Insights Discovery practitioners
Know what to work on. Show what changed.
Tensense asks the whole team, then shows what needs attention. Insights Discovery gives people a shared language to understand each other, and your work turns that into change. Use them together, before and after your workshops.
From a practitioner
“The collaboration between these two tools creates an outcome that is exponentially more impactful than the sum of its parts.”
Lindi SmitFounder, Performance Catalyst
Insights Discovery practitioner
The starting point
Most workshops start from one leader’s view.
You usually prepare by interviewing the team leader to agree outcomes. That’s valuable, but the team’s own experience may look quite different.
Tensense invites the whole team to respond, anonymously. You start from what people are experiencing now, including the issues simmering beneath the surface.
| Aspect | Briefed by the leader | With Tensense |
|---|---|---|
| Whose view | The leader’s | The leader’s and the team’s |
| Workshop design | Shaped by the leader’s priorities | Also shaped by what the team’s responses reveal |
| Afterwards | Impact is hard to demonstrate | Further cycles show whether things are shifting |
| The next conversation | Often once a problem is obvious | Prompted early, as and when new issues emerge |
Before, during, after
Two tools, one loop.
Tensense frames the work before and after the workshop, so it keeps delivering long after the session.
- Before · Tensense what to work on
- During · Insights Discovery a shared language for change
- After · Tensense what changed
- 01
Tensense
First pulse
Everyone in the team takes part, so you plan the work around their responses.
- 02
Tensense
Debrief
We walk you through the results: which issues to start with, and which conversations to have.
- 03
Your practice
Insights Discovery work
Workshops and coaching focused on the team’s most pressing issues, and shaped around the people in the room.
- 04
Tensense
Follow-up cycles
See what has shifted and what to focus on next, with results that make the case for your work across the organisation.
For example, if Clarity is a leadership priority, your workshop can explore how each person prefers to communicate, and how colleagues can adapt to communicate effectively with one another.
First principles
Why we’re stronger together.
Change is most likely to last when you understand the team’s dynamics, as its members experience them, and people learn to work with each other’s preferences.
People know what isn’t working.
Not all of it reaches the leaders above them. Tensense hears from everyone, and pinpoints where people need support, and with what.
One fix doesn’t fit everyone.
Your work helps each person see how they and their colleagues prefer to work, so the team can adapt its approach to the people involved.
If it isn’t measured, you can’t see whether it’s working.
The same 16 prompts, run as often as you need, show what’s changing locally, and what to work on next.
What each brings
Every voice heard. Every style accommodated.
Tensense captures what the whole team is experiencing. Insights Discovery helps people adapt to each other’s styles. You bring the two together, so the team knows what needs to change, and the right approach for this team.
| Tensense | Insights Discovery |
|---|---|
| Lets people say what they really see, anonymously | Creates a safe space to talk about it openly |
| Surfaces the issues most keenly felt right now | Helps people understand themselves and each other |
| Shows which teams and topics are affected | Gives people a shared way to work through them |
| Tracks whether change is holding over time | Helps the team adapt how it works together |
In practice
Two ways to combine them.
Your role is the same in both: bringing the two together, so what the team experiences turns into action.
The whole team
Everyone in the team has an Insights Discovery profile, and Tensense runs across the same team. You play the two back together, so the team sees where to focus, and how its mix of styles shapes the way it tackles it.
Leaders and their areas
A group of leaders have profiles, and Tensense runs across everyone reporting into them. You play each leader’s results back alongside their profile, so they see what to tackle in their area, and how their own style shapes the way they approach it, and each other. It works well when profiling everyone isn’t practical.
From a client · Verisk
Used together, from the executive team down.
Verisk used the second model, with Tensense across the whole organisation beneath its executive team.
“Insights helps the individual to understand themselves and it helps teammates to understand each other, and that’s a key aspect of team building and having an optimal organisation.”
Questions
What practitioners ask us.
Does Tensense replace my workshops or coaching?
No, it strengthens them. Tensense identifies the priority issues, so your workshops and coaching can focus on them, using Insights Discovery to find an approach that respects the mix of preferences in the team.
How does the relationship with my client work?
Flexibly, around what works best for you. Tensense contracts with your client, which gives us a legitimate basis to process personal data, and we send the invitations and reminders. Progress updates can go to you, your client or both. We typically run the debriefs, and you decide who receives them: we can be in the room for all or part of your work, or simply in the background. We can co-brand if you’d like. Afterwards, you can stay involved in each cycle, so the three of us build a lasting relationship with the organisation, or refer your client to us.
Will it work with a small team?
Yes. What counts is the number of responses, not the size of the team. A team needs a minimum number of responses before it gets a report of its own. You, your client and Tensense agree that minimum together, to protect anonymity; most organisations choose three. Tensense sends reminders during each cycle to help the team reach it. Because it captures sentiment in the moment, results from very small teams need interpreting with care: one person’s bad day can move a team from the top of its peers to the bottom, and back again. In slightly larger teams, a single difficult moment tends to be balanced out by the other responses.
Are Insights Discovery profiles matched to Tensense responses?
No. A profile describes one person, and so do their Tensense responses before they’re aggregated, but the two are never paired. Neither you nor your client ever sees an individual’s responses, only those combined with other people’s. How anonymity works
Is Tensense connected with The Insights Group?
No. Tensense is independent of, and not endorsed by, The Insights Group.
Do I need to be a data specialist?
No. We support you, and the teams you work with if you choose, with virtual debriefs that double as training, as standard and at no extra cost. After a few sessions, most practitioners can run with it themselves, and we’re always on hand to explain anything that isn’t clear.
How much time does it take, and how often can it run?
About 90 seconds per person each cycle, and your clients can run cycles as often as they need: some every month, others less often, or when a change calls for it.
How quickly are results available?
Rapid reporting at the end of each cycle, so you can plan your work around the results, with a virtual debrief to walk you through them. While a cycle runs, we can send you regular progress updates, if you’d like them.
What are the commercial terms?
We agree terms directly with each partner. Get in touch