Week 2: Business Concept Development



Week 2: Business Concept Development

Slide 1

Introduction to Self-Employment Assessment

• Questions in making decisions about self-employment

• “Discovering Personal Genius” as an assessment method for self-employment

• Discovery leads to critical information that guides the path to employment

• Person-centered business development results in better employment outcomes for people with disabilities

Hello. I'm Cary Griffin. I'm with Griffin-Hammis Associates and the Center for Social Capital. Today we will be talking about business concept development and more specifically—a self-employment assessment process that we call Discovering Personal Genius.

For the vocational rehabilitation counselor, deciding to support someone to start his/her own business can be a challenging undertaking. Many questions will go through your mind:

• How do you know if the business idea is solid?

• How do you know if self-employment is even a good idea for this person?

• Is the business design a good match with the person’s skills and support needs?

• Will the business meet VR’s criteria for closure?

All the while you’re answering these questions, you trying to craft an Individual Plan for Employment that meets policy guidelines and will be acceptable to everyone involved. It can test anyone’s stamina and capacity for critical thinking. We’re here to help!

This course is designed to show you a process for getting to know an individual in a way that leads to discoveries about the kind of employment that makes sense for the person. It will assist you in supporting the person to find the right match between who the person is and ways to earn income that fit him or her. It’s part of a tried and true method of person-centered business development that we have found to be very effective in assisting people to create lasting, satisfying, and profitable businesses.

The great thing is that, when you have a good discovery process, the answers to these questions flow out of the experiences and knowledge we’re gathering as we spend time with the person. It’s a person-centered assessment process that gives very useful information that leads directly to viable paths to employment for people with disabilities (actually it works for everyone—whether they have disabilities or not!)

As we saw in the last course, self-employment is the most rapidly growing form of employment for people in this country, especially for people that don’t see themselves in traditional 9 to 5 jobs. Discovering Personal Genius will be a handy tool to have in your toolbox in order to assure that the people you serve have the option of self-employment as one alternative in meeting employment goals. Done correctly, it will also help assure you and others that the business idea makes sense for the person.

Slide 2

How Do You Know if Starting a Business is a Good Idea for Someone?

• We need to know if starting a business is a good idea for a person

• Business literature talks about assessing business “readiness”

• Person-centered employment assessment is a better way

• Most people who start businesses are artisans

• Most are not MBA’s and actually learn business expertise as they go

• Or they use purchased services to cover tasks

Certainly one of the first questions that will arise will probably be --- Is starting a business a good idea for this person? It’s a good question and one you want to find an answer for. However, many people will attempt to answer this question first and then proceed down a path toward that goal.

We will tell you that you can’t know the answer until you do a thorough person-centered assessment that allows you to see the person in the context of the business world and in the context of his or her personal life and relationships. We call our person-centered assessment process “Discovering Personal Genius.” It’s our brand of the discovery process that has grown out of the work of our company Griffin-Hammis Associates and builds on the work of many other groups such as Employment for All, Marc Gold and Associates, Rural Institute of the University of Montana, and others.

Go on the internet and you will see that the business development literature contains countless checklists and screenings for determining a person’s ability to be self-employed. You’ll find descriptions of appropriate personality types, entrepreneurial assessments, and tools for assessing business readiness. We do not believe this is the way you determine whether self-employment will work for a person with disabilities. So many other factors are involved beyond just whether the person has an “entrepreneurial personality.”

Owning a small business does not require testing to assess one’s potential business character. Most people who own businesses are after all, artisans: people who know how to deliver a service or produce a product. They are usually people pursuing a personal passion that uses their talents and skills.

They are not, as the entrepreneurial myth holds, business school graduates—MBA’s hoping to take over the planet. In fact, most of the people who own the estimated 20.4 million single-owner/operator companies in the United States learned business processes such as bookkeeping, sales, and inventory control by doing them. Or they rely on purchased services for tasks that are too complex for them to master or too unprofitable for them undertake.

