Associates: Maximize the Impact of Your Emergenetics Programs

Whether you’re a Learning & Development (L&D) professional, a leadership coach, an organizational development consultant or a Human Resources executive, you understand that changing behavior takes more than a single workshop. It requires time and energy.  

Our team recently hosted two events to discuss how Emergenetics practitioners can deliver long-term value to their clients, featuring six leading Emergenetics consultants: 

• Andy Pan, Principal Trainer & Consultant, Right Impact 
• Anne Yeo, Founder, OD Practitioner, MAD Learning Pte Ltd 
• Judy Goldberg, Founder, Wondershift LLC 
• Kelvin Redd, CEO & Leadership Coach, Kelvin Redd, LLC 
• Ronnie Slone, President, The Slone Group 
• Terence Tan, Director & Chief Catalyst, TROST Learning 

Their insights can support any Associate, whether in-house or external to the company, in making a lasting difference for stakeholders. Below are five essential takeaways from the sessions. 

#1 – Align with Business Goals 

Ronnie Slone commits to “being first-third versus third-third Expressive” when meeting with clients. He recommends to: 

“Talk to them about their real challenges. Show how Emergenetics aligns with their business goals and with their cultural shifts or leadership gaps. When you do that, you’re no longer just facilitating a session; you’re becoming a strategic partner. The challenge is becoming a true resource for the organization.” 

Judy Goldberg reiterated the importance of making connections to business needs by encouraging Associates to do their homework: 

“I research so much on the company. I’m looking at headlines. What’s the latest and greatest? Who has left? Who has joined? What’s hot on their topic list? You name it, I want to be informed about it, so that when I’m having a conversation with the CEO or anyone in the senior team, they know that I am their partner in helping them develop their company.” 

Anne Yeo reminds Associates that, as they are seeking to fill gaps, that they must also be mindful of what they can deliver: 

“Take a step back and ask yourself, “How do I play this game to win? What do I stand for?” Be very strategic about it. I’ve always said to people who are new coming up, be very clear what you want to stand for, what you want to do, what you don’t want to do and the client profile that you want to work with.” 

Associate takeaway: Make direct connections between your solutions and big picture business challenges while clearly defining your niche and areas of focus. Set up Google Alerts, social listening tools and, for those in-house, keep your ear to the ground to consistently align your programs with C-suite priorities. 

#2 – Reinforce Emergenetics’ Differences 

Sometimes, L&D initiatives stall because individuals have completed other personality assessments and may not see the value in another one. Anne encourages Associates to remember that, when using other tools, it’s not “either, or.” Many assessments can coexist: 

“I ask [clients], “Do you have a toolbox in your office or at home? What’s in the toolbox? A screwdriver? A hammer? A spanner? Why do you have all these different tools?” Different tools fix different things. From a leader’s toolbox, it might be useful for them to have different tools too.”   

Kelvin Redd positions Emergenetics by focusing on “the technical report,” our assessment’s “distinctive feature of demonstrating how a person prefers to think and behave” and its personal and collective impact: 

“Where else can you have a tool where we can talk about individual preferences, but also from a group standpoint?” 

Terence Tan echoes these sentiments as he highlights three clear winners of Emergenetics: 

“Number one is at the individual level and how we are able to break down both the thinking as well as the behaviors. Number two is the same thing but at a team level with insights from Group Profiles and Dot Graphs. The third one is using Emergenetics as a framework. There are many tools out there, but we have the WEapproach. That can be used as a model for effectiveness and facilitation.” 

Andy Pan points to the memorability of the tool and the applications of Emergenetics+: 

“I’ll do a demo of the Emergenetics+ app. I’ll share how I can search for people, add them as connections and use the compare Profiles feature, and they’re like “Woah!” It’s so practical. It’s so easy to administer post-program.” 

Judy agrees, as she often shows potential users the Emergenetics+ dashboard: 

“When you can show how people compare to each other, even if it’s showing [my Profile] and another person’s, it gives them a visual, and they [say], „Oh, I’ve never seen anything like this before!“  

Associate takeaway: Remember that many tools can work together effectively. Then, establish your proof points about Emergenetics before engaging in a conversation with clients or stakeholders. You can use the Associate Toolkit on Emergenetics+ for inspiration! 

#3 – Position for the Long-Term  

To avoid falling into the trap of one-and-done workshops, Ronnie recommends structuring engagements based on multiple touchpoints: 

“We might begin with a workshop and come back in 30 to 45 days with a follow-up session with a full group or with specific targeted departments. We apply Emergenetics to that team’s communication and cross-departmental collaboration based upon what they need at that time. 

