Introduction to Dan Dalton

Storie 0:17

Welcome back to Market it with Atma , where we share the tips , tools and strategies to help your business be successful . Today , we have a very special guest on the show , mr Dan Dalton . And strategies to help your business be successful . Today we have a very special guest on the show , mr Dan Dalton , who comes to us with over 30 years of experience in leadership , hr and professional development , and he is now the proud owner and founder of P314 Consulting . Welcome , dan , how are you ?

Dan 0:41

I'm doing fine . Thanks for having me Story .

Storie 0:43

I'm so glad you reached out , because this is something that I've never heard of before . So can you tell us a little bit about what your business is , that you've created and your vision ?

Dan 0:53

Exactly Well , basically , I wanted to continue the consulting type work that I did as a professional human resources , getting myself in front of people who just need to know a little bit more about themselves . The basis of what P314 Consulting does is centered around self-awareness and personality profiling to improve communication , to improve just the understanding of where one is in their life , how they think , how they develop . And self-awareness is the starting point of personal development , either professionally or personal absolutely , and I know that .

Storie 1:30

Um , recently I did a lot of different assessments to see who I was , and sometimes , based on the day , it was a little bit different when I did them , but it was very eye-opening . So can you tell me a little bit more about why this vision came to you and what need you're trying to help people with ? Well , let me tell me a little bit more about why this vision came to you and what need you're trying to help people with well , let me tell you a little story about myself that kind of really brought it all home .

Dan 1:52

When I was in high school and in college I was . I was pretty popular , I was involved , I was on the baseball team , was in the choir , but I wasn't necessarily a starter or didn't really do the solos . I was even in drama and didn't have the lead roles , but my best friends did . And I was halfway through my career and learning about personality profiles and it struck me all of a sudden I was in number two .

Dan 2:20

I was the best friend of the leaders and I wasn't actually stepping out and taking advantage of those leadership opportunities myself . Okay . And once I began to understand just sort of how I think , how I process information , how I make decisions , I began to start looking into how can I help people come to this realization a little bit earlier in life than I did . Yeah .

Dan 2:47

I happen to have a lot of friends that have kids who are in high school and early stages of college . And so I started just asking questions and , lo and behold , there was a lot of them who felt you know , I went to school because this is where my parents wanted me to go , or this is where my family goes , or I'm going to be an accountant because that's what dad wants , or mom wants me to be this . Yeah .

Dan 3:12

And there was a lot of them that were changing majors , a lot of them that were repeating school , a lot of them that got comfortable being at school because they weren't really sure how to make those adult decisions .

Storie 3:22

Do you feel like that's because they had to follow that lead from their parents . They weren't really looking for what was really making them happy .

Dan 3:30

Exactly , and it's not anything that was , you know , a negative of their upbringing or anything . It's just that you know we have a lot of kids right now that were never allowed to fail , so they didn't . They were missing out on some learning opportunities early in life . I learned a long time ago that you can have a loss , but you only dwell on a loss long enough to learn from it . I love that when you move forward .

Dan 3:56

The name of my company is P314 . It stands for Philippians 314 . And the Dan Dalton paraphrase of it is that I forget what has gone behind . I strive forward to that to which I've been called . I love it . That's the goal of my company . I want to be able to help individuals , either in business or youth , to really kind of understand you know , am I an extrovert or an introvert ? Am I detail-oriented or do I make decisions based on more what feels right , right and the idea of the personality profile ? From . There .

Dan 4:44

A lot of times , the early profiles that were being used did not seem to have a lot of flexibility or make people think that they could be more than one personality type .

Storie 4:56

Okay , okay , pigeonhole them , right , okay .

Dan 5:00

But more understanding is that there's usually like four personality profiles or personality types .

Storie 5:06

Typically there's those ranges of four .

Dan 5:09

Everybody has one dominant trait .

Storie 5:13

Okay .

Dan 5:14

Some even have two or three that are dominant , but nobody has all four .

Storie 5:20

Oh my goodness , that seems stressful to have all four . Yeah , so tell me about that .

Dan 5:25

Well , for instance , one of the tools that I use is John Maxwell's DISC . Okay , disc is four different personality styles D , I , s and C .

