Do Well, and Do Good: Charity Team Building & DiSC®

No one wants to attend the stereotypical charity team building workshop. No matter how many times the old ‘trust fall’ is trotted out, or how often folks are asked to re-hash the same ice-breaker games from last year, employees generally resist because there’s no usefulness in it for them.

They feel like they’ve seen it all before, and there’s no new information that could possibly change their daily work lives for the better.

However, when team building is comprised of DiSC® personality assessments and training in conjunction with a charity or volunteer project, something special can happen. Employees learn something new and valuable about themselves.

They get hands-on opportunities to implement what they’ve learned; and working for the benefit of others generates goodwill in multiple ways, both internal and external.

Why DiSC®?

Through DiSC® personality assessments and accompanying team building activities, employees learn something that’s genuinely new, practical and actionable. People generally enjoy finding out more about themselves.

DiSC® profiles can improve folks’ communication skills and collaborative skills, whether they’re working with colleagues or with clients out in the field, such as in a sales role.

DiSC® assessments measure soft skills. Participants are evaluated and scored in four categories: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. No one category is better or worse than another – each brings strengths and a particular working style to the table.

Charity Team Building: Making a Difference

The beauty of a charity- or volunteer project-based team building activities using the DiSC® personality profiles is that it’s an innovative way to educate, empower, and motivate staff.

Let’s say a 1-day team building program is planned:

A professional, certified DiSC® trainer is engaged for the day. Folks from across the organization come together and take a DiSC® personality profile test. The facilitator aids in helping folks learn the results of their assessment, and share the results as a whole and then in smaller groups of like-assessed coworkers.

In the afternoon, participants tackle a charity or volunteer project with tasks led and executed by participants whose personality traits best fit those roles. Employees can “see” their new-found awareness in action, and take this self-knowledge back to work, home, etc.

What’s the Benefit?

A project like this provides same-day validation and practice for new skills, ideas, and attitudes. Management also gains the ability to see these same skills in practice; they can identify and really nurture and/or challenge staff in the way that best aligns with employee’s own strengths, motivations, and goals.

The added bonus is that the organization generates goodwill from the folks benefiting from the charity team building project. Employees can also generate goodwill amongst each other, which will hopefully last longer than the leftover sandwiches filling the staff lounge refrigerator…