Understanding The Four Personality Types

The techniques and principles of persuading and influencing different types of people

are core to most management training courses covering managerial negotiation skills. If these principles of persuasion (sometimes called "selling") are used consistently by the manager then more negotiations will succeed than by adopting a more random approach. But why should one approach work with one colleague or team member, but leave another disinterested? The answer is to do with the individual's personality. The art of persuasion is all about people, and because of this nothing works with everybody all of the time. We need to address different people in different ways, tailoring our approach or behaviour to best fit the style of the individual we are talking to. Therefore, part of our task as a professional manager is to identify what type of character our colleagues and team members are, so enabling us to tailor our approach to be more persuasive. So, what are the different types of personality?

The basis of the FACE model, as taught on management training programmes, is to analyse a person's personality using two interacting scales. Firstly, how assertive they are, then how emotional they are. The FACE model can, therefore, be depicted as a grid or matrix containing four distinct quadrants. Each quadrant represents a different personality type. So, for example, someone who is, say, both highly assertive and highly emotional would be labeled as the 'Extrovert' personality type and would appear in the upper right quadrant of the FACE matrix.

It should be stressed, however, that no one is exclusively just one personality type. We all move around the FACE matrix from time to time. Having said this, we do spend between 65% and 72% in one particular quadrant and this is known as our natural style.

Let's look at each quadrant in turn. First, the "Friendly" personality who is an emotional and responsive individual. Essentially they are influenced by the needs of other people because they are people orientated. They value relationships with other people highly and find confrontation very hard to handle. They are good team members and will often turn to their colleagues to have a decision supported. Change disagrees with them - they seek security in the form of leaving things as they are. Speed of decision making can be extremely slow.

The next personality in the FACE model is the 'Analytical', described as unemotional and responsive. The outstanding characteristic of this person is their appetite for information. Their decision making process is based on facts and logic. They are methodical - everything is done in a rational way. When making judgments or criticising, because they are unemotional, they are relaxed.

The main characteristic of the unemotional assertive personality, which the FACE model refers to as the 'Commander' is action - this personality type gets stuff done quickly. The final result is frequently of higher importance than the means of achieving it - so if a few egos get dented along the way, so be it. The 'Commander' is very time conscious and highly organised. They must be in control, can be stubborn and also a poor listener.

The last person we come to in the FACE model is the 'Extrovert', defined as both emotional and assertive. They are outgoing and like to be in the midst of what is going on. They enjoy taking risks, such as trying out new things, and are impulsive. However, they do not deal with criticism well - being recognised for achievement is what turns them on. They want to see the big picture. Details bore them.

The real benefit of management training that includes the FACE model is that by knowing how each person thinks and acts we can alter our approach and so become more effective as managers.

by: Richard Stone

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