How to identify the four personality types that reside in every boardroom

If you are a regular visitor to my blog, you will know that we have recently been developing a new set of leadership programs and this has led me to further investigate what I call “Personality Types” and Merrill & Reid calls “Social Styles” in his excellent book “Know social styles”.

There are four personality types or social styles: analytical, driving, expressive, and kind, and all four have their own unique approach to business, their own language and thought processes, etc. As a consequence, the best sales professionals have become adept at recognizing which personality they are dealing with and adapting their approach and communication style accordingly.

In every boardroom, you’ll always find three of the four personality types, occasionally all four: I’ve figured out over the years which personality is likely to fill which position on the board, but more on that later.

Driver:

Let’s start by looking at the Driver features. Drivers are action and goal oriented, they need to see results and have a quick reaction time. They are decisive, independent, disciplined, practical and efficient. They typically use facts and data, speak and act quickly, lean forward, point, and make direct eye contact. Their body posture is usually rigid and they have controlled facial expressions.

They rarely want to waste time on personal or foreplay talks and can be perceived by other styles as domineering or harsh and stern in pursuit of a goal. They are comfortable in positions of power and control and have business offices with certificates and awards on the wall. In times of stress, drivers can become autocratic.

the analytical:

Analyticals care about being organized, having all the facts, and being careful before acting. Their need is to be exact, to be right. accurate, orderly, methodical, and in accordance with standard operating procedures, organizational rules, and historical ways of doing things. They generally have a slow reaction time and work more slowly and carefully than drivers. They are perceived as serious, hardworking, persistent and demanding.

They are usually task oriented, use facts and data, tend to speak slowly. lie down and use your hands often. They do not make direct eye contact and control their facial expressions. Others may see them as uptight, indecisive, judgmental, picky, and self-righteous. They are comfortable in positions where they can check facts and figures and be sure they are right. They have clean, well-organized offices, and in times of stress, analytics tend to avoid conflict.

the expressive:

Expressive enjoy participation, emotion and interpersonal action. They are sociable, stimulating, enthusiastic and know how to involve and motivate others. They are also idea oriented. they have little concern for routine, are future-oriented, and generally have a quick reaction time. They need to be accepted by others, they tend to be spontaneous, outgoing, energetic, friendly and focused on people rather than tasks. They usually use opinions and stories instead of facts and data. They speak and act quickly; vary your vocal inflection, lean forward, point, and make direct eye contact.

They use their hands when they talk; have a relaxed body posture and an animated expression. Their feelings often show on their faces and are perceived by others as excitable, impulsive, undisciplined, dramatic, manipulative, ambitious, overly reactive, and selfish. They typically have disorganized offices and may have leisure equipment such as golf clubs or tennis rackets. Under stressful conditions, expressives tend to resort to personal attack.

And Finally – The Friendly:

The kind need cooperation, personal security and acceptance. They feel uncomfortable and will avoid conflict at all costs. They value personal relationships, helping others and loved ones. Some Kind Ones will sacrifice their own desires to gain the approval of others. They prefer to work with others in a team effort, rather than individually, and have a slow reaction time and little concern for making changes. They are generally friendly, supportive, respectful, willing, dependent, and agreeable. They are also people oriented.

They use opinions instead of facts and data, speak slowly and softly, use more vocal inflection than Drivers or Analyticals. They lean back while talking and do not make direct eye contact; they also have a casual posture and lively expression. They are perceived by other styles as conforming, insecure, collapsing, dependent, and clumsy. They have home offices: family photos, plants, etc. A Kind’s reaction to stress is to comply with others.

The first reaction of most people after reading the four profiles is to believe that they fit into more than one category and this is absolutely correct. However, everyone has a dominant style and no one should believe that they fit into more than two because they don’t. Let me explain why:

The social styles model:

It’s not possible to illustrate with a diagram here, so imagine two boxes on top of two other boxes, or if you prefer, a window with four panes. At the top left is the Analytical, at the top right the Controller, directly below them in the bottom right corner is the Expressive. Finally, directly below Analytic, sitting in the lower left corner is Friendly

Note where each style is placed, because this is important. The people you probably find it most difficult to relate to naturally are your diagonal opposites in the matrix. So you need to study the characteristics of your diagonally opposite social style.

Now what I can share with you is that most professional salespeople are expressive; clearly, they will find it more difficult to engage and communicate with Analyticals. That’s a challenge in itself, because there will always be at least one Analytic within the formal DMU!

What’s even more interesting is that the top 5% achievers (yes, a favorite term I know) are Drivers! As you can see, they have no difficulty getting on the same wavelength as Analyticals, because they are right next to each other, and of course they have total synergy with other Drivers, plus they mesh well with Expressives. But they have little in common with Friendly. Why is that so significant? Well, quite simply, the social style you’re least likely to encounter in a boardroom is… yes, it’s a friendly.

So what social style do the various residents of the boardroom tend to have?

CEOs they are typically controllers, as you would expect.

Financial Directors they tend to be analytical

Sales Directors they are almost always expressive

Marketing Directors they are also expressive

Technical Directors they are almost always analytical

And Finally: In Sales

Level 3Top 5% Achievers, usually Boosters

Level 2Sales professionals tend to be expressive

Level oneEmerging salespeople are almost always Friendly

Of course, it is dangerous to generalize and there will always be exceptions, however, in my experience, I have rarely been wrong in using this concept of personality identification.

Copyright © 2008 Jonathan Farrington. All rights reserved