Mastering Social Styles

Social styles are our default operating models. Understanding social styles can boost our ability to communicate, negotiate, and collaborate with diverse teams.

While we can adapt and flex outside our comfort zones, especially when the situation demands, we often revert to our default social styles—particularly under stress.

Recognising your social style and those of your colleagues is crucial, especially in a team environment. As one colleague put it, "I'm a detail person. If you walk in with a stack of papers and want to 'talk' through something, I won't hear a word until I've read those papers!"

Let’s break down the main social styles and explore each with practical examples:

Analytic 

The analytic's primary need is to be right. They are thinkers who rely on thorough analysis and facts to make decisions. Their weakness lies in poor improvisation and a tendency to avoid or delay decision-making. They think in historical terms and provide evidence-based insights.

Best Day: They avoid pressuring others or coming across as salesy, offer clear explanations, provide analytical rigor, and are transparent and comprehensive.

Worst Day: They can be unsociable and withdrawn, tedious, overly focused on details, risk-averse, and indecisive.

Tip for working with an analytic: Support their principles and reasoning.

Amiable

The amiable's primary need is personal security. They focus on relationships and are excellent listeners. They are present in the moment and seek to guarantee and provide assurances. Their weakness is a tendency to acquiesce and avoid taking a stand (Gandhi mastered passive resistance). They avoid risks and prioritize opinions over facts.

Best Day: They create harmony and consensus, calm situations, and offer comfort.

Worst Day: They avoid initiating necessary actions, hesitate to make decisions independently, and are risk-averse.

Tip for working with an amiable: Support their feelings and relationships.

Expressive

The expressive's primary need is personal approval. They are spontaneous and possess infectious enthusiasm. They think in future terms and embrace risk. Their main weakness is impulsiveness. They are big-picture thinkers with strong opinions and an abundance of charisma.

Best Day: They are enthusiastic, sociable, and likeable, innovate and create, and bring humor to the table.

Worst Day: They may talk too much and dominate conversations, come off as too salesy, tell long stories (often casting themselves as the hero), struggle to listen, make hasty decisions, and say or do things they later regret (sorry, Bill 🙄).

Tip for working with an expressive: Support their dreams and intuition.

Driver

The driver's primary need is achieving results. They are action-oriented and decisive, living in the moment and using facts to take calculated risks. Their weakness is a lack of sensitivity to others and a tendency to be autocratic. They provide strong leadership and a high degree of predictability.

Best Day: They deliver results, drive actions, stay organized, and offer leadership.

Worst Day: They can be autocratic, insensitive, indifferent to others' opinions, unsociable, poor listeners, and impatient.

Tip for working with a driver: Support their actions and conclusions.

Understanding these social styles can make a significant difference in how we interact with one another. What’s your social style, and how do you flex it in a team setting?