Profiler helps people deal with their ‘inner wombat’

A Peregian profiler has a distinctly Aussie take on identifying and defusing personality conflicts which plague office workplaces.

Michael White is a personality profiler with a fun animal take on summing people up.

Peregian-based personality profiler Michael White says he brings out the animal in people as he helps classrooms and workplaces find their performance "sweet spot".

Mr White's Who's Who at The Zoo profiling has a distinctly Aussie take on identifying and defusing those personality conflicts which plague office settings.

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The 61-year-old's skills were initially aimed at working with the kids "who would otherwise get into strife".

But that all changed when a school principal asked him to do a session with his staff and he adapted the workshops for corporates.

"Essentially there's four basic profiles and the reason it's called Who's Who at the Zoo is because we've got the dolphin, the eagle, the kangaroo and the wombat," Mr White said.

The animal sum of who we are based on out personality traits.

"It was a program that was created with kids in mind, but it's since morphed into something adults use.

"I do more adult and business type workshops than I do kids workshops these days."

Mr White trains people to identify different personality types and how those types are likely to operate in the workforce or in the classroom.

He aligns his personality profiles with core values, natural gifts and talents and everyday behaviours.

The pay-off can be increased retention rates and greater mental and emotional wellbeing.

"People just think differently and unconscious behaviour is everybody's best attempt at getting their values met," Mr White said.

"For the kangaroos life is about freedom of choice, they tend not to operate under too many rules and restrictions and then you've got you wombats.

"For them you've got to rid the world of chaos, so for them it's about introducing as many rules and regulations as possible - so those two working alongside each other, they're going to create problems for each other."

Personality profiler Michael White delivers one of his many school-based personality profiling workshops.

Mr White said the eagles were the high flyers looking for productivity outcomes and forward progress, while the harmony-loving dolphins were all about ethics and morality.

His eagle eye is now turning towards helping Cooroibah disability charity Sunshine Butterflies by staging one of his business workshops.

"I did a job about three months ago for all of their staff and I was just blown away by what they're up to out there and wanted to help out," Mr White said.

His main aim is to provide profiling devoid of "dry and crusty stuffy old detail".

"It's two hours of fun, relaxation and enjoyment where we get to laugh not only at each other but ourselves," he said.

Mr White has been profiling for 15 years and has worked with 350 schools and recently did Zoom sessions with Japanese schools.

His workshop will be held at Sunshine Butterflies on Thursday March 18 from 5.30-7.30pm.

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