Congratulations iMA High Blue

A warm welcome from your iMA Practitioner, Donnie MacNicol, contact details below. This

short guide provides you with an insight into your own communication style and how you can use this to engage effectively with others. We then include guidance on its application in improving the performance of teams and delivery of change. We hope you find it of value and look forward to hearing from you if you have any questions or would like support.

iMA High Blues at a Glance Identifying yourself as iMA High Blue is an important step towards your future success and happiness. This is a basic building block for you to learn the things you need to know about how you can relate to and communicate better with the majority of people who are on a different wavelength than High Blues. You and all other iMA High Blues are non- assertive, right brain thinking and tend to measure your personal worth based on compatibility and depth of your relationships.

o You are a pleasant, co-operative, warm and supportive team player o You need reassurance that you are liked and personal assurances that you are doing a good job help

you to feel comfortable within your job. o You are skilled at co-operating with others within the team and you are seen as a calming influence

within a group. You prefer first names and informality within the office and are patient and considerate when dealing with others.

o When stressed you may become indecisive and hesitant to act. Those speaking the other 3 dialects can learn to use iMA and modify the way they communicate with you by speaking in a way that you find it easiest to listen to. When this happens communication, trust and co-operation will go up and stress and tension will go down. To find and meet other High Blues that: think, use time, make decisions, handle their emotions, manage stress, communicate and look at and filter the world through your eyes and ears click on the iMAges below. Communication from people we are connected to gets far better reception than from those we are not.

Change and projects When dealing with people there are no certainties, but there are probabilities that most of the time, in most situations, people will behave in a patterned, programmed and predictable way.

Working with iMA High Blues individually and in teams in a change context we have found that typically they:

• Readily adopt and apply the agreed way of working e.g. following a prescribed process

• Have a desire to involve and support others in the process

• May not readily make decisions without consideration and discussion with others

• Are good planners, committing the time and energy necessary for the good of the team.

The figure below provides details of all four colour styles together with tips on how to communicate and engage with them more effectively.

Congratulations iMA High Blue

Effective collaboration and teamworking are key to success in today’s challenging business environment. Having awareness of personal and team styles provides insights to improve connectivity and performance. As a first step why not get your colleagues to complete the diagnostic by asking them to visit www.ima-pm.co.uk. Questions you can then ask of yourself and the team:

• How can we adapt the way we communicate to give each person what they need to be effective?

• How could we work effectively as a team, making use of the strengths and resources each person brings?

• How do we minimize conflict by distinguishing between what we aim to achieve and how we each work?

• How do we improve the performance of our projects by taking into account the different ways in which we perceive, design, adopt, practice, involve others and share knowledge differently?

The highest value is gained in a team workshop where members begin to learn and practice new ways of working. The workshops we facilitate answer these questions and create teams who are “more than the sum of their parts”. We also work with individuals (through coaching, mentoring and training to develop project leadership capability) and organisations (creating communities of practice, developing effective project cultures, developing and implementing project management codes of practice and associated career frameworks).

If you would like to know more about iMA and how it can help improve:

• Communication and engagement - read our article on Slideshare on the application of iMA in teams and project delivery here. Also available are a range of other similar published articles and presentations.

• Project performance – Read about groundbreaking iMAPraxis Initiative by reading out LinkedIn post here. If you have any questions or are looking for support please contact me. Alternatively you can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter (@donniemacnicol) or Facebook.

Team Animation work with leaders, teams and organisations in a range of contexts, primarily when undergoing change and delivering projects. We have

found iMA to be a fantastic tool in helping to improve communication and engagement, build leadership capability and teams, resolve conflict and improve the adoption of new ways of working such as project and programme management. Donnie Mac Nicol, Director donnie@teamanimation.co.uk or 07799 766238.

January 2017