Slide 3

Person-Centered Business Planning

• Discovering Personal Genius – inclusive process for identifying critical elements of a vocational profile

• DPG helps you get to know the person first – skills, interests, passions, relationships

• Gather info on the person ( then develop business idea to match ( then go out and create a market for it

• Discovering Personal Genius costs about the same as typical VR assessments and can be funded through VR Title I or Supported Employment funding

Our experience has shown that a person-centered business planning process like Discovering Personal Genius is a much better approach for assisting an individual with disabilities to create a viable path to employment. It’s better because it recognizes the need for business and individualized supports. This approach results in positive outcomes because it focuses on supports and not on remediating deficits. You look at what the person is good at-- where they are at their best—and you build the process from there.

It also works because it is an inclusive process that leads you to see a fit between a person’s skills as an artisan, their various talents and preferences, and a viable business idea. Business ideas flow from the vocational profile that describes the individual’s experiences, interests, and skills. As the discovery process continues, these individual qualities are matched with a business idea and then a market that needs the product or service.

Unlike traditional economic development approaches, this process starts with an individual’s vocational profile (i.e. skills, interests and aspirations) and a complementary business idea. Using these two key factors, the person’s employment team then works with them to find or create a market for the business idea. Many of the businesses we have helped create weren’t even remotely on the radar screen for the person when we started. Although a few people come to us with an idea already hatched, most of the cool businesses were literally “discovered” as we spent time with the person in their home and in their community, including the business world around them.

The instinct for some support agencies is to find a market first and then force people to produce a product or service for that market – even though they may not be committed to it or excited about it. This approach rarely works. A business is doomed to fail if it doesn’t match up with the business owner’s skills, interests and characteristics. Starting with the person helps you create a good match by adapting a market to the person instead of expecting the person to adapt to the market.

Discovering Personal Genius (DPG) is the process we use to find that match between someone’s vocational themes and a viable business model. The process typically costs about as much as standard vocational testing, including psychometrics or situational assessments. You will find though that it yields more critical information that can help in developing an effective plan for employment and for designing the supports necessary for successful closure. DPG can be covered by general case service Title I dollars, or with Supported Employment funds.

Starting with the person first with no preconceived notions helps you discover opportunities that can break open a whole new future for the person. You just never know what you’re going to find when you start walking with a person down his or her path to employment. It’s amazing.

Slide 4

Purposes of Discovering Personal Genius

• DPG doesn’t start with the idea that owning a business is right for someone

• Helps to show whether self-employment or a wage job makes the most sense

• Varying levels of intensity in the DPG process for different purposes

• DPG purposes are different from traditional assessments

• Going where the career makes sense

As we said before, Discovering Personal Genius (DPG) does not start with the idea that owning a business is the best path for a particular person. DPG is about refining options. We have come to see that there are unlimited ways to make a living in this world. DPG is about determining the essential elements of work and supports that support the individual’s success. The process will reveal whether the path leads to self-employment or a wage job. Sometimes it even leads to BOTH!

DPG can be used with varying levels of intensity for different VR customers’ needs. People with more abundant work histories and skill sets may only need a modified DPG process. For instance, someone who has a lower back injury after working as a carpenter for 10 years that we know will need substantial job accommodations to return to work. We can use a shorter DPG process to craft the ideal work conditions and supports and develop the business design.

In contrast, people with little or no work history or those who have very complex disabilities will likely need the complete DPG process. The full process involves spending considerable time identifying and exploring vocational themes as you create a profile outlining their best ecological fit for employment success. For a young man say who has only rolled silverware at Appleby’s in a high school transition program and has a label of autism, we’re going to have to see him in a number of places and in a variety of experiences before we find the clues that will help determine a direction for employment.

