Jules wrote a very informative article on Sussing Personalities for the HR Future magazine recently.

She mentions Marcus Buckingham who, in his book ‘The One thing You Need To Know’, indicates that effective managers in this century are the ones who can relate to people as individuals.

She goes on to say that more and more poeple are realising that learning about personalities is not just applicable to those in a managerial field. To quote directly from the article; “Being able to suss the personalities of the people you have conversations with is an extremely useful tool, not to mention that having a deeper understanding of your own personality will equip you with all you need to know about adapting and adjusting when communicating with other people.”. “The point is that the better you understand yourself , the more likely you will be able to adapt, tune in to and read what other people need.”.

The four identified personality types she talks about in the article are:

The ‘driver’, who focuses mainly on acheivements and results before remembering people skills. The best way to manage this personality is to  explain what you mean first in a concise and factual manner, and ensure that you proceed swiftly in a businesslike fashion before you begin trying to build a friendship.

The ‘analytical’ has the same focus on achievement but has a slower reaction time as they are perfectionists who perform tasks in a deliberate and disciplined manner. The best way to approach this personality is to display organisation and patience, and present them with lots of logical and detailed facts in writing.

The ‘amiable’ tends to reject conflict and displays a desire to be accepted as a team member. They are happiest when their tasks and working environment are stable and their relationships harmonious. The way to work best with this type of personality is to support their efforts and accomplishments with personal attention, lots of encouragement and suggestions, and they are fantastic team players.

The ‘expressive’ is impulsive, seeks excitement, acceptance, recognition and attention. To them, relationships and gut feel means more than facts and logic. The best way to handle this personality is to proceed enthusiastically, be stimulating and flexible, yet at the same time, dont comprimise on discipline. Be open about your feelings and opinions and generous in your praise and recognition.

Jules, thanks for another fantastic article - I always love reading what you write! 

In celebration of Madiba….

 ”Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

“Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

“It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.

“We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? 

“Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God. 
Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.

“We are born to make manifest the Glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone, and as we let our light shine we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. 

“As we are liberated from our fear our presence automatically liberates others”.

Madiba

What a special 2 days Tracy and I just had!  We’ve been working with a fabulous team of senior bankers (Hi there Standard Bank!) who are embarking on a journey of change that is never easy for those involved.

But we spent time looking at their own strengths profile, to see what personal resources each person will be able to use to help them to take their people through the process, and what resources can be pooled to make the best use of everybody’s strengths in the team.

Thanks for participating with such courage: our time together felt very rich.  For the ‘Learners and Inputs’ amongst you, (and anyone else interested in taking your thinking deeper on the topics we covered, do read the books ‘The One thing you need to Know’ Marcus Buckingham; and ‘Mind the Gap’ Graeme Codrington.

Please also feel free to click on the comments section for this post: let us know what you’re thinking, how you found the programme, what you learned… You will all be able to see one another’s posts, which will be useful for you all.  (Of course, it lets our other clients know how clever we are, and we’re always grateful for that!)

Good luck on your journey! We hope to be able to support you all some more on that!

Mike Stopforth, our fav blogging guru, popped a lovely article on his blog about how clever companies are using this medium to stimulate interest in their businesses. I thought you’d like a peek!

Oh, and just in case you’re too darn lazy to actually click on the link and read the thing, I’ll give you a heads-up: he mentions US as one of the clever companies!! And if WE don’t tell people when people say we’re clever, then who will??!!

And of course, that is the beauty of blogging, isn’t it??!!!