Has anyone described you recently as sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholic or choleric? We may not use these terms as common descriptors anymore, but these are the personalities that Hippocrates categorized.
While it is important to recognize your own personality traits and those around you, it is also important to recognize communication styles. The problem is that, while personalities are generally fixed, a person’s communication style can change with circumstances.
For a productive office to function at its peak, you need to:
- Understand personality traits
- Recognize basic communication styles of your co-workers
- Be aware of circumstances that may temporarily alter communication styles
Modern communication styles are grouped into four categories:
- Expressive–high energy, big picture, enjoy heated or opinionated discussions
- Systematic–stick to facts and the small details, avoid conflict
- Sympathetic–all about people and building relationships, good listeners, do not like conflict
- Direct–to the point, big picture, managing lots of projects,
You often easily place the people around you into one of these groups. There are two challenges after recognizing distinctive styles in an individual:
- How you adjust your style and your response to get the most from working with this person
- How to recognize when a situation is causing that individual to respond in an uncharacteristic manner
Regardless of what terms you might use, a good manager may intuitively adapt. However if you are finding that there is often more conflict than ideal for a productive environment, it might be good to review your approach. With whom are you having difficulties? Has anything changed?
Sometimes just a new awareness and acknowledgment can make the difference in getting things back on track.
