Tag Archives: personality styles

October 31, 2011

How To Communicate With A Leader With A Different Personality

By Chris LoCurto
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I had a great conversation with a pastor in California about how to deal with a lead pastor whose personality style isn’t the same as yours.

It’s a great question, and truthfully, one most of us deal with. You’re not likely to work for someone with the same personality style you have. While a lot of leaders hire people like them, there’s still enough of a separation that each person’s style is different. Therefore, you need to discover the best way to work with one another. If both are well versed in personality styles and lean in each other’s direction, it’s not as hard. But when they’re not, try this:

  • Get to know you – You have to first get to know you! If you don’t understand yourself, you can’t really understand why you act, react and process the way you do. And the key to giving information is understanding how you receive information. Once you know this, you can adjust your style to better communicate with others — not changing who you are, just adjusting how you communicate.
  • Get to know your leader – A conversation takes two people…for most of us at least. So you need to understand the personality of the person you’re communicating with. How do they give and receive information? At what speed do they process? Do they have tendency to gather all the available information, or do they leave out the details?
  • Get to writing – As you learn the strengths and weaknesses of the person you are communicating with, you can identify the areas that will either help or hurt you. In other words, if you are a high C personality, you need details, and that makes working with a high I personality difficult. They will bring excitement, enthusiasm and motivation, but it’s also possible they will leave out some details that you consider vital. So make a list of the things you need from this person every time you communicate with them. Then check the list off as you go.
  • Get to resolve – Be sure to replay the conversation in your mind and ask yourself if you received all the information necessary for you to be successful. If not, address those points quickly.

As you do this you will set yourself up for success. But you should also work to convince your leader of the need to know their own personality style. Once they understand themselves, they can do a lot of the necessary work.

Question: How have you made adjustments to get what you need from present or past leaders?

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23 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in Leadership, Small Business

October 11, 2011

The Missing Link To Your Communication

By Chris LoCurto
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If you know me well at all you know that I am crazy about understanding personality styles and the people they control. (Insert smiley face icon.) As I always say, if you’ve ever given someone direction on something and they just stand there looking at you with the deer in the headlights look, then you probably think to yourself, “I know this person is not dumb, why don’t they get what I’m saying?”

While we have a tendency to believe that the issue of understanding what we’re saying is the hearer’s fault, the truth is that it’s ours. We give information the same way we receive information. Therefore, if I give someone with a strong detail personality information the way I like it, (short and sweet, and in sound bites) then I am failing to set them up for success.

The reason I’m so passionate about personality styles is that once you understand how people, think, act, react, process, etc., you begin to learn how to some extent you can win with communication. Now hear me correctly on this, I’m not saying that you are a failure, (That’s for all of you high I’s and S’s in the DISC profile) I’m saying that you’re not fully reaching your potential. For example, about 8 years ago I hired a fantastic woman in a very stressful administrative type of role.

Actually it was admin on steroids…and…Jolt Cola. Each time I would give her a project to work on she would look at me funny, leave my office, and in 10 minutes she would be back letting me know that she didn’t understand what to do. After a few months of dealing with the same type of issue, I decided to pull out her DISC profile and read through it immensely. As I did I discovered that I was being a horrible leader.

There was no possible way she could do the projects I asked of her since I had not given her enough information to actually complete the tasks. Once I realized that, and decided to stop thinking of only me, I called her in and explained how bad I was doing as her leader. Without hesitation she said, “um, yeaaaaah…I agree!” Okay, actually she was still processing, but that’s what her eyes were telling me.

This doesn’t just stop at your team members. It carries over to your family, your friends, and your customers. If you don’t see how important that is, stop reading my blog and get back to playing your PlayStation. Even if you have taken the profile, or you’re really smart and you’ve had your team take it, I can tell you that I have met a couple of people out of hundreds who actually understand how to use them correctly.

Question: When have you noticed different personality styles causing communication struggles?

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36 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , | posted in Leadership, Small Business

February 9, 2011

This Job Sucks!

By Chris LoCurto
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Scientology - "Free personality testing&q...

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This past week I had the pleasure of doing a video shoot for our curriculum department. I was asked by the lovely and talented Cheryl Brehm to speak to college freshmen about the importance of using a personality profile to pick a major. I also talked to graduating seniors about how important it is to let their personality style guide them as they choose a specific position within the field that they are about to enter.

You see, there is a high—very high in fact—percentage of people who graduate and enter a chosen field, only to find out that they hate it. Instead of choosing the one thing they are most passionate about, most kids choose a major because it pays well. Only later, they find out that it just doesn’t….fit! And in the mortal words of Johnnie Cochran, “If it doesn’t fit….you must uhhhh quit!”

To me, passion is the most important requirement for a career choice. Find something you are passionate about, then dig really deep to find out about all of the possible positions in that field. You see, liking a certain field isn’t good enough. I may really enjoy the medical field, but that doesn’t mean that I like working with patients….and their blood and stuff. Perhaps I’m really detailed and I would enjoy working in the billing department…which is known to be considerably far away from the blood….and stuff.

