This article is part of our Team Communication Insights Centre. 
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There is a valid question about what happens after a profile workshop?  Whether you attend an Insights Discovery workshop, a Lumina Spark workshop, a Disc workshop or any other personality type workshop.

People understand themselves better.  They understand their colleagues better.

There are usually plenty of insights, lots of discussion and often a few surprising discoveries.

For a while, communication improves.  Then something interesting happens.

A few weeks later, most people return to their normal habits.

• The profile report gets filed away.
• The workshop becomes a memory.
• And the communication challenges that existed before the workshop slowly begin to reappear.

The question is:

What happens after a profile workshop?

Whether your team uses Insights Discovery, C-me, Lumina Spark, DISC, MBTI or another behavioural framework, the profile itself is not the outcome.

The profile is simply a tool for increasing awareness. Awareness matters.

But awareness alone rarely changes behaviour.

Knowing that somebody prefers detail does not automatically make communication easier.

Knowing that somebody likes to move quickly does not automatically reduce conflict.

Awareness creates understanding.

Communication creates change.

Most communication problems are not caused by a lack of knowledge.

They are caused by habits.

• People interrupt.
• People avoid difficult conversations.
• People make assumptions.
• People become defensive.
• People stop giving feedback.

A profile can help explain these behaviours.

But explanation and change are not the same thing.  Behavioural awareness does not equal behavioural change.

Unless teams continue to engage in team development activities and continue having conversations about how they work together, old patterns usually return.

The most successful teams use profile workshops as a starting point rather than a finish line.

Instead of asking:

“What colour am I?”

They start asking:

• “How does my behaviour affect other people?”
• “What helps me communicate more effectively?”
• “What conversations are we avoiding?”
• “What would improve collaboration?”

These are the conversations that create lasting change.

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There is an alternative way to change what happens after a profile workshop.  Organisations, large and small across the world are already reaping the savings and the improvements.  Find out more by clicking the button below.

This is where practical activities become valuable.

Not because people need another profile. But because they need opportunities to talk.

When teams discuss communication regularly:

• Awareness becomes understanding.
• Understanding becomes feedback.
• Feedback becomes action.
• Action becomes improvement.

That is where meaningful change begins.

The most successful team development activities are rarely those that provide the most information.

They are the activities that generate the most meaningful discussion.

• When people exchange observations.
• Share perspectives.
• Challenge assumptions.
• Recognise strengths.
• Acknowledge blind spots.

The conversation becomes more valuable than the model.

The framework simply provides a structure. The workshop facilitator provides the space.

Take a look at our free guide: 7 Questions That Improve Team Communication and learn how to improve team communication without another profile.

If your team has recently completed a profile workshop, the next step is not another profile.

The next step is conversation.

Because communication does not improve when people complete a profile.

Communication improves when people start talking differently to one another.