MEASUREMENT UNDERSTANDING
PEOPLE OR TASK
People tend to be either more interested in people relationships in general, or they are more interested in facts and task. It is not that people-oriented individuals are not interested in accomplishment, or that task-oriented individuals are not interested in people--it is a matter of what is the primary motivation, the key or principal issue that concerns them. PEOPLE ORIENTATION
Those who are more interested in people relationships see their world as it applies to other people. That is, their interests, concerns, and motivation is involved with people. To them, people are more important than task, that is, more important that doing or accomplishing something. If people are injured, feelings hurt, careers damaged, or other problems result, then the accomplishment or achievement of the task is not worthwhile. As a result, their motivation stems around people first, task or achievement second. TASK ORIENTATION
Those who are more interested in task accomplishment than people relationships see their world as it applies to results, achievement and accomplishment. That is, their interests, concerns, and motivation is involved in the process, the results, the "bottom line." To them, getting the job done is more important than the people involved. If a person (or group) is negatively affected by the accomplishment of the task, they will get over it. The "bottom line", after all, is what matters. FAST PACED OR SLOW PACED
People can be divided, more or less, into the pacing of their lives. That is, some people are oriented toward working fast, speaking, talking and moving fast, while others live at a slower pace, and proceed more cautiously in life. FAST-PACED PEOPLE
Fast-paced people are motivated and driven by the attitude of "let's get in, get it done, and get onto the next t hing." As a result, their world moves quite quickly, that is, their actions, thoughts, and speech are usually in high gear, their movement is toward results or completion, and they often get a lot done in a short period of time. They are often not as concerned about quality of effort as in quantity of effort. SLOW-PACED PEOPLE
Slow-paced people are motivated and driven by the attitude of "take you8r time and get it right the first time." They believe that caution and evaluation are the most important path to success and accomplishment. To them, "haste makes waste" and they often react negatively (either inwardly or outwardly) to quick action and decisions, believing something of importance may well be overlooked in the process. CONTROLLING OR NON-CONTROLLING
Some people want to be in charge, they prefer to give direction than take direction, they consider the issues or task at hand and want to direct how it should done and accomplished. Non-controlling people have little desire to be the decision-maker, willing to let others lead. CONTROLLING PEOPLE
Controlling people want to be in charge and usually take charge. They do not sit back and let others decide their fate or the way things should be done. Rather, they assume it is their right to lead and do so. If they are in a subordinate role to someone, they serve or work best with someone who is fast-paced and controlling themselves and lead out strongly toward effective accomplishment. Fast-paced people are often categorized as leaders, go-getters, accomplishers and, in the negative as "know-it-alls", aggressors, and autocrats or dictators. NON-CONTROLLING PEOPLE
Non-controlling people rarely want to be in charge, though sometimes they are thrust into that position. Typicallly, however, their tendency is to defer to others, usually another with a stronger, more controlling and faster-paced nature. Non-controlling people are often categorized as followers, worker bees, evaluators and, in the negative, slow-pokes, dissenters, and feet-draggers. UNDERSTANDING COMBINATIONS
The important thing to keep in mind is that no person is only one thing or just a simple combination but, rather, a combination of attitudes, beliefs and behaivors which are often at odds with one another. This frequently leads to difficulty in understanding, working and living with people.
COMPATIBLE COMBINATIONS
Compatible combinations are those behaviors which compliment one another in an individual. As an example, you would not want a take charge person to be slow-paced, cautious, and over-analytical (unless you were difusing a bomb). We expect take charge people to get in and get the job done. At the same time, we do not want a get-in-and-get-it-ver-with ty pe of person handling our accounting where methodical evaluation is the main need.
Therefore, we find in people that certain categories of behavior tend to go together. As an example, slow-paced people tend to be non-controlling, while fast-paced people tend to be highly controlling. To further illustrate this, take the following occupations--while there may be, and probably are, exceptions, the tendency would hold true most of the time in these few representative examples: Accountants: slow-paced, non-controlling, methodical, cautiously accurate, task- or job-oriented more than people-oriented.
Banker: slow-paced, evaluative, methodical, task-oriented
Beautician: slow-paced, people-oriented, controlling, talker
Computer Programmer: task-oriented, driven by accuracy, methodical, analytical, and evaluative.
Engineer: slow-paced, task-oriented, methodical, driven by accuracy
Mechanic: slow-paced, task-oriented, methodical, evaluative
Newspaper Reporter: aggressive, controlling, task-oriented, fast-paced
Stock Broker: fast-paced, controlling, reactive, task-oriented
Salesman: fast-paced, controlling, big-talker, people-oriented, story-teller, directive
Teacher: slow-paced, controlling, people-oriented, evaluative, analytical
Traffic Cop: slow-paced, aggressive, task-oriented, controlling EXCEPTIONS TO EVERY RULE
The above is not to say you would not find a people-oriented, fast-paced traffic cop, or a non-controlling teacher, or a fast-paced beautician. What is being suggested is, if you were to evaluate ten accountants, you would probably find that 7 or 8 of them fit the explanaton above.
Even exceptions follow some rules of behavior. As an example, Math Teachers would tend to have different behaviors than Political-Science teachers, or elementry teachers have different behaviors than college professors. Or an indoor computer hardware salesman would tend to have different behaviors than a used car salesman. TYPING BEHAVIOR
The key is to observe a person and see how they tend to act most of the time in given situations. Pacing (fast or slow) is easy to observe, as is Controlling and people-orientation. However, one must know what to observe and how it affects an overall evaluation.
As an example, a husband may already know in his mind what his wife is like, therefore, any evaluation would be slanted toward the predisposition toward her; an employee may already have strong feelings about his or her boss; a person may dislike certain types of people, or people in certain types of occupations. To successfully evaluate a person's behavior, that behavior and nothing else must be observed and understood. THE KEY
The Key, of course, is to know what to do about your observations. If you can evaluate a person by observing enough behaviors, then you can determine how that person prefers to be treated and interacted with. Whether a subordinate, a boss, a customer, spouse, or a neighbor, once you have determined their behavioral tendencies, you can choose what to do about it. IMPORTANCE OF UNDERSTANDING BEHAVIOR
To a sightless person, knowing exactly where unchanging furniture is located in a room is essential for injury-free movement. To a Big League baseball pitcher knowing the tendencies of a hitter is essential to his pitching success. To anyone, knowing how a person wants to be treated in a specific behavioral manner is essential for succesful and effective interaction. HOW WE HELP YOU TYPE BEHAVIOR
We show people how to observe, evluate, and understand observable behaivor in other people. We also provide the keys to knowing how to interact with different behavioral styles. Such interaction does not involve changing your own behavior, your own way of thinking, or your own way of dealing with people--it merely shows how altering different tendencies in that interaction can reap huge results. Ultimately, how a person chooses to interact with another person is solely their own decision. We merely provide alternative methods of interaction given certain situations that is geared to result in improved relations. Whether wanting to improve business relationships, social interaction, or family relations, knowing how to treat someone the way they want to be treated is the most practical method of achieving results with and through other people.
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