Finding harmony in diversity: how C-me enhances teamwork

Kids Matter is a remote-first organisation, with most collaborations and decisions taking place over a screen. Whilst remote working has allowed us flexibility in hiring and operations, it does come with its challenges and C-me Colour Profiling is one of the tools we use to help us work more efficiently and empathetically with one another. 

What is C-me?

C-me is a behaviour profiling tool that focuses on behaviours. C-me uses the language of colour and recognises that everyone is a blend of all four colours (Red, Blue, Green, Yellow) but you do have a preference into which ones you lead with. The assessment looks at multiple areas, communication preferences being one of them. It aims to enhance self-awareness and improve interpersonal relationships by helping individuals understand their own and others’ preferences and styles.

Using C-me at Kids Matter

Working with other people, with different personalities, preferences, passions, experiences and preferred ways of doing things is not always easy – there can be misunderstandings and frustrations when things aren’t done the way we may have expected or preferred. Working well with others requires communication and compromise, and although we might share a common goal (to see every child in need raised in a strong family, for example – our Kids Matter vision) there are different ways of going about this. C-me has helped us as individuals and teams within Kids Matter pivot and adapt in order to work more effectively with one another and with other departments in our organisation. 

Every member of the Kids Matter team completes a C-me Colour Profile as part of the onboarding process, and in turn is given access to everyone’s profiles in order to gain an understanding of communication preferences and others’ strengths. C-me gives us a shared language and understanding, enabling us to adapt and develop our working relationships. And, at Kids Matter, we have seen an improvement in how we work across teams as there is more respect and appreciation for people’s different approaches, which, in turn, has made the work being produced more impactful.

C-me in context

An example of how we would try to meet all the different communication preferences when running a meeting (note: this is a very simplistic breakdown of the different preferences):

• Blue preferences – would like an agenda before the meeting and to be made aware of any pre-reading required.
• Red preferences – need to know what the purpose of the meeting is and leave the meeting with clear actions.  
• Yellow preferences – want space to think creatively and wander off-piste in the discussions.
• Green preferences – will want some time to check in with each other about how the day is going (a little non-work chat before the meeting).

As you can see there is a wide range of preferences so it is important to plan inclusively, adapting and flexing, to accommodate the needs of all team members.

Personal impact 

Have you ever read something and thought, ‘Hold on a second! Has someone read my mind?’ When I first read my C-me Colour Profile, I felt like I was reading a guide to the inner workings of my brain, which was totally unexpected but also very exciting and I was keen to share with everyone I knew. 

It’s quite amazing that by just answering a series of questions, a report is produced that so clearly communicates my unique strengths as well as areas that I can find harder to stretch into. I have learnt to love the unique nature of my brain and have grown so much as a person in understanding where I can flex to work more collaboratively with others. 

From day one at Kids Matter it has been clear that the only way we will see our vision of every child in need raised in a strong family is if we are willing to pivot to adapt to work collaboratively with others. Something that I have learnt over the last years is that if you can get to a place where you acknowledge there isn’t a ‘right way’ of doing things then things are more fun, more interesting and more impactful – and this is a lesson that not only applies at work, but in my personal life, too.

Read more about the impact C-me Colour Profile has had for us at Kids Matter here: https://resources.colour-profiling.com/success-story-kids-matter