Insights Discovery

The Insights Discovery Team Wheel.

Insights Discovery creates a powerful learning experience for every individual who receives a personal profile and attends a subsequent workshop, but the learning doesn't just stop there!

Through the Insights Discovery system teams can receive an insightful overview of their collective dynamic. In this article, we will bring to life the various parts of the Discovery Team Wheel.

Four Colours, to Eight Types.

The four colour energies of Insights Discovery (Cool Blue, Earth Green, Sunshine Yellow, Fiery Red) blend into eight secondary types (Observer, Coordinator, Supporter, Helper, Inspirer, Motivator, Director, Reformer). These further sub-divide into sixteen types, for example, the Coordinator splits into two segments – Observing Coordinator and Supporting Coordinator. The name of the adjacent type (Observer or Supporter), added as an adjective, describes its influence on the central type (Coordinator). 

Overall there are seventy-two wheel positions all of which have a unique nuance of behaviour. Everyone who completes a Discovery profile will experience a certain amount of type mobility, but at the time of completion the individual's team wheel position is represented by a coloured pie chart and is a result of their conscious and less conscious graph (the brightly coloured pie chart represents the conscious (how their behaviour might be seen at work), and the more transparent pie chart represents the less conscious graph (the more instinctive version).

Sixteen, to forty-eight types.

On the team wheel we see the sixteen types further divided into forty-eight where, for example, the Observing Coordinator splits into three segments or rings – Observing Coordinator (Focussed), Observing Coordinator (Classic), and Observing Coordinator (Accommodating). 

A further twenty-four types flank the forty-eight already mentioned. These are shown in the shaded sections and represent a group known as ‘Creative Types’.

The 72-Type Wheel.

All these types add up to create the full team wheel, with each of the seventy-two types representing a different colour combination. Jung (1921) suggested that additional subgroups or subtypes would be empirically possible: “Similar subgroups could be made of other functions, as in the case of intuition, which has an intellectual as well as an emotional and sensory aspect. In this way a large number of types could be established, each new division becoming increasingly subtle… One could increase this number at will if each of the functions were split into three subgroups, which would not be impossible empirically” (Jung, 1921, p. 523). 

Types 1-16 on the Discovery Wheel illustrate the conscious dominant Jungian preferences and their attitudes. The other preferences remain in the unconscious. Types 1-16 may be referred to as Focussed types since just one colour (or function) plays a dominant role. Focussed types make up about 3% of the population that are of definable type. If the conscious persona is Focussed, then the less conscious persona is Accommodating. 

Types 21-36 may be referred to as Classic types since they represent two colours (dominant and auxiliary functions) playing an important role in type performance. For example, type 33 represents a strong preference for Blue, with Green slightly weaker, while type 32 has a strong preference for Green, with Blue slightly weaker. The former is designated as an Observing Coordinator and the latter is designated a Supporting Coordinator. These types have two strong colours above the midline. Classic types make up about 54% of the population of definable type. If the conscious persona is Classic, so is the less conscious persona. 

By proceeding one step further into the centre of the Discovery Wheel we reach a level that represents three consciously preferred energies, with dominant, auxiliary and tertiary functions in consciousness. (The dominant and auxiliary functions extend from the previous Classic level). These types, 41-56, are referred to as Accommodating types. Accommodating types have three colours or energies in consciousness and make up about 43% of the population that are of a definable type. If the conscious persona is Accommodating, then the less conscious persona is Focussed. For example, types 53 and 52 represent an Accommodating Coordinator, the former having strong ordered preferences for Blue, Green and Yellow colour energies and the latter having strong ordered preferences for Green, Blue and Red colour energies. 

Jung was fascinated by the significance of unconscious elements. He concluded that within the group of people who are not a clear type, there exist a number of people for whom type stability is represented by conscious use of a normally unconscious inferior function. This combination is a normal expression of their personality. Jung referred to this ninth type as the Creative type which is readily identifiable in Discovery as the opposing rational colour combinations of Fiery Red/Earth Green, and Sunshine Yellow/Cool Blue coming together as the first and second colour energies (dominant and auxiliary).

The Insights Creative types are found in the shaded segments of the Insights 72-Type Wheel. Creative types are also Focussed, Classic, or Accommodating types depending on the number of strong colours or energies above the midline. some examples are Creative Supporting Coordinator (Focussed), Creative Observing Reformer (Classic), and Creative Inspiring Motivator (Accommodating).

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James Hampton (He/Him)

James Hampton (He/Him)

Director

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