In case you haven’t noticed August is quickly approaching and for me that means fall semester hell week move-in week.  There’s nothing like having to hire 20 new student employees and have them trained and ready to face the masses in less than 72 hours.  It truly doesn’t help that the university here is booming like never before, and they’ll be over 600 more freshman living on campus than last.  Three weeks from today my student workers move back into their dorm rooms and will (hopefully) arrive at my desk with eager minds and smiles on their faces.

More than just teaching technology, much of my job is working with personalities, preaching about customer service, and team building.  When I was in Canada last month one of the sessions I attended introduced an enviroment-based personality profiling system (DiSC) that specializes in building teamwork..  Much like other personality profiles, DISC focuses on a four quadrant (dominance, influence, steadiness, and conscientiousness) behavioral model used to examine the behavior of individuals in their environment or within a specific situation. It’s composed of 28 questions that unlike many exams are hard to skew or choose your own personality because it asks you to rank your most and least personal characteristic out of four seemingly similar choices.

Growing up as a gifted kid with parents who were educators, I’m no stranger to evaluative tests and profiles.  I know what True Color (green-orange), Winnie The Pooh character (owl), and Myers-Briggs Type (entj) that I am and have even taken the time to observe those around me and categorize them into profiles from these exams.  Not because I need them to be a Tigger or a Blue personality, but because 9 times out of 10, having a clue how people naturally react builds teamwork, reduces tension, and helps me get the most out of my team.  So this fall, I’ll be asking each of my coworkers and student workers to not only take the exam but take a deeper look into how they can use the strengths of their personality to help the team and identify their needs and weaknesses and work on them.  Heck, I even asked my parents, brother, and people not in my department to take it so that I could determine if it was as accurate for others as it was for.  Surprisingly enough, everyone but my dad was spot on, but I blame the ADD.

Just for fun, I figured I’d share my results with you.  Scarily enough, the results are pretty spot on, but for any of you who know me or work with me, you didn’t need me to tell you that.

My brother and parents are up in Flagstaff visiting me this weekend, even though they have all been more than a bit under the weather. This afternoon Zac stayed home to sleep while Mom and I allowed Dad to be our shopping chauffeur. Most of the time, my Dad looks completely pissed at the world, but for those of who truly know him… we know that’s just how his face always looks. (Love ya, Dad!) Despite this simple fact, he can spice up any family outing. For example, we had this conversation while he was trying on leprechaun hats at at JoAnn’s Fabrics.

Laurel: You are so ADD.
Dad: Yeah and I use it as an excuse to walk away from people who are annoying me. (I think he meant me.)
L: Way to exploit your ‘disease’, big guy.
D: Hey, if I could I’d get a parking pass for it, I would.
No, wonder I love the guy so much.

In an effort to build team relations and get to know all of our 30 student workers on a more personal, laid-back level, we asked each of them to send us a picture and three fun, random facts about themselves to be hung on one of the walls in the office. After spending most of the week pondering what my three facts would be, I gave up and called my brother for some help and a different perspective. This was both a bad and brilliant idea. While I didn’t receive a single good suggestion from him, the ideas I got had all of us in the office waiting for his next text message. I swear this boy’s brain is just too smart and clever.

Facts About Laurel (by Zac):

* You introduced Aunt Jemima to Uncle Ben.

* The Patriots taped you.

* You inspired the Mona Lisa.

* You ate your twin.

* Flavor of Love 2 reject.

* You shot JR.

* Chuck Norris originally endorsed you.

* 1980 Swim Champion.

* Favorite electronica cd is “While My Keytar Gently Weeps.”

* You were Tom’s first friend.

* You were the original voice for Chewbacca.

* You broke up the Monkees.

* You created the recipe for dog food.

* You helped bring down the Berlin Wall.

(Guess I’m gonna have to come up with these on my own.)