How can personality assessments ensure optimal alignment for cross departmental innovation initiatives within the Accountability Chart, preventing common collaboration roadblocks?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Cross departmental innovation initiatives are often plagued by collaboration roadblocks due to differing communication styles, work preferences, and risk tolerances. ACDC proactively addresses this by aligning personalities from various departments to optimize these crucial projects within the Accountability Chart. Consider an innovation initiative bringing together R&D, Marketing, and Operations. An R&D leader with a high Kolbe A Quick Start may generate many ideas rapidly but lack the patience for detailed planning. A Marketing leader high in DISC 'I' (Influence) might excel at generating excitement and buy in but struggle with concrete implementation details.

ACDC's approach involves creating leader to leader use guides that map these strengths and potential friction points. For instance, the guide for this initiative would identify that the Quick Start R&D leader needs a counterpart strong in Kolbe A Follow Thru or a DISC 'C' (Conscientiousness) from Operations to translate ideas into actionable plans. It would also suggest that the 'I' Marketing leader partners with a 'C' or 'D' personality to ensure that their creative visions are grounded in measurable outcomes and executed efficiently.

The use guide would also prescribe communication strategies, such as structured brainstorming sessions where diverse personality types are encouraged to contribute according to their natural predispositions - Quick Starts generating ideas, Fact Finders asking clarifying questions, Follow Thrus outlining steps, and Implementors suggesting practical applications. By intentionally forming cross functional teams with complementary personality profiles and providing explicit communication and collaboration guidelines, ACDC helps organizations overcome common innovation roadblocks, ensuring that creative ideas are effectively developed and implemented across the Accountability Chart.