current. Burned-out managers still searching for solutions. It’s not that your training isn’t working, it’s that you may be missing the piece that makes it truly transformative: starting with people’s natural strengths. Let me give you a common example. The Story You… Read More »Why Aligning Employee Strengths to Roles Unlocks More Than Training Alone

Why Managers Struggle to Coach—and How Personality Insights Help Fix That

Why Managers Struggle to Coach—and How Personality Insights Help Fix That

Managers hear it all the time: You need to coach more. You need to coach better. But while many try, their efforts often fall flat. They either default to advice-giving, get stuck in surface-level conversations, or avoid it altogether, saying they don’t have the time, the skill, or the confidence to do it right. The problem isn’t that managers don’t care. It’s that most were never set up to succeed. They were promoted for being strong individual contributors and given tools for performance tracking. But tools for people development? Nothing. And they’re navigating all of this in environments that demand… Read More »Why Managers Struggle to Coach—and How Personality Insights Help Fix That

Why Self-Directed Development Works at Every Level, Not Just for Executives

In many organizations, development is still treated as a privilege for the few. Executives get leadership coaching, personality assessments, and bespoke training. Meanwhile, the rest of the workforce, the 80% who actually power your culture and customer experience, are left to figure it out on their own. That’s where disengagement, turnover, and stalled performance take root. Consider this: research from Gallup shows that 70% of team engagement is influenced by the manager. Yet today, managers are among the most disengaged employees in the workforce. When development stops at the leadership tier, you create a vacuum—managers without tools to lead effectively, employees… Read More »Why Self-Directed Development Works at Every Level, Not Just for Executives

The WorkPlace Big Five Profile®: What It Is and Why It Works

man and a woman working together at a laptop. What Is the WorkPlace Big Five Profile

HR leaders are under growing pressure to reduce turnover, support managers at every level, and drive business impact through people, often with limited headcount or bandwidth. Traditional personality assessments don’t scale, and they rarely deliver actionable insight across the organization. The WorkPlace Big Five Profile® is different. It’s a science-backed, enterprise-ready personality assessment that helps teams hire smarter, onboard faster, and develop more effectively without overloading HR. Let’s dive into what it is and why it works. What Is the WorkPlace Big Five Profile®? WorkPlace Big Five Profile® is a 15-minute personality assessment built around the Five-Factor Model, widely recognized… Read More »The WorkPlace Big Five Profile®: What It Is and Why It Works

How to Strengthen Your Team through Personality Insights: Lessons from the Five Dysfunctions & the WorkPlace Big Five Profile®

This was the team that was supposed to turn things around.  The struggling business had restructured the organization to unite several talented individuals to lead the transformation as a team. Each member brought an impressive résumé and a wealth of experience. They also had a history of working well cross-functionally.  Objectives of their new project were clearly stated, and everyone seemed to be on board with the same vision. But as their work began, something wasn’t working.  Meetings ran long. Progress was slow. People hesitated to speak up or to speak directly. Difficult topics were punted to the next week… Read More »How to Strengthen Your Team through Personality Insights: Lessons from the Five Dysfunctions & the WorkPlace Big Five Profile®

Escaping The Bear Mentality: How Self-Directed Learning Boosts Career Growth & Helps to Prevent Burnout

woman studying with Self-Directed Learning

Like so many people over the last few years, I recently enjoyed binge-watching the television series The Bear, a fictional dramedy that follows Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (played brilliantly by Jeremy Allen White), a fine-dining chef who returns home to Chicago to run his family’s Italian beef sandwich shop after a personal tragedy. It has all the ingredients (pun intended) you would expect from a series that explores the artistry, pressure, culture, and personal entanglements of those building a life—and a business—inside the kitchen. Watching The Bear, I was both entertained—and a bit rattled. The heat, the chaos, the nonstop demands—those… Read More »Escaping The Bear Mentality: How Self-Directed Learning Boosts Career Growth & Helps to Prevent Burnout

Self-monitoring Psychology 101: Finding a Balance Between Adaptability and Authenticity

self monitoring psychology

Imagine yourself at a job interview, and the interviewer asks you this question: “At our organization, we rely on daily, in-person meetings to check in on tasks and progress. How does that align with your style?”  The truth? You prefer asynchronous, email check-ins to daily, in-person meetings.  So, how do you respond?  Do you say that style works for you because you need the job and you are willing to adapt to the new situation? Or do you answer honestly and say that is the opposite of what you prefer?  Your response in this situation speaks to a subtle yet… Read More »Self-monitoring Psychology 101: Finding a Balance Between Adaptability and Authenticity

Is Personality Nature or Nurture: Understanding the Layers of Personality

image of coworkers collaborating, representing the concept of whether personality is shaped by nature or nurture

“Does nature or nurture determine your personality?” This is one of the most commonly asked questions in the personality assessment industry.  To answer that question, let’s talk about cake. If we whisked only eggs and flour together, can we call it cake? No, because there’s still a lot missing—butter, spices, milk, and flavors. These ingredients are mixed together to give us a full representation of the cake, and many of them add to the full cake experience.  It’s the same with your personality.  Based on experience and research, we believe it’s incredibly helpful, yet incomplete to define personality based on a… Read More »Is Personality Nature or Nurture: Understanding the Layers of Personality

Are Big Five Tests Worth It? Honest Review of Cost and ROI

A group of co workers

One major consideration before investing in a new tool for your business is the return on investment (ROI). It can be easier to determine the ROI on tangible assets like upgrading equipment or a new automated marketing system.  But what about personality assessments?  When used correctly, personality assessments can help you improve workplace culture, leading to lower turnover rates and higher retention. It can also be instrumental in the hiring process and pairing the right person in the right position.   One option to consider is the WorkPlace Big Five Profile. The Big Five (also known as the Five-Factor Model of personality)… Read More »Are Big Five Tests Worth It? Honest Review of Cost and ROI