Quick Answer:

Ask any HR or L&D professional what their biggest challenge is right now and you'll hear the same thing: time. Too many priorities, too many people who need a piece of you, and not enough hours to do it all well. But what if time isn't actually the problem? In this post, you'll discover what's really behind that feeling of being stretched too thin, plus NINE tactical DiSC time-savers and ONE big energy booster that can give you hours back each week without adding one more thing to your already-full plate.

Everyone's Busy. That's Not the Real Problem.

Across organizations of all shapes and sizes, budget constraints, workforce reductions, and accelerating change is driving a slow shift in how work gets distributed and managed day-to-day. Wiley's recent survey of 2,500 people revealed that 31% of their respondents. had recently taken on additional responsibilities and most have been doing it for over six months - a permanent shift, not a stretch assignment. And this expectation for increased responsibility comes without a formal change in role, pay, or title resulting in what is called The Great Pile-On.

So, it's no wonder that when I ask people, "what you're biggest challenge right now," the answer is: lack of time with too many priorities competing for it and too many people who need a piece of it. But, is it really?

I get it. I run a business, serve clients in time zones around the world, and am constantly juggling content, consulting, and the reality that there are only so many hours before my introverted brain checks out for the day. So I'm not going to sit here and tell you to "work smarter, not harder" (even though that's been one of my favorite mottos for years) or suggest you just need a better calendar system (although, I live and die by my planner).

But I will tell you something I've come to believe after watching hundreds of HR and L&D professionals navigate my same tension: the problem most of us are calling a time problem is actually an energy problem in disguise.

Think about it. When you're energized by the work you're doing, time moves differently. You get more done. You think more clearly. You make better decisions faster. But when you're depleted, everything takes longer. A 30-minute task stretches to an hour. A conversation that should have been straightforward turns into a drain. You max out your cognitive load. You end the day exhausted and wondering where the time went, but the real issue is that your energy was gone long before the clock ran out.

This hits particularly hard in L&D. LinkedIn's 2025 Workplace Learning Report found that 50% of organizations say managers lack the support they need to develop their teams, and 45% say employees lack the support to participate in learning programs. The barrier isn't that programs don't exist. It's that the people responsible for activating them are running on empty.

So what do you do? You can't create more time. But you can reclaim energy by eliminating friction, simplifying the things that drain you, and using tools that do the heavy lifting so you can focus on the work that actually requires your fabulous brain power.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be sharing:

• How I found more energy (and time) in my day with practical ideas for you to start doing the same.

• How you can give teams a simple and efficient mid-year energizer to achieve their goals.

And, our annual DiSC-a-Palooza event will zero in on time saving, energy boosting strategies for you to be your best.

For today, I want to get practical. Because many of you use DiSC, I want to share 7 tactical DiSC time savers and one big energy booster to make the things already on your list easier and faster.

How Does DiSC Actually Save Time?

This is where I want to get practical. If you're already using Everything DiSC (or thinking about it), here are specific ways it can give you hours back each week.

#1 - Worksmart modules replace building management training from scratch.

This is a big one. If you have a looming management training project hanging over your head, or you've been spending weeks developing, or you're paying outside facilitators money that's not in your budget, the new Worksmart modules can be a real game changer. Each module can be delivered live. But my favorite is the 20 minute, self-guided, personalized learning that managers complete on their own through Catalyst. Then, you can have fun hosting a virtual group coaching session to debrief, make it relevant to your organization, create peer learning, and build accountability. I bet that's where you get most of your energy from anyways, right? You get the impact of structured management development without the months of curriculum design, and a place to do what you do best! (Related: [How Can DiSC Help New Managers Lead More Effectively?](INSERT LINK TO 5/19 POST))

#2 - Conversation Starters replace or extend formal team building activities.

If you've ever spent an afternoon searching for the right team building activity, Catalyst's Group Conversation Starters are about to become your best friend. These are 15-minute, ready-to-use discussion prompts that teams can run on their own, no facilitator required unless being the secret sauce is your jam. They're tied to the group's actual DiSC data, so the conversations are immediately relevant and personal. Just create a Group, click on Conversation Starters in your learner account, and be led through insight and dialogue for team members to get to know each other, communicate more clearly, and make better decisions together. Simply recommend it to any manager or team lead and let them run with it. (Related: How Can I Keep DiSC Alive After a Workshop?)