The purpose of the Discovering Personal Genius process is different from other kinds of assessment. First, we’re starting with the person and no preconceived notions about what’s going to work for him or her. Second, we’re going to gather information through targeted activities set up in the individual’s home and surrounding community-- following the leads of what we are learning about the person. It’s not like typical situational assessments where people go through a pre-determined series of work tasks and experiences. In DPG, we visit real workplaces “where the career makes sense” -- businesses owned or operated by people who have similar vocational themes and interests. At each one, we spend time with the person experiencing that business and getting advice, suggestions, and encouragement from people with similar interests and skills.

DPG is a very interactive process where one experience leads you to choose the next experience. In other words, if the profile reveals that the person has a transportation vocational theme, then you set up a way to meet some mechanics, truck drivers, train engineers, and others involved in those industries to get a feel for tasks and skills required. Through this process you begin to narrow the vocational theme.

You talk with people about how to get started in a related career, emerging business trends and innovations, and how to determine a transportation firm’s feasibility. People often support others who share their interests; they also know the business and can serve as mentors. Most people enjoy talking about their life’s work, and giving advice, so engage them in conversation. The purpose of Discovering Personal Genius then is to find a path to employment by learning about the person and following the leads you discover as you explore the person’s home and surrounding business community.

Slide 5

Primary Steps in Person-Centered Business Planning

• Flexible, thoughtful and action-oriented process

• Self-employment can be a good accommodation for some people

• DPG results in employment with some unique characteristics (ecologically relevant, mutually beneficial, not related to disability or labor market or competitive job hunting)

• Produces a real-time vocational profile that guides the IPE and work development

• Doesn’t rely on just a person’s interests but also skills and other success factors

Person-centered business planning is a flexible, thoughtful, and action-oriented process. Done well, it leads to the determination of three over-arching vocational themes and a related career plan for an individual with significant disabilities. A person’s disability is largely unimportant because it is the series of vocational ideas, contacts, supports, and actions taken that ultimately determines the individual’s business design and success. Many people believe that they are better off working for themselves or that they cannot easily enter the traditional labor market. For these individuals, self-employment makes sense as an accommodation.

Discovering Personal Genius (DPG) is one of several emerging versions of a process more broadly known as Discovery. DPG is not used specifically to design a business or to acquire a dream job or the career of a lifetime. Rather DPG is used to focus on getting individuals into the work arena, be that wage or self-employment, as quickly as possible where they can begin the more long-term tasks of sculpting a career.

Therefore, DPG is a time-limited, rapid, outcome-oriented process resulting in work opportunities that fit the individual and provide for personal and professional growth. Employment derived from DPG has some unique characteristics:

• It is ecologically relevant—meaning it finds answers that “fit” --the person, the community, and the market.

• It is designed to be beneficial to both employee and employer or business owner and customer – no charity here!

• and it is generally developed without regard for the “labor market” or traditional comparative methods of job hunting that often favor applicants without disabilities.

DPG produces a real-time vocational profile that guides the IPE and work development by unveiling or creating career opportunities.

The DPG process is focused on skills and interests the individual possesses and which can be built upon. Interests however, are not enough. Many of us have interests but lack skills. Many people would love to be a rich Hollywood movie star, but few of us actually have the theatrical skills and talents to become one.

Matching the preferred work to existing and teachable skills is crucial. DPG activities may be identified through recognized interests. But the purpose of DPG activities is to identify existing skills, or those skills which can be improved through systematic training, workplace or business supports, and technology.

Slide 6

Stages of Discovering Personal Genius

• Using the DPG Staging Record

• Seven stages of DPG (Home & Neighborhood Observation ---- Interviewing Others --- Skills & Ecological Fit ---Review --- Vocational Themes ---- Descriptive Narrative --- Career Development Plan)

• Completed by VR vendor or partner (CRP’s, school programs)

• Refer to the sample Staging Record handout

The stages of the Discovering Personal Genius process are recorded on a document that we call the DPG Staging Record. You should have two handouts-- one a blank form you can use later and a sample form all filled in. The Staging Record guides you through the steps of Discovering Personal Genius and gives you a place to record what you’re learning.

