May you (not) be forever Jung?
People Styles is a simple, cost-free and effective model for thinking about how to adapt your style to others
We’re all different. And yet we are all guilty, from time to time, of expending considerable energy expecting others to be “like” us … or even trying to change them so that they can be so. Having said that, most would agree that accepting and appreciating difference and adapting your style to that of others, so that you get more out of each other one of the foundational skills in life and work…
There are many models which categorise people according to thinking and behavioural preferences, probably the best-known of which are the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), the DISC and the Insights model. These tried and tested models reply upon a self-report questionnaire enabling the user to reveal their psychological preferences. The preferences are based on Jung’s theory that people experience the world using four principal psychological functions: sensation, intuition, feeling, and thinking. The models derive 4, 8 or 16 personality types from the balance between these four underlying preferences.
These models have been extensively validated and, with appropriate knowledge or coaching are highly effective … albeit they come at a cost in terms of time and money as they rely upon the subject filling in a paid questionnaire and sharing the results.
I’d like to introduce an alternative model … somewhat uncreatively called the People Styles Model. The model was first formulated in the early 1960s by researchers looking for meaningful ways to talk about differences and similarities among individuals.
The model describes four fundamental styles (each with four sub-styles so 16 in total) derived from two observable behavioural dimensions (assertiveness and emotional responsiveness).
The four styles (Analytical, Driver, Amiable and Expressive) have been shown to be evenly distributed across the population and correlate strongly to patterns of behaviour in the normal course of events and, importantly, under stress. Researchers followed subjects through many stages of their lives and found that observed behaviour across the two dimensions of assertiveness and emotional responsiveness are constant through life.
The behavioural patterns of each style tend to trigger tension in people (even of the same style). Recognising and adapting to the style-based behaviours of the person you are with helps reduce interpersonal tension, fostering more productive relationships. Since you can’t change your style you’d be well advised to accept it, work with it and recognise its potential impact on others.
With a little practice, everyone can learn to place others in a style type and thereby conceive strategies for dealing with them
The model is one of the oldest and robust models out there, albeit relatively little-known, at least in my experience. My best guess for this lack of awareness is that the model is not commercially monetizable (there is zero cost in performing it) and hence has not benefitted from branding and marketing spend that goes hand in hand with commercial models (which carry a cost per profile).
I won’t attempt here to argue the effectiveness of one of these models over another. They are all effective. From my experience, the quality of outcome from using any model depends more on the individual and collective process of humble inquiry and the desire to effect change than the particular qualities of the model itself.
I can however say, from personal experience, that the Social Styles model is highly effective at catalysing this process of inquiry and would moreover point to the following advantages which make it worthy of consideration:
It costs nothing to perform (except some time to learn the model and perhaps the purchase of the original textbook)
The people Styles Model can be quickly completed by ourselves from observation. This will enable us to quickly establish a strategy for dealing with someone who we do not know well or have recently met, or even remind ourselves how to approach a tricky situation with someone we already know.
Emotions and stress are a feature of the workplace so and model that takes account of styles under stress is particularly useful.
Finally as a rule, we react to people’s behaviours, as opposed than their intentions and sub-conscious thought processes (per the Jungian models). Therefore, isn’t a model which is based on observable behaviours sure to be useful in helping us plan our own behavioural response to a situation?
If this piques your interest, then please contact us for a worksheet or buy the book:
People Styles at Work … Making bad relationships good and good relationship better Bolton and Bolton 1996