#3 - Catalyst comparisons eliminate prep time before difficult conversations.

How much time do you spend mentally preparing for a tough conversation with a colleague, a coaching session with a manager, or a feedback discussion that you know won't be easy? Or perhaps you're the go-to person every time a manager has a problem with an employee or vice versa. With Catalyst, you can pull up a comparison with that person in about 30 seconds and get personalized tips for how to approach them based on the combination of styles. Use your own Catalyst learner account's Your Colleagues feature. Or, if you're providing advice to someone else, log on to your Catalyst Admin View and create a comparison for them by going to Learners -> Compare Learners and follow the prompts.

#4 - Write corrective action documents, performance reviews, and performance improvement plans faster.

Whether you're writing for your team or advising a manager on how to complete this documentation on their own, Catalyst is your fast-track solution. Use your Catalyst Admin View and search for the learner. Select their name and select What Drives the Learner at the top. I guarantee there's language that you can cut, paste, and edit to document what you see happening, how the team member can use their strengths, and how they must overcome their challenges.

#5 - Group Culture Reports, Facilitator Reports, Group Maps, and .csv exports replace hours of manual team analysis.

Stop manually placing dots on your DiSC circle for your PowerPoint presentation. Simply use your Catalyst Admin View to create a Group. Select the Group and use the Download button to generate a Group Map. I bet it takes less than 2 minutes!

While you're at it, stop scrolling through Profiles to diagnose team dynamics. That's just too time-consuming and probably boring for you or your admins. A Group Culture Report or Facilitator Report gives you the team's composite profile, their collective strengths, their blind spots, and discussion questions to spark conversation, all generated in minutes. It doesn't replace your expertise. It accelerates it. And, they're FREE if you have the Catalyst Practitioner Experience.

#6 - The Catalyst Practitioner Experience gives you a library of downloadable resources.

Instead of building presentations, handouts, and learning activities from scratch, the CPE gives you access to over 200 ready-to-use facilitation resources. Scripted workshops, customizable PowerPoints, engaging videos, and handouts for Workplace, Management, Agile EQ, and Worksmart. Download, customize if you want, and deliver. The system is completely searchable and very easy to use. Time savings on preparation alone can be significant. (Related: What Is the Catalyst Practitioner Experience?)

#8 - The Catalyst Admin platform streamlines your operations.

If you're still managing DiSC by emailing a partner to order profiles, waiting for them to be issued, and manually tracking who has completed what, having your own administrative dashboard changes everything. You order profiles, organize learners, generate reports, and add modules in minutes, all from one platform. Waiting zaps energy, especially when you're ready to go right now! (Related: [How Do I Set Up an Everything DiSC Administrative Dashboard?](INSERT LINK TO 5/12 POST))

#9 - Coming soon: Amy's AI Agent to get answers fast.

You know that any time you need help, ideas, or just a shoulder to cry on, you can schedule a call with me.

But sometimes, I'm facilitating a workshop, hiking a mountain, or babysitting my precious granddaughter which leaves you waiting. So, I've created my own personal AI agent to pull from my entire library of DiSC resources, Breakthrough Tools, Grab-n-Go Learning Kits, and other crazy ideas swirling around in my head to get you advice in the moment. When you're in a hurry and need a quick answer about which profile to use, how to handle a facilitation or coaching challenge, or what activity to run with a specific team, how to use your admin dashboard, how much thing cost, and more, you'll be able to get a personalized recommendation without searching through files or waiting for a callback. Stay tuned on this one.

Q&A: More Ways to Reshape Your Thinking About Time

I don't have time to facilitate workshops. Can DiSC still help my organization?

Absolutely. That's one of the reasons Catalyst and the Worksmart modules are such a game-changer. Managers complete 20 minutes of personalized, self-guided learning on their own. You don't need to facilitate anything. If you want to add value without adding hours to your calendar, let managers do the module independently and then host a short virtual coaching session to debrief. You get the impact of facilitated learning with a fraction of the time investment.

My managers are too busy for training. How do I get them to engage?