Storie 5:38

Okay , d is the dominant .

Dan 5:40

They're the ones that just go , go , go . They're what some people refer to as that type A personality .

Storie 5:46

I got you .

Dan 5:48

They want people to get to the point and move on . Yeah . The next one over is the I , and they're the includers . They're the ones that like to be included . Their catchphrase might be put me in , coach , I'm ready to play . What sport are we playing ? They're trying though , right and and they want to be involved . Their kryptonite is feeling like they've been left out okay the s is the ones .

Dan 6:16

These are the social justice kind of people . These are the ones that want everybody to be okay . They want to the decision to benefit as many people as possible , and their kryptonite is when somebody is not being treated fair , and the C is the detail for you people . These are the ones that like to have information . They like to have data . Life has meaning when it fits in an Excel spreadsheet .

Storie 6:48

Very analytical , exactly , okay , okay .

Dan 6:51

And there's an interplay between all four of them . You could have somebody that's very driven but also wants to be included , but the opposites , like the I and the C , the one that likes to be included , with the ones that like detail . I am a really strong I . I lead with my I .

Storie 7:14

Okay .

Dan 7:15

When I was in human resources , one of my jobs was an employee relations investigator .

Storie 7:20

Oh , wow so .

Dan 7:21

I had to go in and look into the the nasty , gnarly things that happen in businesses sometimes . I love the chase to find out what happened . I love the hunt for the truth almost like an investigator exactly .

Storie 7:34

Yeah , well , it very much really was but I hated writing the report .

Dan 7:40

you know , I for me to be tied to that computer and banging away on that , on the details that I had found out and that I was very joyfully finding out , but then to sit there for two hours and write that report , that was the toughest part for me .

Storie 7:54

You're like I already know . Let's move on . The excitement's over .

Dan 7:58

Exactly , exactly . So how did you ?

Storie 8:00

translate that ? How do you translate ? Once you figure out someone's personality , how does it translate into what kind of leadership or position they should walk into ?

Dan 8:10

Well , that's the beautiful thing is that you doesn't necessarily have to have a particular personality type to be a leader . Right , you can lead in almost anything that you do , as long as you know how you make decisions and how you recharge your batteries .

Storie 8:26

That's a great point actually . I mean because earlier in life ,

The Vision Behind P314 Consulting

Storie 8:32

had I known like , okay , this is my personality and this is who I mesh with or don't mesh with , it would have made my life a little bit easier , I think you know Well and the greatest thing enhancement of that , regardless of what your role is is the improvement of your communication , absolutely .

Dan 8:48

If you know how I take in and give out information , but , more importantly , if I know how you best take in information , then I can flex to what you're seeking , so that our communication is more meaningful . Absolutely . One of my roles as a human resources professional is I supported a very detail-oriented individual .

Storie 9:14

Group of employees Right Okay okay , they were engineers . Oh wow , very analytical , very analytical , okay , okay .

Dan 9:21

I knew when I met with them that . I had to have data , I had to have bullet points . That they were and they think in bullet points , they think in relational things .

Storie 9:31

Black and white right .

Dan 9:33

Exactly . Okay . Exactly . I had to help them understand that what I needed is confirmation every so often that I was on the right track in delivering what I needed to deliver for them . They had trouble . In fact , one of my boss said I don't do that .

Storie 9:50

That's at least he was honest .

Dan 9:53

He was , but again , it was very black and white . It was either on or off , and so when you , when you're in that environment , where you've learned to flex and that you end up developing some skills in a personality , portion of your personality , that's not necessarily dominant but it allows you to draw on them as needed almost like building a muscle a little bit stronger , precisely okay but just like you're , when you're building a muscle or using a muscle you don't use very often , you get more tired quickly .

Storie 10:25

It becomes exhausting .

Dan 10:27

So you know , after meetings with those engineers I had to go take some me time .

Storie 10:32

I'm sure that sounds . The mental strain is almost as hard as the workout , the physical strain right ? So did they . Were they ever more acceptant to what your needs were ?

