In her work as a facilitator and coach, Nichola McCaig uses Insights Discovery to help individuals and teams navigate the interpersonal dynamics that often sit beneath performance challenges.

In this Q&A, she uses her knowledge of supporting leaders, strengthening stakeholder relationships and helping teams collaborate more effectively, to answer how she sees Insights Discovery as a practical tool for turning self-awareness into action.

What organisational challenge have you seen Insights Discovery help address most effectively?

Stakeholder Management – The one I keep coming back to is when someone is stuck in a difficult working relationship and they think it is all driven from themselves. They think the other person doesn’t rate them, or doesn’t listen, or is deliberately shutting them out. And they’re carrying that around and it starts to impact their performance.

The Insights language gives the person a completely different way of expressing what is going on. There’s a moment where they stop and think: ” So, it’s not that they don’t value what I’m saying. It’s that I’m leading with concept and feelings and they respond better to outcome and evidence.” That’s the light bulb. It shifts the whole thing from personal to practical. And once someone sees the change in response, it validates the effort.

In teams it’s a similar thing. People arrive to an introduction session, thinking they already know each other. By the end of the session, they’re having conversations they probably should have had years ago.

How does Insights help unlock progress?

Communication – It gives people a language. That sounds like a small thing, but it isn’t. When a team can say “that’s your blue energy wanting all the detail before we move on” instead of “you’re being difficult” – it changes the conversation from personal to purposeful.

In coaching, I use the profile alongside everything else I’m picking up. Sometimes it confirms what I’m already hearing and sometimes it explains the surface behaviour, then the coaching conversation takes us to what’s underneath. Insights opens the door and supports the application journey.

What impact have you seen it have on individuals, teams or organisations?

Leadership – At an individual level, I’ve seen it give leaders the confidence to show up differently in situations they’d been dreading – by first understanding what the other person actually needs from them. I’ve had coaching clients completely change how they prepare for crucial conversations because they understood the energy of the person sitting across the table and something clicked. They walked out with clarity they’d been chasing for months.

In teams, the biggest impact is in what people stop assuming about each other. The thing that sticks isn’t the colour wheel or the chart, it’s the way they show up in meetings, in how they give feedback, in how they handle disagreements. It becomes part of how the team operates.

Why do you believe Insights remains such a powerful tool?

Insights has credibility and you don’t need a psychology degree to ‘get it.’ – People understand the colour energies and remember them. The personal profiles are accurate, to the point where some people suspect we ask their colleagues for feedback. When someone reads their profile for the first time and says “how does it know that about me?” you’ve got their attention. They’re curious and that’s the starting point for real development, whether you’re in a one-to-one coaching conversation or a room full of people who’ve never talked about this stuff before.

I think the reason it endures is that it doesn’t overwhelm. It doesn’t judge. It just holds up a mirror and says, here’s how you show up, and here’s what that means for the people around you. And for most people, that’s the conversation they’ve been struggling with.”

For Nichola, the enduring power of Insights Discovery lies in its ability to make complex human dynamics easier to understand and navigate. By giving people a shared language to explore how they communicate, build relationships and respond to challenges, it helps shift conversations from assumption to understanding, unlocking lasting change for individuals, teams and organisations alike.

Nichola McCaig – HPC

Nichola is an Accredited Executive Coach and Learning Professional with over 20 years of commercial experience. Her focus on positive behavioural change is central to her work as an HPC leadership and management development facilitator and Executive Coach.

Nichola’s career spans operational and HR positions in a number of sectors including finance, hospitality and retail, as well as working at a Senior Level in Management Consultancy within PwC.

nichola.mccaig@wearehpc.com

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As one of Insights’ lead partners, we’d be happy to discuss how we can support your organisation with Insights Discovery.

Contact David Storrs / david.storrs@wearehpc.com