Working Styles Affect How People Interact

Branch Manager’s Letter
January 17, 2008 | COMMENTS

Your working style (social style) is a particular pattern of behaviors that are exhibited in everyday interactive situations. Working style is not the same thing as personality. It refers only to surface behaviors—a person's observable actions.

“Besides identifying your own working style, it helps if you can recognize other people's styles,” maintains Richard Peterson, owner of Financial Training Associates in Summit, New Jersey. “Work and personal relations are smoother when you recognize working styles. People are more comfortable with and like dealing with people who are like them. That's why interactions usually work out better when you match the other person's style.”

The Four Styles

The concept of working styles (social styles) was originally developed in the 1960s by industrial psychologist Dr. David Merrill and was based on his studies in observable behaviors. Merrill and Roger H. Reid, founders of TRACOM, developed the Social Style Model™ as a tool for understanding our basic behaviors and the impact we have on others. It is the most rigorously tested and practical approach for identifying and building interpersonal skills in business settings.

Most people behave in a way that will reflect one style most of the time. However, there is no “best” style. Your style is based on two dimensions of human behavior: assertiveness and responsiveness. A combination of your assertive and responsive tendencies reveals your style. Although most people have characteristics of each style, each person has a dominant style and that style influences the way he or she behaves. The four styles are:

• Analytical — serious, exacting, logical, values accuracy and facts
• Driver — independent, practical, formal, values actions and results
• Expressive —animated, forceful, impulsive, values approval and spontaneity
• Amiable — dependable, open, supportive, values security and relationships

Knowledge That Pays

The people you interact with fall into two general categories: those who think and behave similarly to you, and those who don't. If you want to be successful in your relationships, you will learn how to work with both groups—particularly the ones who think and act differently than you do.

“You may disagree with the other person's style, but that is their style,” Peterson says. “You can eliminate a lot of friction when you understand that working styles influence how people respond to each other.”

The good news is that people can adapt to other styles, and as a result, improve how they relate to others. Listening closely and observing carefully during the first few minutes of meeting someone new gives you an idea of how to treat the person. When you recognize another person's basic style, it can help you connect with him or her more quickly. Developing this skill can improve communications, problem resolution, teamwork, and sales.

“Sales is really where you want to adapt your style to the client's style,” says Peterson. Here's a good example: You're working with a real driver. The person is good at making quick decisions—the decisions may not always be right, but the person makes them quickly. You're trying to talk with the person about opening an investment account. You're being friendly and trying to make idle chit-chat. The driver doesn't want to hear it. The person only wants to know: Which fund do you recommend? Give me the facts. The driver doesn't want to hear about what you did over the weekend.

This story appeared in Branch Manager's Letter at www.branchmanagersletter.com and is reprinted with permission.