nce – “The Fun Way” (12% of the population)
C – Compliance – “The Right Way” (16% of the population)
S – Steadiness – “The Safe Way” (69% of the population)

Of course there aren’t just four styles, as everyone exhibits different levels of each of the four, resulting in an almost infinite number o

At work, and in many out-of-work scenarios, most people need to work as part of a team at some time or another. Sometimes you may wonder just what makes another team-member tick. They probably wonder just the same about you! With personality profiling you can discover how to ensure that Together Everyone Achieves More. Before looking into the relevance of profiling in teams, first a little background.

Introduction

People are different – but they are predictably different. A personality profile helps predict how someone will react in a given situation, helping you understand what motivates them – and what they’re trying to avoid. And they can understand you too. In his book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, Dr Stephen Covey said: “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”

In 1926 Dr William Marston, an expert in behavioural understanding and the inventor of the polygraph (lie-detector), devised a system to understand people’s personality styles. In his book “The Emotions of Normal People” he grouped people according to their active or passive tendencies, dependent upon their view of the environment. The main styles identified are:

D – Drive – “My Way” (3% of the population)
I – Influence – “The Fun Way” (12% of the population)
C – Compliance – “The Right Way” (16% of the population)
S – Steadiness – “The Safe Way” (69% of the population)

Of course there aren’t just four styles, as everyone exhibits different levels of each of the four, resulting in an almost infinite number of

s More. Before looking into the relevance of profiling in teams, first a little background.

Introduction

People are different – but they are predictably different. A personality profile helps predict how someone will react in a given situation, helping you understand what motivates them – and what they’re trying to avoid. And they can understand you too. In his book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, Dr Stephen Covey said: “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”

In 1926 Dr William Marston, an expert in behavioural understanding and the inventor of the polygraph (lie-detector), devised a system to understand people’s personality styles. In his book “The Emotions of Normal People” he grouped people according to their active or passive tendencies, dependent upon their view of the environment. The main styles identified are:

D – Drive – “My Way” (3% of the population)
I – Influence – “The Fun Way” (12% of the population)
C – Compliance – “The Right Way” (16% of the population)
S – Steadiness – “The Safe Way” (69% of the population)

Of course there aren’t just four styles, as everyone exhibits different levels of each of the four, resulting in an almost infinite number o

ey’re trying to avoid. And they can understand you too. In his book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, Dr Stephen Covey said: “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”

In 1926 Dr William Marston, an expert in behavioural understanding and the inventor of the polygraph (lie-detector), devised a system to understand people’s personality styles. In his book “The Emotions of Normal People” he grouped people according to their active or passive tendencies, dependent upon their view of the environment. The main styles identified are:

D – Drive – “My Way” (3% of the population)
I – Influence – “The Fun Way” (12% of the population)
C – Compliance – “The Right Way” (16% of the population)
S – Steadiness – “The Safe Way” (69% of the population)

Of course there aren’t just four styles, as everyone exhibits different levels of each of the four, resulting in an almost infinite number o

evised a system to understand people’s personality styles. In his book “The Emotions of Normal People” he grouped people according to their active or passive tendencies, dependent upon their view of the environment. The main styles identified are:

D – Drive – “My Way” (3% of the population)
I – Influence – “The Fun Way” (12% of the population)
C – Compliance – “The Right Way” (16% of the population)
S – Steadiness – “The Safe Way” (69% of the population)

Of course there aren’t just four styles, as everyone exhibits different levels of each of the four, resulting in an almost infinite number o

nce – “The Fun Way” (12% of the population)
C – Compliance – “The Right Way” (16% of the population)
S – Steadiness – “The Safe Way” (69% of the population)

Of course there aren’t just four styles, as everyone exhibits different levels of each of the four, resulting in an almost infinite number of combinations of the main styles. In fact a profile that showed someone as all one style would be extremely suspect. Your style, for instance, may be a combination of ‘High D’, ‘Medium I’, ‘Fairly C’ and ‘Low S’. No style is inherently ‘Good’ or ‘Bad’, all have positive features.

The aim of profiling is to identify and play to your strengths, while utilising the self-awareness of possible weaknesses. If you choose to share this knowledge with others in the team, and they’re willing for you to study their profiles, real synergy can be achieved.

For instance, in one company most of the employees were sales people – highly motivated and very personable. Everyone worked and got on well together – except that the others found Joe, the warehouseman, slow and difficult to relate to. Personality profiling showed that the salespeople were High D/I people, whereas Joe was High C/S. But armed with this knowledge the profiler asked the salespeople how often their orders were delivered incorrectly. The answer was ‘Almost never’ – at which point Joe’s slow, careful approach could be seen as a virtue and a real asset to the organisation.

Despite taking just seven minutes to complete, the personality profile derived from the combi