Stop calling it training. Position it as preparation for something they're already doing. "Before your feedback conversation with Jordan on Thursday, spend 20 minutes on the Giving Constructive Feedback module in Catalyst. It'll give you a framework and specific tips for Jordan's style." When learning is tied to a real, immediate task, managers don't experience it as an interruption. They experience it as support.

I've been meaning to use DiSC more but I keep putting it off. Where do I start?

Start with one thing. Not a full rollout. Not a strategy document. Just one thing. Pull up one colleague in Catalyst before your next meeting with them. Generate one Group Culture Report for a team you're supporting. Assign one Worksmart module to one manager who has a tough conversation coming up. Small actions create momentum, and momentum creates energy. That's the whole point. Click here for more fun and fast-track ideas for launching DiSC in your organization.

How do I convince leadership that DiSC is worth the time investment?

Frame it in terms of what it replaces, not what it adds. DiSC doesn't add to your leadership team's calendar. It makes the meetings, conversations, and decisions they're already having more effective. When leaders prepare for interactions using DiSC data or Catalyst, when managers use Worksmart to handle feedback and conflict more skillfully, when teams use Conversation Starters instead of another unproductive meeting, the time investment pays for itself in better outcomes and fewer fires to put out.

🔥 An Energy Booster for Your and Your Teams

Here's a quick exercise that will hopefully change how you think about and spend your day. Go to your Learner Account on Catalyst at www.catalyst.everythingdisc.com. Click on Workplace, then select What Drives You. Scroll down until you see the list under "What Motivates You."

Now, be honest with yourself: how many of those things do you have in your job today? How can you get more of them? Filling your day with activities that align with your motivators will increase your energy, improve your flow, and quite literally help you find more time, because motivated work moves faster than draining work.

Here are my top 5 that I use every day. I use most of these every single day:

• Having independence

• Working with people who have high standards (like you!)

• Working toward challenging goals (both my own and my clients)

• Solving problems (for my clients 😘)

• Providing in-depth analysis (with assessments)

Every day at work is full intrinsic motivation and joy!

Now scroll down to "What's Stressful for You." These are the things that drain your energy, sometimes without you even realizing it.

Here are mine:

• Having little independence or private time

• Being wrong

• Being forced to mingle with strangers

• Following inefficient procedures

• Having my authority challenged

• Dealing with people who don't meet my standards

• Relying on overly emotional or illogical people

• Moderating my quick pace

• Working methodically toward long-term goals

No job is perfect, and you'll always have some stressors baked in. But hopefully, only two or three of your stressors show up regularly, and they take up so little of your time that they don't become truly draining. If that's not the case, it's worth asking yourself some honest questions: What can you eliminate? What can you automate? What can you delegate to someone whose motivators actually align with that task? What can you restructure so it takes up less of your peak energy hours?

Sometimes the biggest time-saver isn't a new tool or a better system. It's simply being intentional about spending more of your day doing the things that fuel you and less of it doing the things that deplete you.

Next week, I'll show you how I manage my stressors very intentionally to keep them from draining me, and I'll share the strategies that helped me reclaim both my time and my energy.

It's Not Really About Time

Here's what I've come to believe: the HR and L&D professionals who feel the most stretched aren't the ones with the most on their plates. They're the ones whose plates are full of things that drain them. When you replace friction with tools that actually work, when you stop building everything from scratch and start leveraging systems designed to do the heavy lifting, something shifts. And, when you start filling your time with your motivators, you don't just get time back. You get energy back. And energy is the thing that actually changes everything.

DiSC doesn't create more hours in your day. But it can make the hours you spend on people more effective, more rewarding, and a lot less draining. And when you're less drained, you show up differently for your teams, your leaders, and yourself.

This is the first in a three-part series on reclaiming your time and energy as an HR and L&D professional. Next week, I'll share my own story of how I got my time (and energy) back, including strategies that have nothing to do with DiSC and everything to do with being honest about what matters most. Then, we'll close the series with practical ideas for re-energizing your teams heading into the second half of the year, just in time for our annual DiSC-a-Palooza virtual event on June 12th. More details coming soon.

🔥 Download: The Everything DiSC Facilitator's Dream Kit for ready-to-use activities, conversation guides, and reinforcement tools.

Everything DiSC, Learning and Development, Personal Growth, Catalyst, Worksmart, Time Management, HR Strategy, L&D Challenges