Dan 10:44

Once we could start showing some success in what the initiatives were , they began to realize okay , this is what I need to keep Dan fueled . Okay . To do what he needs to do for us , and I knew , just like I knew , that I needed to come to them with data . So , whenever we did have a success , I needed to come back with the measures of what the success brought man , you know that's .

Storie 11:07

I never thought about how that also helps other people , when you know what you need and you deliver it to what to them . So they know what you need .

Dan 11:16

They're learning too my wife is a C , she is a very you're an I and she's a C .

Storie 11:22

Oh , okay .

Dan 11:23

So when I get excited about wanting to make a decision for the family , I make the decision , or want to make the decision , based on the emotional high of it or the benefit of it . This is what we're going to get out of this . This is wonderful . How much does it cost ? How much time will it take ?

Storie 11:39

Oh .

Dan 11:41

And I can make a decision spur of the moment . She needs time and over time I understand that I've got to give her time . I can't give her a short deadline , because she reverts to the note .

Storie 11:58

The note , the note Right right .

Dan 12:00

With a shorter period of time because they don't have enough data .

Storie 12:03

You know what , I'm sure our audience too . I envision someone I know . In both of those I am very much the spur of the moment . My husband is very much give me information , let me know ahead of time , or things are going to be bad , you know . And so that's interesting because everyone has , I guess , at least one of those quadrants right , exactly , at least one of those quadrants right , exactly At least one , and perhaps even a strength in up to three . My goodness .

Dan 12:31

So can you imagine someone who is a real driver , somebody that sense of urgency is key . Uh-huh but also is strong in the social justice area or wanting to be fair with everybody . So they want fairness and they want it now .

Storie 12:48

Oh , okay , I see .

Dan 12:50

Well , the C people are going to , people who lead with C are going to say , well , what's it going to cost us to get there ? How many people are we going to affect ? And the people who lead with I are going to say how can I help ? And how many people do we need to include with ? This and the people who lead with S are saying well , how many people are going to be benefited ?

Storie 13:12

Right , right right .

Dan 13:14

And the person who leads with D , the driver , is going to say how quickly can we get this done ?

Storie 13:21

It's all about optimizing . Okay . So , with that being said , now that we all know we have at least one of those and we're all going to investigate , why did you pick this specific age range and kiddos getting out of school and going into college ? I know it's a big milestone in life and I wish I had someone like you to help me with that . But how does this convert into helping them in the next step in life and I wish I had someone like you to help me with that , but how does this convert into helping them in the next step in life ?

Dan 13:48

I think that if one thing it does , it allows them to understand the last couple years of high school of what they can lean into , that really feeds their dominant personality type wonderful if they want to be inclusive , then manage the inclusiveness so that we can still get the schoolwork done . But be on the team , be in the choir , be in the show .

Dan 14:12

Right that sort of thing , but the parents need to understand how they need to flex to help support the growth . I had a client where I was talking with their 15-year-old daughter . The 15-year-old daughter was very much like me , very much an I likes to be included . She was in the choir , she was on the volleyball team and was doing well , and doing well in school too . She's making good choices . She's making good grades . This was a revelation to her dad , who leads with a strong , detail-oriented personality type .

Dan 14:47

And I could see , as we were debriefing , he was beginning to plan and structure her involvement .

Understanding DISC Personality Profiles

Dan 14:56

I said okay wait , it doesn't work that way . You can't force your detail into her involvement .

Storie 15:04

Wow .

Dan 15:06

Because it will stifle her desire to be involved . If she thinks she has to give you a report and give you all the stats of her volleyball game , at the end of the day it's going to ruin her involvement . Wow her involvement , Wow . So be the structure she needs as her dad . But don't kind of force your personality dominance on hers .

Storie 15:32

Wow , so you're really doing a full circle . It's almost like a therapy session without the therapy right To an extent .

Dan 15:37

Yeah , I don't have those credentials .

Storie 15:39

Just educating each other , though , is so important . I'm sure that little girl was like tell him , tell him .

Dan 15:45

Well , and it opened up an avenue of more enhanced communication .

Storie 15:49

Wonderful .