The “Discovering Personal Genius Staging Record” outlines DPG in seven basic stages. Each stage includes an array of tasks and observations that the individual’s planning team takes into consideration. What we’ve seen from numerous project sites across the United States is that DPG can be accomplished in 20 to 60 hours, over a period of approximately 6 to 8 weeks. Of course the time line can vary with individual circumstances where various factors can complicate or compromise the process.

DPG is typically performed by a VR vendor or partner organization (such as a Community Rehabilitation Program or school Transition Program.) It needs to be managed as a time-sensitive, team-based effort. The team needs to be focused on the goal of formulating a descriptive profile which captures who the person is at the present time--answering the basic question “Who is this individual?” Without a time limit, DPG can go on forever because people are constantly learning and evolving. Therefore, milestones or benchmarks are established by the state or the VRC and the customer for the team to follow.

The steps of DPG lead to a vocational profile, captured on the Staging Record. The DPG process should identify at least three solid but broad vocational themes and reveal enough knowledge of the individual to guide the successful development of employment, including small business ownership as a viable option.

The Stages of DPG include:

Home & Neighborhood Observation ---- Interviewing Others --- Skills & Ecological Fit ---Review --- Vocational Themes ---- Descriptive Narrative --- Career Development Plan

The sample DPG Staging Record that you have as a handout illustrates the collection methods and types of information sought. However, prior to starting, there are some elements of DPG that require refinement.

Slide 7

Information Gathering Technique: Smooth Listening

• DPG is a different process and requires different approaches and skills

• DPG is a team process with the person and the family

• DPG is a conversation not a formal interview or meeting

• Effective conversations require “smooth listening” where the main talkers are the person and the people who know him or her well (not the interviewer!)

One thing we want to emphasize for the Discovering Personal Genius process—it’s very different from traditional assessments and profile processes. You need to approach DPG from a whole different perspective. Service Coordinators (e.g. Case Managers) and others who lead or participate in the planning process are part of an engaged team which includes the individual and his or her family, if available and desired by the individual. The team shares a common goal: get employment that matches the individual’s vocational themes

The team assigns tasks that complement each member’s skills and interests and spread the work across the 3 to 7 member group. The team members are then responsible to the individual and the other team members for their assigned responsibilities. Due to caseloads, the Vocational Rehab Counselor may or may not play an active team role.

In traditional home visits or planning meetings, the individual and the family are often interviewed and questioned about the individual’s likes and dislikes, behavioral issues, program funding, future plans, medical, and safety issues. This process can often be very “professional-driven” and can feel artificial and uncomfortable for the people being interviewed.

DPG is different. It’s a conversation, not a traditional meeting or formal assessment process. Those who are involved in DPG need to learn some new skills and make a concerted effort to assure that it feels comfortable and relaxed for the individual and the family.

The initial home visit is essential to setting the stage for the conversation. The critical skill for the professionals involved is to gently probe and listen. In essence, the focus moves from the smooth talker to the smooth listener. The relative silence of people listening elicits more information from the talkers. Here, the talkers are supposed to be the individual and those who know him/her best, not the interviewer.

One of the best conversation starters is simply: “Tell me about yourself” or “tell me about your daughter.” What we learn is that people start these conversations where they believe the important information lies. Sit and listen, perhaps take some notes. Do not interrupt the flow until the talker is completely finished. When the listener hears something that is relevant, just jot it down inconspicuously and come back to it once the talker is completely finished. No news from the listener is good news and silence prompts the talker to keep talking.

Slide 8

If the Conversation Gets Stuck

• Prompts to get a conversation going if it gets stuck (Tell me about…..)

• Targeted areas for gathering information --conversations and activities that reveal --

o Who the person is

o Where this person is most at ease and most productive;

o When the individual is most engaged and by what people or activities;

o What supports are needed most in particular situations and how they are best delivered;

o Situations and environments to be avoided;

o Personal skills, talents, and interests.

