This week I decided to review a newish web site called SmallGroupInsights.com, which is a tool group members can use to learn about themselves and others.
For years I've been using a DISC personality profile in my groups to help people see themselves clearly and how their personality can compliment or clash with other personalities in the group. It's also a powerful way to help group members see the teamwork possibilities when it comes to group servanthood and relational evangelism (with added questions, supplied below). This web site is obviously based on the DISC instrument, but the quadrants have been changed to Doer, Talker, Listener, and Thinker.
Likes:
• The web site layout is simple and straightforward, which I really appreciate. Even the least web-saavy person should be able to click around and get to the assessment and successfully complete it. It takes about ten minutes if the user doesn't over-think every question and get bogged down—which says a lot about one's personality, by the way!
• As is typical with these instruments, the user is required to choose statements that most and least describe one's personality and behavior from a set, which is always a source of discomfort or a low level of inner-conflict. (At least this is how I experience them.)
• The report, which is emailed to the user, was not routed to my spam folder and was in my in-box. This may not seem important to you, but it shows that the web site's server has not been flagged as one that spams, and that's a very good thing. It should make using the resource easier for your groups. Here's a sample of the report from the site.
• If a small group or cell group will take the time to complete and print the report and bring it with them to a meeting, they will enjoy the discovery process of learning about themselves and each other. Additionally, there's a lot of satisfaction derived from hearing a talker admit they are a talker (when you were positive they though they were a doer!)
Gripes:
There's not a lot to gripe about here. This instrument has been around for a long time. These folks put it online in an easy and clean format, and adapted to fit a small group environment. But I do have some thoughts worth sharing that don't fit above as a "like", so I'll share them here:
• $5.95 is the street price per group member (with a retail price of $12.50), which could become expensive if you have a lot of groups and you don't have a lot of money in your budget for it. On the web site's FAQ page, it says that buying codes in bulk gains a discount of some sort, but when I attempted to purchase 1,000 codes it calculated the price at $5.95, the price for just one code. If you plan to buy a bunch of these codes for your groups, contact the owners through the site to find out what the discounted price might be. (If I've missed something or this pricing thing is corrected on the site, I'll come back and edit this information to make it more accurate or current.)
• The report is designed to help people understand themselves and others in their small group. This has the potential to keep people focused on themselves and one another and how they interact (or don't interact well) instead of focusing on Christ and what he wants to do in their midst with their spiritual gifts... which, when used powerfully for God, often make a person feel uncomfortable about what God is asking them to do. If you expose small group members to this instrument, you'll be doing them a disservice if you don't also expose them to a spiritual gifts tool such as Paul Ford's resource, God is Powerful In You.
• Because the report and discussion questions found within don't contain a lot of spiritual direction (which isn't a bad thing, it's just what it is) you'll need to ask the leader to poise additional questions such as:
"As you look around the room to see the wide variety of personalities God has brought together, who could help you grow in this group if you became closer friends?"
"As you consider the personality of other group members and your unchurched friends and relatives living near you, which other group members would be helpful in showing them the love of Christ?"
Bottom Line:
If your church has the budget or members are willing to pay for it, and your small group members are all internet users, this is a great way to help them see who they are and who others are in their group. This tool can open up a nice can of worms for discussion, and if questions like the examples above are added, it can become a great way to move a small group out of a living room and into ministry to a lost and hurting world.
Disclaimer: I have no relationship to the owners of this web site and have received no compensation for this review.
No comments:
Post a Comment