The Deloitte Greenhouse™ Experience team announced today that new capabilities and features have been added to Business Chemistry®, a system designed to facilitate stronger relationships and better teamwork in the workplace.
Since its launch six years ago, more than 150,000 professionals have taken the survey to discover their working styles. The most recent evolution of Business Chemistry includes a shift in focus from one-on-one interactions to team dynamics; a deeper understanding of Business Chemistry types; the insights gained about four sub-types; new baselines which enable individuals to understand their Business Chemistry types relative to both a general business professional population and business leaders; and a new look and feel.
“Business Chemistry has evolved as we’ve compiled more data and generated new insights,” said Kim Christfort, managing director, Deloitte LLP, and national managing director of Deloitte’s Greenhouse Experience team. “When we began, the main focus was on one-to-one interactions — helping people enhance their relationships though improved understanding of one another. Now we’re applying Business Chemistry to teams, exploring how the composition of a team’s membership impacts their interactions, and ultimately, their outcomes. Six years ago, we started by asking ‘What if?’ Now we’re at an inflection point and we’ve graduated to asking ‘What’s next?'”
The empirical data collected over six years of Business Chemistry revealed additional aspects of Business Chemistry types and how they interact with each other. This allowed for research and perspectives around topics like:
How different Business Chemistry types experience and manage stress
How career aspirations differ by Business Chemistry type
Impact of demographic characteristics on Business Chemistry type
Recognition preferences by type
How individual experiences on teams are affected by teams’ Business Chemistry compositions
The original Business Chemistry framework was built around four primary Business Chemistry types which highlight both similarities and differences in working styles. Today, four sub-types, which may be new to many Business Chemistry users, complement two primary Business Chemistry working types, “Integrators” and “Drivers.” The sub-types incorporate a dimension of extroversion and introversion, providing additional depth of insight into the ways that sub-types can relate to each other and to other types. The subtypes are:
Integrator – Teamer: Traditional and relationship-oriented, Teamers are best defined by their relationships with others and prefer to work in teams. They go both deep and broad with relationships, prioritizing connections with co-workers as well as having large networks. When many of us think of an Integrator, we’re really thinking of a Teamer.
Integrator – Dreamer: The most empathic type, Dreamers often feel others’ emotions and communicate in ways that take those emotions into account. They’re intrinsically motivated, non-confrontational and reserved, especially around new people. They strive for consensus in decision-making, don’t thrive on competing, aren’t likely to be the one in charge of the group, and often see things in shades of gray rather than in black and white. Dreamers are quiet and sometimes hard to spot.
Driver – Commander: Quantitative and logical, Commanders are outgoing, competitive and don’t shrink from confrontation. They’re goal-oriented, focused in thinking, and disciplined in their pursuit of those goals. They make decisions quickly and stick to them. If there’s a Commander around, you’ll probably know it.
Driver – Scientist: Experimental and deeply curious, Scientists tend to be quantitatively- and technically-oriented. They seek answers by experimenting and looking for patterns. They’re not tied to tradition, don’t prioritize networking with others, and aren’t usually very expressive, emotionally-speaking. Like Dreamers, Scientists’ more quiet nature means they tend to be less obvious in a group.
New baselines have also been added to the Business Chemistry system, providing an enhancement that enables professionals to understand their Business Chemistry types relative to both a general business professional population and business leaders. Additional insights include that an individual is not just defined by his or her primary type; instead, individuals are a combination of all four types, and work styles are influenced not only by a person’s strongest type but by their other three patterns as well. It’s the unique blend of these primary types and sub-types which potentially makes an individual different from another team member of the same type.
“We designed Business Chemistry with a goal to be easy to remember and easy to apply in real world situations. That’s one of the reasons we previously focused on individuals, grouped everyone into four primary types, and used just one common baseline,” said Suzanne Vickberg, Ph.D., senior manager, Deloitte LLP and applied insights lead, Deloitte’s Greenhouse Experience team. “As we’ve gathered more data and used Business Chemistry with more of our clients, we’ve found that a bit more nuance — in the form of an expanded focus on teams, additional subtypes and new baselines — can enhance the system and lead to richer, more robust insights for both individuals and teams.”
