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Corporate Training Turned Solid Gold

As a wholesale exterior sign manufacturer we build things, we manage complex schedules, and we hit deadlines. Spending a half-day talking about feelings and colors? Let's just say Dave Watts wasn't exactly thrilled.

Dave and Nick Were Skeptical About This Corporate Training

We get it. Corporate training. Few phrases fill people with more dread.

As a whole­sale exte­ri­or sign man­u­fac­tur­er, we build things, we man­age com­plex sched­ules, and we hit dead­lines. Spend­ing a half-day talk­ing about feel­ings and col­ors? Let’s just say one of our lead­ers, Dave Watts, was­n’t exact­ly thrilled.

Dave is a doer. He likes his sched­ule, he respects an agen­da, and he val­ues a clear, reli­able out­come. So when Tara Soes­be came in to do a half-day of lead­er­ship devel­op­ment cen­tered on the ​“Real Col­ors Per­son­al­i­ty Type Test.” 

Dave had his reser­va­tions. You could prac­ti­cal­ly hear him think­ing, Is this the best use of our time? Where’s the list of action­able takeaways?

“In Real Col­ors lead­er­ship work­shop, we dis­cov­ered that while we each have a dom­i­nant col­or and a nat­ur­al opti­mal zone, the most effec­tive lead­ers learn to access and appre­ci­ate all four colors. 

When we under­stand our pri­ma­ry col­or, we gain self-aware­ness; when we stretch into the oth­er col­ors, we gain influ­ence. This incred­i­ble team leaned into this work with ener­gy, pos­i­tiv­i­ty, and the mind­set of improv­ing ALL interactions. 

Work­ing with our Gold lead­ers is espe­cial­ly valu­able — their orga­ni­za­tion, reli­a­bil­i­ty, and com­mit­ment to fol­low-through help trans­form vision into results. Great teams thrive when every col­or is respect­ed, and every strength has a place at the table.”

Tara Soesbe, Workplace Consultant

The Big Discovery is Solid Gold!

The assess­ment was designed to help our lead­er­ship team under­stand their core tem­pera­ments and use that under­stand­ing to com­mu­ni­cate more effec­tive­ly with our cus­tomers and team.

There are four col­ors: Orange, Blue, Green, and Gold.

First, we chose based on pic­tures which we felt fit us best, then chose based on words, then we took a question/​answer quiz. The cul­mi­na­tion of the answers reveals your col­ors —Orange (fun/​action), Blue (relationships/​connection), Green (logic/​knowledge), and Gold (duty/​structure). When the final scores came in, the mys­tery was solved. 

🌟Both Dave Watts and Nick Nel­son are sol­id Golds. It all clicked.

Why Would You Want to Work With A "Gold?"

The Gold personality is defined by structure, duty, and precision. They are the backbone of any organization, and their core traits perfectly align with the success of a wholesale manufacturing business:

Loy­al and Depend­able: Golds believe in fol­low­ing through. This trait ensures we view your sign project as a seri­ous com­mit­ment. You can count on us to exe­cute what we promised.Organized and Structured: 

Golds thrive on clear process­es. This means our pro­duc­tion floor, from engi­neer­ing to fin­ish­ing, runs on a sys­tem­at­ic, orga­nized approach that min­i­mizes errors and max­i­mizes efficiency.

Punc­tu­al and Respon­si­ble: Golds val­ue time and dead­lines. Dave and Nick­’s lead­er­ship ensures your project is tracked with pre­ci­sion, help­ing us pro­vide reli­able, on-time deliv­ery so you can meet your instal­la­tion schedules.

Detail-Ori­ent­ed: Golds notice every item on the list. In a busi­ness where mil­lime­ters mat­ter, this focus on pre­ci­sion ensures the final prod­uct match­es the approved draw­ings per­fect­ly — no cost­ly surprises.

In The End...

The tan­gi­ble, prac­ti­cal con­nec­tion between per­son­al­i­ty and busi­ness suc­cess was made clear. 

Dave was asked for his hon­est feed­back. He paused, prob­a­bly look­ing at his watch, and then deliv­ered the ulti­mate Gold compliment:

“I will have to say that it was bet­ter than I antic­i­pat­ed.” -Dave

For a Gold, that is prac­ti­cal­ly a stand­ing ova­tion. It proves that even when faced with some­thing spon­ta­neous and ​“touchy-feely,” the log­ic and the util­i­ty of under­stand­ing struc­ture always wins.

Have ques­tions, need hon­est feed­back? We’ve got a ​‘Gold’ for that! Con­nect with us today.

Inter­est­ed in your own Real Col­ors Assess­ments? Find Tara Soes­be here!

Meet the Experts Behind Your Signs

At ImageFirst™, great signage is a team effort—powered by experience, craftsmanship, and a deep bench of talent. With 62 years of combined experience, Dave Watts, Ryan Hudnut, and Nick Nelson lead from the front, bringing a rare blend of hands-on knowledge and versatile expertise to every project.

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