Most style-based training programs—whether it’s DISC, Myers-Briggs, or systems based on colors or letters—are designed to create intrigue, not impact. People learn the traits associated with each style, receive a detailed report describing who they are, and then nothing changes.
Sound familiar?
The problem isn’t the model. It’s how it’s taught. Most training programs teach personality styles as if they exist in isolation. They introduce the styles, list their characteristics, show people how to interpret their graphs, and then move on. And surprise, the styles fade away in a day or two.
The key is to teach the styles so people can make positive changes in their behaviors and lives, not just understand a model.
Enter the spider. Imagine a spider’s web. Every strand crosses with others—it’s interconnected.
Spidering is a psychological principle where you don’t teach a concept in isolation. Instead, you connect it to something the learner already knows and then expand from there. You create a web, not a list.
Most personality training skips this entirely. Instead of anchoring the styles to real-life behaviors and situations, people learn, “Here are the traits.” “Here’s how they score.” “Here’s what the graph means.”
This new information becomes a stand-alone strand of knowledge. But that’s not how people learn. People learn by making connections. The key is to link the styles to the behaviors they show every day—how they communicate, listen, make decisions, take risks, handle disagreements, and manage their time.
When you connect a new skill to an existing behavior, the new skill becomes triggered whenever you display that behavior. In neuroscience, we say, “What wires together, fires together.”
For example, imagine a training program with a group of managers. The trainer links the styles to giving and receiving feedback. The next time they give feedback, the styles are triggered. They might think, “This person is a logical and precise Owl, so I need to give them a lot of detail.”
Without spidering, the styles remain as a collection of traits. Learners understand that the Owl is logical and detail-oriented. But so what?
Spidering turns the styles from mere knowledge into practical skills.
If you want to make an impact, stop teaching styles just as traits and start connecting them to the behaviors people show every day.
Insight that isn’t connected isn’t remembered. Insight that is connected gets applied.
About Merrick Rosenberg
Merrick Rosenberg is the creator of the Eagle, Parrot, Dove, and Owl personality framework and author of Personality Intelligence: Master the Art of Being You. As an award-winning speaker and founder of Take Flight Learning, Merrick has helped hundreds of thousands of people unlock the power of personality styles to transform their communication, leadership, and relationships. He’s on a mission to make self-awareness accessible, fun, and unforgettable.