Sometimes a conversation gets stuck. We don’t want the silence of the interviewer to go on so long that it gets uncomfortable for folks. If people seem to run out of things to say, there are some things the interviewer can use to spark additional conversation.

If the conversation slows or meanders, consider such prompts as:

• Tell me a bit about chores and tasks done around the house;

• Tell me about typical and special family activities or traditions;

• Tell me about family vacations or holiday celebrations;

• Tell me about major life events that have influenced your son/daughter;

• Tell me about events or activities your son/daughter really looks forward to;

• Tell me about techniques you’ve found helpful when teaching your son/daughter something new;

• Tell me about your son/daughter’s favorite people, such as teachers, clergy, relatives, or neighbors;

• Tell me about what you and your other children or close relatives do for a living.

While we want to have somewhat open ended conversations and experiences with folks, we’re at the same time looking for some pretty specific kinds of information about the person. We need to be conscious of moving conversations and activities toward finding out information in the targeted areas.

We are most interested in finding out who this person is-- therefore the following categories of information should be elicited through both discussion and the observation of activities that demonstrate or reveal the answers:

• Where this person is most at ease and most productive;

• When the individual is most engaged and by what people or activities;

• What supports are needed most in particular situations and how they are best delivered;

• Situations and environments to be avoided;

• Personal skills, talents, and interests.

Slide 9

DPG Stages: Methods and Tasks

• Outcome of DPG is a vocational profile captured on the DPG Staging Record form

• Process involves specific tasks and components

• Information is gathered that lead to at least three vocational themes identified for the person

• Themes relate to things the person is repeatedly drawn to or show up as patterns in the person’s life

• Themes must go beyond interests and be supported by existing skills or identified ways to accomplish those skills

The outcome of DPG is a vocational profile, captured in the DPG Staging Record. The purpose of the DPG process and the resulting vocational profile is to reveal the Ideal Conditions of Employment for the individual. Ideal Conditions of Employment simply means --under what circumstances does this individual have the most chance for success in employment.

The basic DPG process involves these components.

▪ interview family/friends

▪ observe home, skills, tasks, neighborhood

▪ interview employers with similar interests

▪ conduct community activities & modest work trials that display skills & tasks

▪ take pictures when it makes sense

The team compiles notes throughout the process. The notes need to be thorough and descriptive about what was done and what was discovered. Team members are constantly remembering the core informational questions that we want answered for the DPG process. Activities and situations are structured so that they will best reveal what we need to know.

As a result of the conversations and the structured activities outlined in the Staging Record, the team identifies overarching vocational themes in the person’s life. By the end of the DPG process, there should be at least three of these themes.

Themes are not job descriptions or generic interests that almost everyone has (e.g. eating ice cream, drinking coffee, playing with kittens). Themes are things the person is repeatedly drawn to or show up as patterns in the person’s life. Themes are broader, more general topics such as: “sports,” “aviation,” “organization/fastidiousness,” “agriculture,” “transportation.”

The themes must be further supported by what we have learned in the DPG process about the individual’s skills. There are two kinds of skills identified: ones the person currently has or ones for which you found reasonable proof that he or she could learn through systematic instruction or be accomplished through the use of technology, tools, or other supports.

Slide 10

Components of the Discovering Personal Genius Process

• Gathering a team of people

• Explain customized employment, the DPG process, and the vocational profile to the individual, family and other significant support people

• Schedule the first meeting

• Tour the neighborhood

• Meet with the individual and family

• Interview other people

• Identify several activities and do them with the person in the home

1. Gathering a team of people. This includes the person assigned to do work development, and others who will help with the process. Some team members may only be involved in one or two steps. One person should be team leader, ensuring that the process is timely, thorough, and well documented.

2. Explain customized employment, the DPG process, and the vocational profile to the individual, family and other significant support people. Delineate what the team is doing and what is expected of them. Make certain the information you have about the employment seeker is current and complete.

3. Schedule the first meeting with the individual and family at the person’s home. If meeting at home is not an option or the employment seeker does not wish to meet there, find an alternative location. Make sure the place you hold the meeting is comfortable for the person and conducive to an easy conversation.