Dan 15:51

But at the same time , when she understood that her opposite or her lowest part of her personality profile was not detail oriented , then she automatically said I I probably would not make a very good accountant . I'm probably not going to make a very good attorney because I'm not that detail-oriented . Now I's might be good litigators , but they're going to have to depend on somebody to do a lot of the research .

Storie 16:19

Yeah , and the push to it Right .

Dan 16:22

So there are some personality types that lean toward each of the different personality strengths here . The true leadership and visionary people are the dominant , the d's right , the sales people , the marketing people are people who lean toward the I the s people . Those are definitely your people that are going to be associated with customer service . And your C type people . Those are your administrative people . Those are the people that are in the accounting department .

Storie 16:55

They're doing the books and in turn , it seems like it would allow and give these they're not kids young adults the ability to almost receive more gratification from what they're doing , because they're leaning into things that they've already realized through . This is something that they enjoy doing , right .

Dan 17:19

Yes , and it feeds them , it feeds them .

Storie 17:21

That's great doing right .

Dan 17:25

Yes , and it feeds them . It feeds them . That's great . You know the ? If you can picture a circle , the D and the I are at the top of the circle . Okay . The S and the C are at the bottom of the circle .

Storie 17:33

Okay .

Dan 17:33

So those are their four quadrants of the circle . People are in the upper part . The D and I personality types are extroverts . Now that extrovert doesn't mean the thing that normally pops into your head of the lampshade on the head kind of person .

Storie 17:47

I'm going to go out there and take everybody dancing .

Dan 17:50

But it is . How do they recharge their batteries ? An extrovert calls their friends together and goes and does something goes to the ball game , goes to movie , goes out to dinner . Those are , that's the extrovert , because that recharges them being with their tribe . Introverts are not necessarily just wallflowers .

Dan 18:10

They're the ones that they recharge their battery by being in their favorite chair in their pink fuzzies , reading their favorite book , you know , and just kind of coming into their inner sanctum . So the introvert , extrovert thing , the left side , or the D's and the C's , make decisions based on fact , information and data . The I's and the S's make their decisions based on what feels right Now . Both can appreciate the other . As an I , somebody who leads primarily with I and has a lot of S characteristics in my personality , I appreciate the data . I was a banker for 10 years before I became a human resources professional .

Dan 19:00

I appreciate the data and the importance , but at the end of the day , I'm going to make a decision based on what I feel is best and fair and feels best Right .

Storie 19:11

With a little bit of black and white kind of affirming that decision Exactly , okay . Okay , now how we ? You kind of were talking to me before the show . What is your process ? You mentioned you had three different categories that you kind of walk these young adults through .

Dan 19:25

Yeah Well , it's three different tools . I'm licensed in three different profiling tools .

Storie 19:31

So you're actually licensed in this .

Dan 19:33

Licensed or certified .

Storie 19:35

Wow , okay , tell me more about the tools .

Dan 19:38

Well , two of them are a version of DISC , like we've been talking about . One of them is John Maxwell's version of DISC . The other is one from a company called Wiley and it's called Everything DISC . Same basic setup of the D , the I , the S and the C .

Dan 19:56

The other is one called Insights Discovery , and it's a similar tool that's out of the UK . I love their because their material is just really well developed , but it's pretty much the same for categories . The algorithm's just a little bit different . Okay , but again , all three of these show a flex between the different type , whereas some of the profiles tend to make you think like you're stuck is either one or the other .

Storie 20:27

I see , I see and this is a variance of questions that they ask you , or are they a multiple choice or agree , disagree , things like that .

Dan 20:36

They're , they're which would you rather ? Type questions okay , and they're going to be on a dichotomy of things , so you might have something that is a very eye-related characteristic and a C-related characteristic and you ask okay , which would you rather ?

Storie 20:51

Oh , okay , okay .

Dan 20:52

Or they may say here are four pairs . Okay . What are you most like , what are you least like ? And of the other two , pick one of the two spots in the middle . So you've got four slots . You've got to fill all four slots . So one , two , three or four in priority order .

