Assessment of Personality Profile
Data. We need data, it is the qualitative and quantitative information that will allow us to better understand and support an accurate recipe of action for goal achievement. Without data we could severely fall short of a true success story. Intuition is NOT a sole action armament. We need foundational data. It starts with Personality Profile identification. There are several terrific profile assessment technologies in the world to provide accurate vision, but we have adopted the simple yet effective process that author Florence Littauer created in her book Personality Plus. We strongly encourage you to get a copy to help you in the process.
We are all very unique human beings, but our base agenda lurks at the root of our core personality profile. Our personality profile is not concrete like our horoscope, persuasion, gender or eye color. It is fluid and can be altered through life experience but ultimately it is written into the fabric of our perspective quite deeply. This will affect our perspective and ambitious desires and ultimately our feeling of satiation post achieved events. If we drive into action items that are quite averse to our profile we will feel a sense of “wrong” in the form of anxiety, apathy, or dissatisfaction. We will have to ascertain if the negative feelings are based on blocks from past pain, hurts or hangups of it is simply against the primary agenda of our profile to better gage if we are on the right action track. This is quite important.
What are the primary personality profiles:
Choleric: The choleric is a dominant, competitive power driver. Someone who is 98% choleric is almost non-existent but many have this as their primary profile. They are driven by a desire to conquer and achieve. They thrive in conflict and feel a deep need to drive (even if it isn’t their car). Cholerics imagine themselves the leader in most situations and dream of being the alpha in their primary environments. They respect other Cholerics and will rule the submissive with a heavy hand.
In Summation: The powerful choleric is the doer, an extrovert, a natural leader and an optimist. He is proud and tends to be in control of situations. He wants to be the one on top, to be the best. Being on top, doesn't mean, the highest position at work, but in his daily interactions with other people.
Melancholic: Melancholic individuals tend to be analytical and detail-oriented, and they are deep thinkers and feelers. They are introverted and try to avoid being singled out in a crowd. A Melancholic personality leads to self-reliant individuals who are thoughtful, reserved, and often anxious. These are your hyper assessors. They like data and structure. They are not quick to jump in or jump out. Make strategic Decisions and don’t respect profiles that are rash and lazy. A Melancholic personality profile can follow instructions, but will judge direction that can’t be substantiated. Be on time for a meeting with a Melancholic or you will lose respect quickly.
In Summation: Melancholics are organized, thoughtful planners that have anxiety do to the disorganization of the world. They like words like: plan, perpetuity and structure. They feel safe when the environment has thoughtful structure and will be and advocate for prudence.
Sanguine: The Sanguine personality type is described primarily as being highly talkative, enthusiastic, active, and social. Sanguines tend to be more extroverted and enjoy being part of a crowd; they find that being social, outgoing, and charismatic is easy to accomplish. Individuals with this personality have a hard time doing nothing and engage in more risk seeking behavior. Sanguines are the artists, musicians, and imagination filled humans. They have an avant-garde attitude and can be seen in unusual and unique clothing, life experiences and expressions. They tend to be impulsive and tardy, but when they finally do show up they are the life of the experience. They bring joy, color and humor to our world.
Summation: Sanguines love a unique experience and tend to be artistic, creative and social. They are outgoing and ambitious. Rash but talented. They are the color in our world but are not very dependable if the primary profile is HIGHLY Sanguine.
Phlegmatic: Phlegmatic individuals tend to be relaxed, peaceful, quiet, and easy-going. They are sympathetic and care about others, yet they try to hide their emotions. Phlegmatic individuals are also good at generalizing ideas or problems to the world and making compromises. Empathetic Phlegmatic is a lovely human that wishes to dissolve conflict or social disagreement. They seek to heal others and are caring negotiators. