Be Life Changing | Ferox Consulting

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In an interview with Steve Johnson, Chief Operating Officer of Ferox Consulting, a Grand Rapids based IT firm that’s part of the Huizenga Group, Steve shared the personal benefits of working with PSG. His Answer: It was Life-Changing.

Client: Ferox Consulting
PSG Core Value Addressed: Be Life-Changing

What is Life Changing? It can be an event, or an occurrence, which after it happens, a person’s life is never quite the same, and cannot go back to the way life was before the event. Life-changing is described as an epiphany, an eye-opener, a life altering experience, a revelation.

Steve Johnson

Steve began by sharing an experience he had a few years ago. “It is very difficult when you are used to being happy in your work setting all your life, and now you find that you are in a situation where you are in daily conflict and stress with a team member. This was me. I saw it as a personality conflict, and nothing was helping the relationship to improve. I distinctly remember my colleague as having twenty #1 priorities that we should be able to deliver. I am thinking ‘you are nuts, you can’t create twenty things and have them all work!’”

“That’s about the time you showed up at our office for a day of team building, and introduced me to a workplace language that literally changed my life. It was very simple, really. After receiving my Kolbe A™ Index results, I came to understand that I was an insistent Fact Finder and my best work environment is to delve into strategy, weigh the pros and cons, take time to think about my answer, and deliver highly probable accurate solutions. I came to understand that my peer was different. He was an insistent Quick Start. He thrived with many balls spinning, jumping into lots of open ended and ambiguous situations, and thought that an accurate, detailed result might take a couple of hours—not a couple of weeks!”

PSG Improved Communication & Understanding Amongst Steve’s Team

Healthy teams, thriving teams have a language all their own. These are teams that are tuned in to each other’s communication needs. We believe this is the life-altering gift that our work with the Kolbe System™ can bring to you, your teams and your organization. Steve and his team member now embraced that language. With a genuine smile on his face Steve said, “at that point, 90% of our conflict largely went away.”

“You have provided me a life-changing mantra to live by. This mantra is: “Even if I don’t know another’s MO or Kolbe results, I now acknowledge their approach will be different than mine.” These are Steve’s four rules to live by when dealing with others:

  1. Start with the attitude that we will be different
  2. Give people a lot more room as long as base expectations are being met
  3. Seek out people to work with whose approach is different than mine
  4. Look at myself differently

Steve closed our time together with a story that brought tears to my eyes. When I asked, what has been the biggest life-changer for you? Without missing a beat he said, “I can now plant a garden with my wife.”

PSG has helped the Ferox Consulting team with an operating language that minimizes workplace conflicts, recognizes how to bridge differing communication needs, and gives people a lot more room as long as base expectations are being met.


What are the needs your team has and how can we help you?

One of our Core Values is: Life-Changing Experience. We want you and your team to experience the same revelation and eye-opener as Steve has. Your life will never be quite the same.

The Kolbe A™ Index and Kolbe System™ are the trademarks of Kathy Kolbe and Kolbe Corp. All rights reserved.