Personality Styles in business

As a leader, we hire people and put them in positions in our company.  Think about who you have in a given department – the manager and the team members.  If you look at it through the lens of the Personality Styles we have been talking about, you can understand why the department has the culture it does.  

You need Thinkers in accounting for example, but some maybe Thinker/Relaters and some are Thinker/Directors.  Maybe your next hire you need a Thinker who has some Director in them to take charge and drive projects through to completion or to speed things up.

Maybe you have a department that has a flat culture and you need to hire a Socializer to liven things up.  But then again, the Socializer may be rejected because they are “out there, loud and disruptive” according to the rest of the team.

Years ago I had a Sales Manager who was a Relater – a real pussycat.  Everyone loved him.  But over time they realized they could ignore him and he wouldn’t discipline them.  He just could not have hard conversations because he avoided conflict and looked for the good in every situation – to a fault.  Eventually, he lost all influence with the sales team.

So I had to let him go and I hired the opposite – a Director.  He was a hard driving guy who had principles and stuck to them.  He expected performance and discipline and he got it.  At first the big change was actually welcomed by the team.  They liked how he stood for something and felt he would lead them to greater heights.  He did – for a while.  But then the same problem (but opposite) crept in.  They began to resent his rigid take-no-prisoners style.  He lost his credibility and thus his ability to influence the team.

Why did these two guys fail?  No behavioral flexibility.  They were rigid.  While their styles were necessary and good at the beginning, they weren’t treating people differently based on THEIR styles.  Over time, they lost them.  

As a leader, you have to be very flexible.  You have to know what touch is needed now.  You have to get rapport sometimes.  Other times you have to LEAD the team to a different mindset than they have now.  If you just match everyone all the time, you can never lead them to a better place by drawing them out of their comfort zones.

It’s like a bank account with people.  Make deposits as often as you can, so that when you need to make a withdrawal, you have credit.

In sales, you work to get rapport so that when it comes time to close the sale, you can change you body language and voice, and they follow you.  You sit up straighter and your voice goes from more enthusiastic during the presentation to low and slow when you ask the closing question with confidence.

Leadership is influence.  Connecting with a wide variety of people allows you to influence them – because they are open to it.