Most people's basic styles are set during childhood, and it's very difficult to make a substantive change in style. What's far easier to handle, though, is to find out what behaviors in the different quadrants can most heavily impact on others. Read the following descriptions that apply to you. Then, modify those that you know you've had problems with on a situation-by-situation basis.
High D
You are impatient and don't give others an opportunity to think and to assimilate. You tend to be impulsive, to blow up when things go wrong, but you get over your anger fast.
(This behavior is a disaster with a High S. The High S will brood about it and not get over hurt feelings.) You may fail to consult or share. You are probably a one-way communicator-you tell, not ask, and are a poor listener. You may not be sensitive to the feeling and needs of others. You may try to dominate and override others, or to intimidate them.
You may be too blunt.
High I
You are too global-and you may find detail difficult. You may act without thinking, be too optimistic. You may be perceived as too talky, too superficial. You may not give other people an opportunity to respond. You like people and may trust too much. You probably give poor directions. You may not listen enough and may cut others off because they don't respond quickly. You tend to "wing it," to go off on tangents. You may be too outgoing, too effervescent.
High S
You may be seen as too indirect, as lacking conviction, or as not forceful enough. You may spend too much time on tasks and lack a sense of urgency. You may be too slow to respond, and too patient. You may spend too much time listening and not enough time asking or telling. You may be stubborn or clam up when pushed.
High C
You may talk too deliberately concentrate too much on details and the "small" picture. You want everything in exactly the right form, which others may view as picky. You may move too slowly and cautiously. You want things written rather than told. You will ask (and ask) rather than tell. You may be too sensitive to possible slights, yet be critical of faults in others.
Business Needs All Communications Styles
A well-rounded organization needs all communications styles represented for balance and productivity: High D's for their goal orientation and attention to the bottom line; High Ts for their people skills, intuitive understanding of the effect decisions will have on the people involved, and their ability to sell ideas and get commitment from others; High S's for their calmness, their unflappability, their personal commitment and their ability to work well with almost anyone (they also are usually able to concentrate well on the task at hand); and High C's to keep the organization "honest." High C's are concerned about details, about risk, about possible problems and often come up with the tough "what if questions. They are also needed for their diplomacy and tact. Both the High S and the High C communicators are stabilizers, and help keep the group on track.
Unfortunately, many organizations are not balanced as far as communications styles are concerned. Decision-makers far too often "clone" themselves-they hire people with the same communication style that they have because they have had no trouble talking to them,
Determining Personal Stress
Unemployment is obviously a time of considerable stress for everyone. Anything you can do to lessen your internal stress will make it easier for you to concentrate on the important elements of your job search.
In making your choices for your communications style, you have already shown whether you are stressing yourself in the communications area. The differences between the respective scores on the M and L profiles/scores show whether you are under minimum, average or high levels of stress.
To explain the kinds of stress the executive in the example is undergoing: The basic underlying style of this executive is a High I one (the private concept). But this person feels that to be successful, he must be aggressive and assertive, so he pushes this aspect of his personality-which is already in the "average" range. (Incidentally, pushing for High D characteristics is difficult, almost impossible, for those people whose underlying D scores are below 50. They could project a High D behavior for a short period of time, but could not maintain it for long without causing personal stress. What they should do is to determine when the High D behavior is absolutely essential, use it when they identify that type of situation, and immediately drop the behavior.)
But what he is doing with his basic High I characteristics is especially revealing. In this instance, the executive is basically an outgoing person who really likes people. But to be successful, he feels that he must hold back on this behavior. Almost invariably, reducing one's outreach to people has come through bitter experience. The individual trusted someone or something too much, and was sadly disappointed.
Executives often try to change the S scale. On the Private Concept profile, this executive has an extremely low S rating, which generally reflects a perception of time. He probably moves quickly to get things done and is very active. But the higher rating in the Projected Concept suggests that he is trying to be more patient, to be less demanding of the people he's managing (or was managing). He's trying to cut down on his expectations that people "get things done yesterday." Since this executive is unemployed, it could also mean that he's trying to be more patient in a situation in which he is not in control and can't hurry the results.
Finally, the C changes may tell either or both of two things: the executive is trying to become less independent (the higher the C score, the greater the dependence), and/or he is trying to pay more attention to details to be sure that nothing falls through the cracks.
Now, compare the D, I, S, and C percentile scores on your projected concept and private concept profiles, and calculate the differences. You are concerned with absolute differences, not plus or minus differences. Add the D differences, theI differences, the S differences and the C differences to determine your stress points. If your stress points are in the medium high to high range, take a good hard look at the projected concept to see whether you need to stress yourself. If the answer is yes, then ask yourself further: Do you need to stress yourself all the time, or can you be situational?
