Carol Buckner & Amy ShepleyBirkman InternationalCarol mentioned at the beginning of this session that this will be a recap of everything mentioned during the General Session from yesterday. I’m not sure how many notes I’ll be taking since I took a lot of notes during the General Session yesterday.The Signature Report will replace the previous Preview Report. This was one of the things that I was confused about – there were several reports mentioned during yesterday’s General Session so I didn’t know which one this was replacing.Amy made some comments about the training that will be provided to new consultants and the fact that new consultants will default into the Signature package. One of the things that they made reference to, in passing, is the cost. I’m still curious as to what the price breakdown will be between the platforms and which reports are available in each package. I’m hoping they talk about this more at some point today or tomorrow.One of the questions was about the yellow looking more “orange.” Apparently this is by design and is now called “Birkman Yellow.” With yellow’s printing differently on every printer, this change should standardize the colors.An interesting thing is how the components are mapped. The color associated to each of the components is what is tied to the high usual for that component. So Physical Energy is red because of the high score – what this also means is that the low Physical Energy is blue (opposite of red). I don’t know if this was covered during my training, but it’s interesting to know.
Using “Needs” in Discussion
Rather then using “Needs,” considering explaining it as “I expect people to be…” This may help explain this to end users. When people meet your expectation, you respond with your usual behavior. When people do not meet your expectation, you respond with your stress behavior.
Use of “Motivation” in Discussion
One of the questions was dealing with how they sell the Birkman to clients – the fact that Birkman is one of 2 assessments that measures motivation. How does motivation change with the changes to Birkman?Their response was that Motivation does not change. What you need is what motivates you. The fact that there are gaps between usual/needs no longer needs to be threatening. You can explain it by saying “The way you see yourself vs. how you see the world is very different. Let’s talk about that.”
Reversals
Reversals are easier for the end user to identify on the component pages. With the 3 graphs on each component page, you can quickly/easily identify when the indicator on the bottom 2 graphs are not in the same place, that is the reversal. It makes it easier to explain the reversal (and explanation of what it means) to the end user.Note to self: Spend more time looking at the definition/use of reversals.
Overall
The session was alright. I think I got most of what I needed from the General Session, so I don’t think I got a lot out of this. But it’s better to have the same info explained a second time than not at all.
Matthew Evins 