We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Paul Clayton Gibbs. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Paul below.

Hi Paul, thanks for joining us today. Can you share a customer success story with us?

Moroch is a prominent marketing agency in Dallas, Texas. They have over 40 years in the market, and work with brands such as McDonald’s, Planet Fitness, and Six Flags. Through a series of Shapes Masterclasses, we provided their staff with innovative and practical tools for collaboration in the workplace. Our personality profiling training sessions gave them a better understanding of themselves and of their coworkers.

Matt Powell, Moroch’s CEO, shared how the Masterclass benefitted their employees:

“We had 200 people attending the Masterclass. Our people didn’t realize how much they were learning during the course of the session because they were enjoying the event’s atmosphere. And through all the fun and humor, it was still very practical in terms of what they learned. After the Masterclasses, our staff is now thinking more multi-dimensionally. When it comes to problem-solving, they are considering thought-processes from different personality types. We have seen a direct application as they now approach problems from a more rounded perspective.”

Take the free personality test at theshapestest.com to discover your Shape!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

In 1992, I founded a non-profit organization in England to help build bridges between various community groups. While creating collaboration around common values, that organization has since become a global movement and continues to empower schools, neighborhoods, government agencies and religious centers. Today I lead this organization from Texas together with my wife, Lynn.

Back when I first started leading a group of community workers, I got a call from the police. A member of my organization, Joanne, had tipped the police response center claiming that one of our volunteers, Gary, perfectly fit the description of a serial killer they were tracking down.

Gary had a fun-loving personality and used to tease Joanne in a particularly Northern English way where you mess with someone out of care rather than dislike. Both Joanne and Gary had excellent character. However, Joanne struggled not only to understand why her colleague did the things he did, but also how she could effectively communicate to him that she did not like his actions. Gary, on the other hand, was completely oblivious to the fact there was even a problem!

Through the years of leadership, I have noticed how relational intelligence has been on the decline. The ability to converse, collaborate, and cope with the inevitable stresses and conflicts in everyday relationships appears to be disintegrating.

For that purpose, I developed The Shapes Test® method. The method unpacks a personality inventory, plus tried-and-tested ideas. Through a simple personality test, someone can discover their Shape. Once each other’s Shapes are known, individuals are able to understand themselves better, and be better understood by others.

The Shapes Test® is the result of rethinking and improving upon what I previously found helpful. During the last number of years, I have used the material not just within our own organization, but throughout the communities we reach. On six continents, this more holistic approach has allowed us to move much closer to our goal of building global friendships, teams, and partnerships.

Today, we offer a variety of tools for individuals who want to build something great together. We have the free personality test, and I have launched a book and workbook journal to help people understand themselves and others. I also provide consultancy and organizational training through Masterclasses, which are fun and interactive presentations. I have trained and spoken at several businesses, helping staff come together for effective collaboration and relationship development.

You can take the personality test at theshapestest.com to understand yourself, understand others, and make yourself understood! Leaders from varied industries such as Kirsty Coomber, Senior Vice-Principal of a Secondary Academy in the Northwest of England, are incorporating the method and noticing the benefits: “This is very powerful, it is more than a diagnostic test. It has helped me grasp why some staff run with an idea, whilst others question or retaliate”

Any advice for managing a team?

It’s been said that business is a game of numbers. But while it’s certainly important to watch the bottom line, if organizations aren’t careful their employees can easily become just another number. People say that money makes the world go around, but I disagree. I believe relationships make the world go around. So, to effectively manage a team and improve morale we must improve our Relational Quotient, or “RQ.”

The Shapes Test® helps to improve RQ by revealing differences in personality types, which can help us avoid mistaking a personality trait for a character trait. Understanding this can defuse the tendency to think that someone is against us or dislikes us when actually they just have a different way of expressing themselves. At Pais we know each other’s Shapes, and that knowledge gives us a great advantage when it comes to harnessing each other’s gifts and abilities. This advantage has led us to move from a one-to-many strategy to a many-to-many strategy, where a cycle of mentorship is generated and where leaders can develop leaders.

Our team spends time exploring three questions:

– What are my Shape’s strengths, weaknesses, and potential?

– How can I collaborate with other Shapes and resolve conflict?

– How can I express myself better and influence my world?

Each connection (or relationship) is a potential catalyst for something great. Imagine the benefit of activating the positive influence of relationships. As relationships build something magical happens, and the possibilities grow exponentially.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

When I first decided to fully launch myself into my non-profit years ago, I handed in my resignation and completely gave myself to community work, taking in no salary. While I was thinking through a funding plan, I traveled to Colorado Springs for a speaking engagement. I had hoped for a large attendance, believing that higher attendance yielded better odds of obtaining financial support. In spite of my hope, a huge blizzard hit the area. As I looked around the room that morning I was greatly disheartened as only 60 or 70 people out of the expected 1,000 were in attendance.

To make matters worse, the people who were scheduled to take me to my next appointment in Steamboat Springs were unable to do so because of the extraordinarily bad blizzard. To my amazement, however, a couple who attended the conference that morning happened to live in Steamboat Springs, and offered to give me a ride on their way home.

During the 8 hour journey, these acquaintances became my friends. They explained that they had listened to some of my teachings, and inquired what it would take for me to devote myself full time to the non-profit. I replied that in order to operate independently, I would have to raise a salary equivalent to what I had been earning from my employer. Nothing more was said.

A couple of days later, my new friends asked if we could have dinner together. During that meal, the thing you only ever read about in books happened. They offered to fund my entire salary! For about ten minutes I was in a daze. I had sat down to an appetizer with not a single cent previously pledged towards going full-time for the non-profit, but I walked away from dessert with the entire amount.

This experience taught me that simply sharing a vision was not enough to raise funds. People around me had to actually experience the benefits of the vision. When it came to funding The Shapes Test®, I applied the same principle. Funding came as a result of individuals and organizations experiencing a direct impact from my method.

Contact Info:

• Website: theshapestest.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/theshapestest
• Facebook: facebook.com/theshapestest
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/company/the-shapes-test
• Youtube: youtube.com/channel/UCQlBEhKcrl_2MRHGlKijuNA
• Other: Personal LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/paulcgibbs

Image Credits
Image Credits: Ronaldo Junior Andrade