Principle: Openers, Refiners, Closers

Ever heard comments like, "This detail is too much for me," or "Just tell me what to do," or " How do we KNOW this is the right way to go," or "Have we explored all the options?" That's individuals identifying their own strengths and weaknesses in process thinking. If you ask participants upfront to identify what part of the process they prefer to be in, you'll do a lot to keep them engaged. 

This model blends the ideas of Interaction Associates, the Inscape Team Dimensons Profile, and Sam Kaner's model of Divergence/Convergence. Explain that there are those people that like to Open: brainstorm, explore options, and bring in new ideas. There are those that like to Refine: assess feasibility, value, and impact, and combine, critique, challenge, or eliminate ideas. There are those that like to Close: decide, assign, plan, execute, and check the box. 

There's huge overlap with this model and the Myers-Briggs, the Team Dimensions Profile, Social Styles, and other personality assessments. What works about this model is that it also maps back to the flow of ideas of a facilitated session. In this way, participants can be aware in advance of the points in the agenda where they may be at their best, and where they may be out of preference.