Communication Section

Leadership Training Manual

Paul Richardson
Copyright © 2009
 Communication

The Impact of Social Styles

This model is based on the work of Personnel Predictions and Research in

Denver. The model represents people’s strengths and weaknesses in an
attitudinal sense and has nothing to do with intellect or job competence. The
model is based on a four quadrant grid with responsiveness increasing from
top to bottom on the left and assertiveness increasing left to right on the
bottom. Thus the upper right quadrant is low responsive and high assertive.

Low Assertive High Assertive

Low Responsive Low Responsive

Low Assertive High Responsive

High Responsive High Assertive
The social styles in each quadrant are named as follows:

ANALYTICAL DRIVER

“checks” the data “reaches” for goals

indecisive-maybe if I doesn’t take care of

check one more piece people
of data

AMIABLE EXPRESSIVE

“cares” for people “decisive”

doesn’t reach doesn’t check

An obvious conclusion from the chart above is that the opposite diagonal
styles have opposing strengths and weaknesses. Thus, analyticals and
expressives have difficulty communicating because they are “tuned” to
different channels. The same is true of drivers and amiables.

Once people in an organization realize where they are on the grid and where
the other person is, there is the opportunity to try to meet the other person at
least half-way to make sure the communication is robust and fills the needs
of both parties.

A third element of the model is versatility. That is, how “hard-wired” is the
person in his social style? The less versatility, the more difficult to meet the
person because you have to make all of the movement. On the other end of
the scale a person with high versatility is sometimes hard to pin down as
they resemble a chameleon.
Thus, the question is how do you tell your style and the style of those with
whom you are dealing?

There are two basic ways. The first is through assessments. The most
accurate are expensive and involve a 150 question assessment that is given
to 5 people who know you at work, usually a boss, a peer or two and two or
three subordinates. There is a short hand assessment that is much less time
consuming and is usually accurate especially if given to several people who
know you.

The second way and invaluable for dealing with people who haven’t been to
the training or been assessed is to use the person’s “backup” style to
determine their position on the grid. A backup style is the behavior
exhibited when the person is stressed in their work. You could term it
frustration.

BACKUP STYLES

ANALYTICAL DRIVER

“avoids” “autocrat”

AMIABLE EXPRESSIVE

“acquiesces” “attacks”

Thus, if a person seems to become autocratic when goal achievement is

delayed or blocked they are likely a Driver. If a person “goes to the library”
to do more research on an issue that is troubling they are likely an
Analytical. If a person in a situation where a stressful disagreement says,
“OK, whatever you say, just reduce the pressure,” they are likely Amiable.
If a person is frustrated by lack of decisive action and “attacks” it is likely
they are Expressive.
However, you need to be careful because if the first level backup response
doesn’t result in lower stress/frustration people move to the next level of
backup. For example, if becoming autocratic doesn’t solve the problem for
the driver he will move to the backup style of the analytical which is avoid.
If that doesn’t resolve things and the stress continues to build he will move
diagonally to the backup style of the expressive which is attack. And if that
doesn’t resolve things, he will move to the backup style of the amiable
which is acquiesce. If a person gets into 4th level backup for very long get
the people with the straight jackets and white coats ready because they are so
far from their comfort zone that a breakdown is likely imminent.

Social Style 1st Backup 2nd Backup 3rd Backup 4th Backup
Driver autocrat avoid attack acquiesce
Analytical avoid autocrat acquiesce attack
Amiable acquiesce attack avoid autocrat
Expressive attack acquiesce autocrat avoid

Therefore, the social styles model if you are observant and sensitive to the
position of the other person can greatly facilitate better communication with
much less misunderstanding.

Other Communication Issues

• Stereotyping—consider the person not their background based on

race, religion, sex, gender, etc. Often people have more to contribute
than you might think at first blush. Give them a chance.

• Just because you don’t like a person’s profession, doesn’t mean that
they don’t have something to contribute to the situation at hand.
People are usually not one-dimensional “Johnny One-Notes” so learn
what people have to contribute.

• Listening is perhaps the most underappreciated skill. If you listen

carefully you will learn more than discussing when you are talking a
high percentage of the time. Silence on your part can often cause the
other person to talk to fill the void. You can learn a lot that way.
• Be Objective—You need the truth to do a good job. Be eager to
accept the truth even if it isn’t what you want to hear. Otherwise you
just waste time in denial delaying the time when corrective action can
begin.

• MBWA—Management By Wandering Around is a wonderful help to

communication. When you meet people on their own turf they are
more at ease and more likely to communicate in a straightforward
manner. You can learn far more than you could by sitting in your
office reading reports.