4. Tour the neighborhood around the person’s home observing surroundings, safety concerns, businesses, culture, transportation and services near the person’s home. This step may be completed after step 5.

5. Meet with the individual and family for 1 to 2 hours in their home. Investigate:

a. Daily routines; Chores and other household responsibilities

b. Activities the individual enjoys and skills they use when so engaged

c. History of the family/individual, especially related to employment

If the person is willing, have him/her show you their bedroom. Observe how it is organized, prized possessions, and what it says about the person. Have him/her demonstrate how he performs chores, engages in activities etc. Throughout the visit observe interactions, living context, interests and skills. Note if any themes are beginning to suggest themselves. Ask for names and contact information of people who know the individual well and ask permission to interview these individuals.

6. Interview other people who know the individual well. This may include parents, siblings, teachers (if a student or recent student), neighbors, friends, former employers, and support providers. Ask about the individual’s interests, support needs, successful instructional strategies, skills and performance in various activities. Look again for themes in the person’s life.

7. From information gathered so far, identify several activities the employment seeker participates in successfully. Do those activities with the person and observe interest, performance, demonstrated skills, connections, support needs, adaptations, etc.

Slide 11

Components of the Discovering Personal Genius Process (continued)

• Identify activities outside the home that the person is familiar with and do those with the person

• Identify unfamiliar places and activities that may be in line with his interests and do those

• Go to some places of employment with the person related to the identified themes.

• Return to the individual’s home if needed, to collect any additional information needed

• Review files and records of past and current activities and services.

• Develop a list of places where people do jobs related to each of the three themes

• Write the draft vocational profile

• Meet with the individual and/or family and others as needed to discuss the profile

• If needed, develop a representational portfolio for the employment seeker

• Begin job or business development.

8. Identify activities outside the home that are familiar to the person. Accompany the person to these places and activities and observe skills, relationships, supports etc. Make sure these are truly activities; in other words, be able to measure and observe the skills involved. Visiting the mall, for instance, is not a skill. Weeding a garden is a skill, as are its component parts: identifying the weeds, locating the hoe, removing the weeds, etc.

9. Based on the individual’s interests and the themes identified so far, identify unfamiliar places and activities that may be in line with his interests. Go with her to these places and engage in activities. Observe to gain additional information about support needs, reactions, attention to natural cues, interest etc. Continue to identify specific skills and refine the themes.

10. Go to some places of employment with the person related to the identified themes. Make an appointment with a manager and conduct an informational interview. In addition to conducting the interview, ask for a tour and observe the kinds of jobs people do at the business. Look for the jobs that are out of view and/or are unexpected. Gather clues about the culture of the work place and whether this person might fit here. Perform several of these interviews to refine and test themes.

11. Return to the individual’s home if needed, to collect any additional information needed, have informal conversation and make more observations of tasks.

12. Review files and records of past and current activities and services.

13. Develop a list of places, specifically 20 places of business where people do jobs related to each of the three themes identified for a total of 60.

14. Write the draft vocational profile using the information gathered during DPG. Identify the person’s ideal conditions for employment including skills, interests, culture, environmental considerations, preferred or required days and hours for work, supports needed, equipment or adaptations that may be needed and any other important considerations. Reference the three themes and the list of 60 places where people with similar interests work.

15. Meet with the individual and/or family and others as needed to discuss the profile, for comments and for approval. Refine the employment plan to be used for job or business development.

16. If needed, develop a representational portfolio for the employment seeker using visual and narrative information developed during DPG. This may be a photo album with captions, PowerPoint, narrative description or other medium that can be easily utilized by the individual to demonstrate his skills and interests to prospective employers.

17. Following the vocational profile/CE plan, begin job or business development.

Slide 12

Typical DPG Team’s Work

This graphic of the DPG process represents a typical team’s work:

[pic]

The team process is a cycle of learning and doing. Forming and Storming, Norming & Performing:

• Week One: Intake, Introduce, Interview Individuals re: Discovery; Develop initial small Team of Stakeholders.