Storie 21:08

You know this sounds a lot like . I mean , I think a lot of companies are adapting this personality profile when they have applicants to see which will fit . So knowing , on the other side of it , the person applying , knowing what your personality is and kind of gearing

How Personality Affects Communication

Storie 21:26

more towards those positions , would almost save both the employer and the employee time right .

Dan 21:32

There are companies that are using this . I do need to be . You have to be careful . Oh okay , because there's not many of these tools that are actually validated as a selection tool , so you could use the information to help you differentiate your candidates . But it could be potentially unlawful for somebody to base the decision solely on a personality type , because of the lack of validation .

Storie 21:59

Oh see , and this is why it's so important , they have you , okay . So now , once you've established with that person what their personality type is , what's the next step ?

Dan 22:10

Okay , the next step is then to debrief with all of the stakeholders .

Storie 22:14

Okay .

Dan 22:14

In the case of my youth initiative , it's going to be with the families , and I've had a couple of families that actually had siblings that were close enough of age and , in the range the other families that I've had , the siblings have not participated , but it does help even to have the siblings in there , because I've actually had siblings that rated out as being very , very different rated out as being very , very different . So you know , and we've all seen the dynamics in family of siblings that are just wired differently .

Storie 22:51

Very much so .

Dan 22:54

But I've also seen I've got one family that I did where these two sisters were very , very similar . They were both very much in the same personality profile type . Their dad is a software engineer and is very , very technically oriented but has a lot of the S-type characteristics in his profile . So he's basically on that bottom part of the circle between the . C and the S .

Storie 23:20

Wow . So what were the girls ?

Dan 23:22

The girls were both a mixture of I and S .

Storie 23:25

Oh nice . So once you've established that and you have that intake with the family , letting them know , you kind of guide them . I would assume the next point which is okay , this is what you would succeed in , or can you help me with that part ?

Dan 23:42

to an extent , maxwell John Maxwell does have a profile in their youth initiative . That does it takes the algorithms and shows them potential career categories .

Storie 23:54

Wow .

Dan 23:55

That will help them figure out . You know , perhaps this is and they're pretty exhaustive lists in each of the showing the strengths of the different personality types .

Storie 24:04

Wow . Well , that's a lot less exhausting than completely changing your major and losing thousands of dollars . Right , Exactly .

Dan 24:11

It could be very depending upon the school you know two semesters could be $10,000 , 50 , $60,000 .

Storie 24:21

Absolutely . I think I mentioned this on another podcast . My sister-in-law is one of those great student right Goes in and starts her law degree I mean going all the way through it and then decides I want to be a nurse . Completely changes . You know how expensive that is . It's incredible .

Storie 24:33

So I'm sure that , from a parent's point of view , you helping establish this at the end of the day is really going to allow them to save a lot for the next kiddo in line right , that's the hope , that's the idea behind it . I absolutely love this so have you seen a lot of feedback from the people you've helped so far .

Dan 24:53

Yes , the pilot group that I did to start this initiative . We're all friends , so I asked them candid questions . I said is this something that , first of all , that you find value in ?

Dan 25:06

And they said yes , I said , not only in helping their young one navigate through the tail end high school , the early parts of college , their young one navigate through the tail end high school , the early parts of college , but also they could see the benefit in the inner dynamics of their , of their family relationships as well . Said okay , is this something that you would pay for ? Right because I'd love to be able to do it . You know pro bono for everybody of course , but the idea of a business is you know ?

Dan 25:31

because the irs says if you do this for three years , don't make any money , it's a business ? Is you know ? Because the IRS says if you do this for three years and don't make any money , it's a hobby ?

Storie 25:35

Oh , that's interesting . That's interesting . I need to remember that .

Dan 25:40

So I've had some good feedback that everybody that I've done through the pilot and there were six families that went through the pilot have all said , yeah , this is beneficial information .

Storie 25:48

It's valuable .

Dan 25:50

And there were aha moments for the kids as well .

Storie 25:53

Wow , so they have to be receptive to it right , Certainly . They have to actually take the advice . So about how long is the program from start to finish once someone says , hey , I'm interested in pretty much you helping me figure out where I want to go .

Dan 26:07

It takes . The profile itself takes less than 30 minutes to complete . Okay , and it's about 64 questions and they're they're not , you know , mind-bending questions .