So if you’re already in a field that you don’t like and you want to get out, start listing all the things you are passionate about. Then list the fields that would put those passions to work. Now, pick your top two or three and do some serious research to find out details about each available position in those fields.

At this point, a personality test will show you which positions match up with the strengths of your personality type. We use the DISC personality test here, and we love it. If you’re a high D, then you probably want something that’s different every day—a constant challenge. A high I will excel in a position that involves people and excitement. For a high S, consistent responsibilities that provide a service for internal or external customers is ideal. A high C thrives on details and processes.

Now, I teach an hour-long lesson on DISC in EntreLeadership, so it’s considerably more in-depth than I’ve described here. But this is a great start if you’re wondering why you’re doing what you’re doing. It’s possibly that you and your position just don’t fit.If you are enjoying these posts, be sure to click the follow button.

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2 comments   |  tags: | posted in EntreLeadership, Leadership, Small Business

December 17, 2010

Let Me Tell You Something

By Chris LoCurto
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Let me tell you a secret

Image by Ed Yourdon via Flickr

There’s always “that guy” who wants to tell you how your thing needs improvement. How you could have done it better. Why you should change what it is that you’re doing. Okay, it can be “that girl” as well. Whether it be a brother-in-law, a grandmother, a co-worker, a client, or the guy at the end of church service who waits for everyone to leave, so he can correct the pastor on his sermon. No matter who it is, most of us will grit our teeth, or bite our tongue, and say, “Wow, thanks. I really appreciate that!” Okay, maybe there’s one person out there who genuinely likes that time of criticism. Me, not so much!

However, I have discovered in all of my years of leadership, and studying personality styles, that more than not that person is trying to help. I know, you’re like, WHATEVER! But again, most of the time it’s true. They just don’t know how to express it correctly. Okay, maybe correctly is a selfish term. How about, in a way that works for the recipient?

They usually are a high task and detail kind of person who processes differently than most people. The important thing to realize is that if you learn to communicate with this person, you would be amazed at how much they have to offer. In fact, handled correctly, you can build a relationship where they feel needed, and you have someone to give great input into things you might be missing. “Well that just sounds like you’re using them.” It is, if you don’t actually have a heart and care about that person. The truth is, they LOVE to make you look good. They get pleasure out of serving. It’s just that nobody has taken the time to understand them, how they think, how they process, or why they approach situations and opportunities the way they do.

So the next time you come across this person, instead of shooting daggers from your eyes into their skull, take the time to sit down and talk out their suggestion(s) with them. How did they come to it? Why do they see it that way? What other options do they have for solutions? And then ask them if there is anything else they want to share. You will start to see this person in a whole new light. You’ll begin to see an ally instead of an enemy. Trust me…just ask them about it. :)

Have you ever had that person in your life? How did you react?

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Leave a comment   |  tags: , , | posted in EntreLeadership, Leadership, Small Business

November 17, 2010

Personality Styles

By Chris LoCurto
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If you know me well at all you know that I am crazy about understanding personality styles and the people they control. (Insert smiley face icon.) As I always say, if you’ve ever given someone direction on something and they just stand there looking at you with the deer in the headlights look, then you probably think to yourself, “I know this person is not dumb, why don’t they get what I’m saying?”

While we have a tendency to believe that the issue of understanding what we’re saying is the hearer’s fault, the truth is that it’s ours. We give information the same way we receive information. Therefore, if I give someone with a strong detail personality information the way I like it, (short and sweet, and in sound bites) then I am failing to set them up for success.

The reason I’m so passionate about personality styles is that once you understand how people, think, act, react, process, etc., you begin to learn how to some extent you can win with communication. Now hear me correctly on this, I’m not saying that you are a failure, (That’s for all of you high I’s and S’s in the DISC profile) I’m saying that you’re not fully reaching your potential. For example, about 8 years ago I hired a fantastic woman in a very stressful administrative type of role.

Actually it was admin on steroids…and…Jolt Cola. Each time I would give her a project to work on she would look at me funny, leave my office, and in 10 minutes she would be back letting me know that she didn’t understand what to do. After a few months of dealing with the same type of issue, I decided to pull out her DISC profile and read through it immensely. As I did I discovered that I was being a horrible leader.

There was no possible way she could do the projects I asked of her since I had not given her enough information to actually complete the tasks. Once I realized that, and decided to stop thinking of only me, I called her in and explained how bad I was doing as her leader. Without hesitation she said, “um, yeaaaaah…I agree!” Okay, actually she was still processing, but that’s what her eyes were telling me.

This doesn’t just stop at your team members. It carries over to your family, your friends, and your customers. If you don’t see how important that is, stop reading my blog and get back to playing your PlayStation. Even if you have taken the profile, or you’re really smart and you’ve had your team take it, I can tell you that I have met a couple of people out of hundreds who actually understand how to use them correctly.

A fantastic resource is Heidi Lovett with Cool Springs Insights. Trust me when I say you will only advance your efforts immensely by doing this process.

If you are enjoying these posts, be sure to click the follow button.

Also, please share these with your social circles.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Leadership, Small Business

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