I also give managers and directors tools that they can use for their regular meetings because they have to have [conversations] when I’m not in the room. If we’re not setting them up to do that, we’re not being as good of a partner as we could be.” 

Judy applies the mindset of starting small while working strategically:  

“I tend to structure all of my proposals as projects and not as hourly. Here’s phase one, phase two, phase three. I’m helping them see the big picture but breaking it down so that they can move at their own pace. Being a thought partner, not a vendor, [allows you to become] part of their ecosystem.” 

Terence uses a three-phase model to support long-term engagements: 

“The first one is awareness, the second one is engagement, and the third one is development. Awareness would be the Meeting of the Minds. Engagement would be team engagement or effectiveness facilitation. That’s where you deep dive into the team dynamics and use the whole Emergenetics approach for goal setting, strategic planning or other facilitation topics. Development is designing competency-based learning programs for our clients.” 

Anne reiterated the importance of integrating skill building to avoid becoming a one-and-done experience: 

“We’re able to give each person a customized skills-based action plan. When you talk about leadership, it’s not a one-size-fits-all. We look at the leadership behaviors of an organization and then we stack on the Emergenetics preferences. We can say [to leaders], this will likely be easier for you. This will probably stretch you a bit at first, but when you practice it more, [staff] will love it because you’ll say something in a way that makes sense to them.” 

Associate takeaway: Look beyond the initial workshop and identify a recommended pathway to support positive, long-term transformation. Provide this information up front so your stakeholders can picture how you will support skill building, team performance or culture change beyond a single event. 

#4 – Embrace Invention in Your Programs 

While the Meeting of the Minds offers a great variety of activities, experimentation will allow for extended applications of Emergenetics. Andy suggests introducing gamification: 

“We create simulations that involve people climbing a mountain, solving a problem together, solving a crime. This all revolves around the concept of harnessing cognitive diversity. Essentially, make [training] less about a presentation or a workshop but more about an experiential learning session.” 

Terence also encourages Associates to repurpose activities to support next-level learning: 

“You can run another [Most Preferred Attribute] exercise, just not where to go for a vacation. You can do something more complex because it’s the experience that you want to draw out from [the group]. You can get them to play [a board game] and put them into their four colors. We divide groups into behaviors and get very interesting outcomes. You want to pick on those experiences to share differences between each of the Attributes.”  

Associate takeaway: Expand Emergenetics usage by applying a new twist on an existing Emergenetics activity or integrating the Attributes into other training exercises. Be mindful to use debrief questions to reinforce connections between the Attributes and learning goals. 

#5 – Define Your Follow-up in Advance 

To continue providing value, identify opportunities for ongoing outreach even before your first session. Kelvin shares: 

“The most important resource I have is my database. Every Tuesday morning at 9:30, they get my blog.  

I’m constantly thinking about that blog every single day. It’s important that I listen to my clients, family members and friends and what they’re going through. That tells me what might be a topic for the blog next week. When you don’t see Kelvin Redd in person, you’re going to hear from me [digitally].” 

Kelvin also created a “private Facebook group” for people who have completed his sessions and commits to posting on a regular basis to engage participants. 

Ronnie echoed these sentiments, sharing that: 

“One of the things that I always do in the workshop is I tell them you’re going to hear from me the next morning. I send a thank you email, and I reiterate that [they] can follow me on the social media platform of [their] choice. Then, about two weeks later, I will resend the dot graph. And two weeks later, I’ll send out the combined chart just to try to keep it top of mind.” 

Andy reminds Associates to think beyond the workshop and use word-of-mouth to continue building excitement around Emergenetics: 

“When we do an MOTM, we do it well to the point where we get excellent reviews. Then we encourage the client to spread the word to the rest of the organization. That’s the point where you get not just one workshop. The first one is a door opener, and then subsequently you get the whole organization.”  

Associate takeaway: Proactively create a cadence of follow-up content so your clients or stakeholders have actionable ways to keep the learnings from your Emergenetics session top of mind. Also, be proactive in leveraging internal influencers to maximize your impact. 

By addressing business challenges and providing value beyond the initial workshop, Associates can transform their role as a facilitator into a true partnership. If you’re curious to get more insights into positioning yourself as a trusted advisor, be sure to view the resources in our Associate Toolkit on Emergenetics+ and explore our egElectives courses. 

Want to discuss how you can create long-term value using Emergenetics programming with your clients or organization? Fill out the form below to speak with our staff today! 

 

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