Leading and Motivating People with Different Personalities

What is personality?

Personality
Unique way someone navigates the world; consists of thoughts and behavior

Five Personalities
Openness to Experience
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Neuroticiscm (emotional stability)

How high or low are you in a specific trait? Consider the sample size – you can’t make an assessment in a day or in a week.

What motivates people?

Motivation
The things that drive people, regardless of how they are feeling in the moment.

Three times of motivation.

Power Motivation
Degree to which you want to have influence over other people.

Affiliation Motivation
Degree to which you want to be with other people.

Achievement Motivation
Degree to which people are motivated b winning or racking up accomplishments.

Understanding the psychology of personality and motivation

Persuasion:
Process of getting someone to change their behavior.

Change the way people think and feel (internal) in order to change their behavior (external).

Create a general persuasive message when speaking to a group. Tailor your message when conducting one-on-one meetings to motivate specific individuals.

Leading extroverts

Extroverts

• Get energy from social interactions
• Tend to be talkative and assertive
• Not afraid to advocate for their ideas

Suitable roles for extroverts include: Business Development, Sales, and Reception.

One of the most interesting tings about extroverts is that they tend to process verbally or think out loud, so you end up getting passing thoughts instead of true commitments.

Working with Extroverts

• Clarify commitments and next steps
• Allow them to persuade themselves
• Ask open-ended questions

Leading introverts

Common myth is that introverts dislike social interactions.

Introverts

• Tend to gain more energy from their inner life
• Tend to process on a deeper level in silence

If you are waiting for a response, take that time to count.

Working with Introverts

• Connect privately

Leading ambiverts

Ambivert
Someone who falls between introvert and extrovert.

Working with Ambiverts

• Pay attention to your timing
• Break conversations into smaller pieces

Ambiverts are regularly mislabeled as extroverts.

Leading highly agreeable people

Agreeable People:

• Friendly
• Polite
• Enjoy working with others
• Helpful
• Empathetic
• Trusting
• Optimistic
• See the best in others

Agreeable people like to be liked. They may avoid disagreeing with you to avoid conflict.

Ask questions such as “What are your concerns?” or “What would you like to change?” or “What problems do you see?”

Create a safe space for engagement. Agreeable people may not feel comfortable sharing their feedback in a group setting if they have an unpopular opinion.

Leading disagreeable people

Disagreeable people

• Tend not to care whether or not you like them
• Tend to be suspicious or pessimistic

The challenge is that they might deliver the message in a way that is abrasive. Don’t take it personally.

Expect disagreeable people to require more effort. Put the disagreeable people in positions where they’ll succeed.

Make sure the other people in the group understand their role is to think critically.

Leading people with varying levels of conscientiousness

Conscientious People

• Reliable
• Dependable
• Organized
• Responsible

Conscientious people tend to excel with consistency. They tend to resist anything that might threaten their reliability.

Working with High-Conscientious People

• Use targeted open-ended questions.
• Focus on the big picture.

Working with Low-Conscientious People

• Create structure without being too restrictive.
• Work together to create a framework of expectations that work for them.

Leading people who are high and low in emotional stability

Neuroticism
How much a person is going to experience negative emotions.

People with High-Neuroticism

• Worry
• Fear
• Anxiety

People with Low-Neuroticism

• Cool
• Calm
• Collected

People low in neuroticism tend to operate without a sense of urgency. People high in neuroticism tend to operate with concern. During the first conversation focus on empathizing, building trust and gathering information.

Leading people with varying levels of openness to experience

High Openness to Experience

• Receptive to new ideas and activities
• Enjoy trying new things
• Intellectually curious

These people tend to excel in brainstorming and ideation.

Working with Openness to Experience

• Invite them into the planning process.
• Get them to commit to following.
• Pre-negotiate troubleshooting

Low Openness to Experience

• Don’t like change
• Tend to be more rigid

Frame things as a slight deviation from the norm.

Motivating competitive people

Achievement Motivated
Desire to perform at a high level, acquire new skills, and experience “wins”.

Stories they tell about themselves will give you a good hint about their motivation. Words like; win, lose, earn and gain, provide insight into an achievement motivation.

Frame your message in terms of how it’s a win for them. Determine what they care about.

Keep in mind that they may also not be timely or may be disorganized, this means that they might be low in conscientiousness, so order and timeliness don’t come naturally. However, they might be competitive and a high achieve. The goal is to connect organization and timeliness to their goals.

Achievement motivated people don’t enjoy the prospect of failure.

Motivating those who seek influence

Power Motivated
Desire to have influence over others.

Power Motivated People

• May stifle discussion
• Tend to promote their own ideas
• Tend to be persuasive

Creating a group decision-making process where everyone’s ideas are heard. Persuade them to be more effective in their current role.

Motivating affiliation-oriented people

Affiliation Motivation
Desire to interact with others

This is different from introversion and extroversion. Provide plenty of opportunities for interaction.

Motivating promotion and prevention-focused people

Prevention-Focused

• Risk-averse
• Focus on safety and protection

Ask them to describe their concerns.

Promotion-Focused

• Motivated by gains
• Seek accomplishments
• Move aggressively toward goals

Acceptance Speech Test – “This is a win for you because it puts you on the fast track to the VP position you’ve been looking for.”