• Week Two: 1st Draft Discovery Timeline/Plan; Conduct Home Visit and Initial Discovery activities

• Week 3: Formalize Discovery plan and timeline; arrange and schedule activities; expand team membership to include family, friends, experts including business people, fellow hobbyists, etc., as team members or ‘consultants;’ financial review, work incentives potential, benefits analysis, referrals to VR, etc.

• Weeks 4 and 5: Identify through action: skills, talents, activities, significant people and places. Initial informational interviews and work experiences. Synthesize: Ecological fit. Begin developing the 3 vocational themes, sketch out the Ideal Conditions of Employment.

• Weeks 6 and 7: Wrap up work experiences and informational interviews; complete DPG staging record; write employment seeker profile; transition to job or business development (Lists of 20, etc.)

Slide 13

DPG Activities

• Purpose of the activities in DPG is to test out the information derived from the interviews.

• Create experiences related to the themes that will give the needed information

o Places to visit, related activities, people to meet

• See about short term work experiences to try out working in an environment

• Sometimes themes can be combined to offer more potential opportunities

Throughout the Discovering Personal Genius process, the team engages in activities that test out the information derived from the interviews. Remember—we’re trying to create experiences that give us that critical information we’re looking for. These active observational situations are used to develop ideas, test themes and interests, and to witness existing and emerging skills. Here are some examples of what I’m talking about.

If the emerging interests of an individual in DPG are horses, airplanes, and tattoos, the larger emerging themes may be: Horses = Animals; Airplanes = Transportation; Tattoos = Alternative lifestyles and Art.

People engaged in the pursuit of these interests in the community might be found as follows:

• Animals: petting zoo, veterinarians, University biology lab, environmental organization, dog park, farm, horse stable, aquarium, pet store etc.

• Transportation: airport, antique car club, filling station, body shop, delivery company, train depot, parts store, etc.

• Art: tattoo parlor, artist’s studio, print shop, graphic design company, architecture firm, sign company, art supply store, glass blowing company, photography studio, etc.

Useful activities to observe the individual performing through a short try-out or a time-limited work experience might include:

• Animals: grooming horses; washing dogs; organizing veterinarian records; prepping a surgical room; feeding fish; exercising pet store animals, etc.;

• Transportation: driving a fork lift; gassing up a car; changing oil on an airplane; washing a vehicle; entering part numbers into inventory into a computer, etc.;

• Art: tracing a tattoo; painting; framing a picture/cutting a mat; blowing glass; using CAD software; making a clay pot, etc.

Combining these employment themes/skills/locations/businesses result in more complex and creative ideas for job or business development:

• Art and Transportation: Skywriting services; Car Pinstriping shop; Car audio design/installation; Travel photography, etc.

• Animals & Art: Wildlife photography; Children’s mural design/painting service; Stuffed animal manufacture/sales; wildlife art, etc.

• Animals & Transportation: Dude Ranch; Service Animal training; Ranching; Animal Control, etc.

The more places of employment explored through the informational interviewing process and through DPG activities, the richer the activities lists become for future DPG sessions.

Slide 14

The DPG Staging Record

• Use the DPG Staging Record to record all the information and themes you are seeing as you complete the steps of the DPG process

• The DPG process should be kept to factual observations.

• Keep speculation or interpretation to a minimum.

Throughout DPG, use the Staging Record, or some other form of vocational profile, to collect the information as it is gathered. DPG is not concerned with speculation about an individual’s motivations or interests or behaviors. Record exactly what was observed and discussed without interpretation. The sample included in your handout provides an example of a typical DPG process.

So that’s the overview of Discovering Personal Genius—our person-centered approach to business planning. The most important thing to remember is that it’s a very different process than most assessment methods. It’s not about testing or doing checklists. It’s learning about the person and using that information to lead the person and their team to the best path of employment.

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