This is the second post in a four-part series. For other posts in this series, click here.
In the first post of this series, we looked briefly at the industry that has become a mainstay for helping organizations identify, manage and recruit their employees more effectively” the personality assessment. industry.
You didn’t get to this point in your career without picking up some skills at getting along well with others (tweet this thought). So I invite you to spend a little time looking at one author’s ideas on the various personality types so you have a little more insight into dealing effectively with them.
Bob Phillips, a licensed marriage, family and child therapist, published a book in 1989 about the various personality types that all of us encounter in life, the strengths and weaknesses of each, and how best to communicate with them. The book, The Delicate Art Of Dancing With Porcupines: Learning To Appreciate The Finer Points Of Others, is easy to read, and it presents the personality types in a way that makes a lot of sense. It’s fairly short — about 160 pages — and it takes many of the very complex personality types and reduces them into four principal types.
Though we know that any label can’t possibly describe every shade of personality, Philips’s do a pretty good job of giving some insight into the primary, general types of personalities with which we interact every day in the course of our work. Let’s look a little deeper:
The 4 Social Types
Each of Philips’s personality types is a combination of general behavior patterns…
- Asker (someone who thinks, moves and decides slower) vs. teller (someone who thinks, moves and decides faster)
- Relationship-oriented (people who view other people, events and socializing as a major priority) vs. task-oriented (people who view work, projects and things that need to be done as major priorities)
…which combine to make four basic social styles:
- Amiable
- Expressive
- Driver
- Analytical
Let’s take a closer look at each so that when you run into them in the workplace, you have a better chance of relating with them and working with them than before.
Analyticals
Analyticals are those people who have a strong sense of obligation, work ethic and the importance of details and responsibility. (I myself am an Analytical.)
Organization is something that’s easier for Analyticals. They are often loyal and dependable, tend toward excessive worry, and are prone to taking on the “parent” role within an organization or a team. They are the ones who will remind you of important deadlines, the proper focus for the work at hand, the potential risks involved and prior activity related to the work that’s being done. Analyticals tend to be thoughtful, sensitive to others, willing to sacrifice and highly respectful of the ideal. They tend to shy away from pushy people (this is definitely me!), don’t like to make decisions quickly and sometimes feel a bit awkward with interoffice relationships and social situations. These people often believe that they do their best work on their own, not with a team.
Now, before you relegate these people to the sidelines as potentially “stuffy” or incapable of flexibility, know that in order for a team or organization to function at its best, there needs to be at least one Analytical involved because they keep things moving and focus on the goal. You’re going to want someone like this on your team, as they will likely keep team members who tend to be more “free range” within the borders or outline of a project.
Perceptive colleagues will engage Analyticals with facts, capitalize on their dependability and willingness toward self-sacrifice, and utilize their methodical approach to solving problems.
Drivers
Drivers are happiest when they have a purpose — moving toward a goal, rising to challenges and handling competition. They tend to have a passion for knowledge, like to be in charge, are goal-oriented, make quick decisions and are willing to take some risks.
Drivers can work quickly and effectively, but they often prefer to work alone. They share some of the same traits as Analyticals, but Drivers tend to take the lead on projects — not because they have a desire to be in charge, but because they trust themselves more than anyone else to move others toward action. They are fairly intuitive and goal-driven.
You will want one of these on your team, but be aware: it’s often hard for Drivers to admit error, so making course corrections may require some skillful diplomacy.
Amiables
Amiables are strong in relationship-building. They like to work with others, but not necessarily at a fast pace. The journey itself is important to them, not just the goal. They tend to be good counselors, are perceptive, often appear calm — even in stressful situations — and are generally compassionate.
Many Amiables are very good wordsmiths and have a highly influential in their writing style. They are processors of information (thinking carefully before acting) and are somewhat objective observers — carefully listening, watching and contemplating before providing others with their own thoughts on a subject. They’re also patient, easygoing, fairly quiet, often funny and prefer to avoid conflict.
Amiables aren’t “risky” by nature. They can appear indecisive and slow, and some may even seem self-righteous, but in reality, they’re just processing information and are not yet ready to commit. These are the peacemakers, the ones with whom others find it easy to relate, and the people who are focused on the “now” rather than what was or what could be. The world, and not just your team, needs more Amiables.
Expressives
The final group, Expressives, are the social personalities in the office. They like to work with others because it’s from interacting with others that some of their best ideas are generated. They may work quickly or impulsively, and they tend toward a more positive nature. They’re friendly, outgoing and giving, and because they speak more easily with others, they tend to develop fairly strong persuasive skills.
Expressives tend to be intuitive, operating from a feeling level that they can’t always explain. Organization is often difficult for them, so they sometimes need the other personality types to provide the fences for their ideas and work output. They definitely work well in a team setting, as long as someone else on the team provides the direction, and they’re often perceived as valuable for their ability to fill in the blanks in reporting the final results of a team’s work efforts.
Well-rounded teams need Expressives because their input can often provide the human side of things. They are important members of any team, and they can sometimes be quite entertaining, but they may occasionally seem irritating to the other team members.
Placing Your Personality
Did you see yourself in any of these personality descriptions? Perhaps you saw yourself in parts of several.
This is one of the biggest challenges in an over-reliance on any personality test to classify people as one type or another. All of us likely move among these four areas at times depending on the needs of our circumstances (and the coffee, the weather, our medication, the world situation, etc.). There really aren’t strong and clear boundaries between each type. Wise managers will work to include some of each of these types in constructing work teams. However, occasionally the work may require a stronger influence from one group over another, creating the need to have more of one type than another in the team’s makeup.
As an over-50 professional, you’ve probably seen all of these types and have worked (and clashed occasionally) with them. You also likely had the face of someone you know pop into your mind as you thought about each. You know from experience that each of these types has a place in a functioning office or a team, and you’ve probably already developed some skill in working more effectively with each. You also know that you didn’t get to where you are today by relating with only one of these types, as it takes a variety of personality types to make things happen. The advantage that you have as an over-50 professional is that you already know the importance of the ideas of others, and you know you can be more effective in your own role by learning to work successfully with (and understanding the value of) each personality type.
Coming Soon..
In the next part of this series, I want to guide you in looking at the different generations that make up the modern workplace. Because people are currently tending to wait longer to retire, because life expectancy is increasing and because there is a need for a balance of perspectives in any successful organization, there are more generations working together now than ever before. We’ll look at each of the prominent generational groups to see if there are some key points that will help you in working with each as effectively as possible.
Which personality do you identify with the most strongly? Share in the comments!
Image: Photobucket
