Special Attention to ALL the Details

In Emotional Intelligence 2.0, Travis Bradberry says “People who manage relationships well are able to see the benefit of connecting with many different people, even those they are not fond of. Solid relationships are something that should be sought and cherished.”

While I’ve only been aggressively studying emotional intelligence and William Marston’s work on The Model of Human Behavior for the last six years or so, I’ve intuitively understood the value solid relationships have in achieving results. I often share that I’ve never really felt like I had any real natural talent in a specific area. But realizing that communication skills could be developed and that building better relationships played a big role in that, coupled with what I have always believed to be a strong work ethic, has helped me in more ways that I could begin to hash out here. And that’s definitely not something that’s exclusive to me!

With all that in mind, let’s take a look at the fourth and final primary behavioral style so you have a full perspective on how you can best manage your interactions with others effectively and add value to them in the process!

This last group represents around 25% of the population. Like the DRIVEN folks, they’re very Task-Oriented. The difference will be in their approach to the tasks they’re engaged in… Rather than charging hell with a water pistol to get things done, this CAUTIOUS group prefers to make sure every action they take is planned out in advance in order to achieve the best possible results on the first attempt. They CONTEMPLATE how each step yields accuracy and precision. Unlike the INSPIRING and SUPPORTIVE groups we looked at last time, this CALCULATING group will almost always be far more focused on their work than anyone else involved in the process with them. They’re often just fine receiving no recognition at all. When we tell them we appreciate them, it means the most to them if we acknowledge the effort they’ve put into ensuring an excellent result.

A few words of caution though… These folks can feel extremely stressed if we push them to make quick decisions without providing them with the detail they need. A lot of joking around when the workload is heavy can push their buttons too! Where the DRIVEN and INSPIRING folks can tend to wear their emotions, especially the negative ones, on their sleeves, this group can often seem COLD. As with the SUPPORTIVE folks, they won’t show much reaction visibly. They’re Reserved approach is actually something I can always learn from!

When we are able to sense that they’re under a lot of stress, we can make big strides in developing our relationship with them by slowing down the pace, providing them with as much detail as we can, and giving them some additional time to process the situation. Doing this gives them what they need but it also shows that we appreciate those needs as well as the value this CONSCIENTIOUS group brings to every situation they’re involved in.

As we consider each of these primary styles, I’d challenge you to really think about what drives your own most intense emotions. Once you feel like you have a handle on that, begin paying extra attention to each person you’re interacting with so you can start to understand what’s driving theirs. And if you’re never dug into any of the tools based on Marston’s Model of Human Behavior, or at least not in a way that you can apply to what we’ve looked at here, reach out to me or Cindy and we can chat through that in more detail!