Storie 26:17

Right .

Dan 26:19

The assessment comes back . I usually take about an hour to debrief it with the family , but I let that be what it will be . If the discussion is rich and they were still going at the end of an hour , we keep going . Okay , great I'm

Helping Young Adults Find Direction

Dan 26:31

not gonna let the time clock interrupt some good friction conversation , which is wonderful at the end of an hour we keep going . Okay , great , I'm not gonna let the time clock interrupt some good friction conversation , which is wonderful .

Storie 26:36

At the end of the day , I mean , what you're doing is very , um inspiring , that you , you want to help these kids and you found an area of growth even for I think this would be a wonderful thing for foster kids . Yeah , coming out of the foster care system , I mean a lot of them um come out not knowing what to do . You know at 18 , they have to go . So , um , I I feel like it would be very valuable for kiddos like that If , if you could have , you know , some of the nonprofits come to you and ask you to come in and help these guys .

Dan 27:11

I hadn't even thought about that particular population , but those kids that are at that point where they're having to take charge .

Storie 27:21

Yes , whether you want to or not , right .

Dan 27:24

Yeah , of a life that they have probably had very little opportunity to take charge of , absolutely .

Storie 27:30

It's probably a little intimidating too to have someone like you that's been trained in hr for so long very level-headed . Obviously I'm sure you had to be um kind of helping them navigate not making them feel ignorant for asking those questions oh yeah , yeah , there's . There's no dumb questions and that's wonderful to hear from , especially somebody that's been through corporate america and worked for fortune 500 companies that you've got to ask a question or make a mistake to learn right .

Dan 27:57

Exactly .

Storie 27:57

At the end of the day .

Dan 27:58

You've got to be able to recover from mistakes . I mean from Philippians . Absolutely . But , at the same time , you can't measure growth if you don't have a starting point from which to measure .

Storie 28:11

Wow , and you're doing a great thing by walking , walking these people through it , something they don't even know they probably need right .

Dan 28:19

It is a discovery . There is some discovery there .

Storie 28:21

That's so funny you say that because at Advent Trinity we were very structured in our processes and the first portion of our process is actually called the discovery . So it's funny that you mentioned that and that's pretty much deep diving into what you are , who you are and how it needs to flow . So it's very similar to that . Everybody needs a process . I've found out in life . You can't just wing it all the time . But finally , your message . What would you tell our listeners who are inspired by your message ? How can they reach you ? How can they talk with you more about this ?

Dan 28:58

I don't . My website is under construction . I can help you with that , by the way , oh great , I definitely need the assistance , but my email is dan at p314consultingcom . No dashes or anything like that . No dashes , no nothing .

Storie 29:15

Okay , great . And then I ask everyone at the end of the show you guys already know if there was one thing that you can go back and tell yourself or tell a new business owner or entrepreneur you wish you would have known back then , you wish that you could tell them now what would it be ?

Dan 29:34

you would have known back then . You wish that you could tell them now . What would it be ? It would be that you know , do the analysis so that you can start whatever you're going to do with the peace of mind of the time that you've given yourself to do it . Yeah , I was not prepared to do this five years ago , you know . Granted , I've been . I've received some blessing that I can do this at this time of my life , that it's allowed me the time to do it , and do it slowly , and do it , you know , build it carefully .

Storie 30:04

Right .

Dan 30:05

But at the same time you've got to get to the point where you're . Take the courage to just hold your nose and jump . Oh , I love that . You do it in a calculated way .

Storie 30:15

Yeah , you have to have a strong foundation of a house before you can build the frame in the house . Right , exactly , that's wonderful advice . I'm going to take that one too , if that's okay . Sure , well , thank you , dan , and I hope later in the year you can come back on the show and give us an update and some more success stories .

Dan 30:32

I'd love to Thank you very much , awesome .

Storie 30:34

And for all of our listeners

Process and Impact on Families

Storie 30:35

out there , Dan's information will be in the information below , If you'll just click on it . Give him a shout . I'm sure he'd love to hear from you and help you Until next time . Bye-bye .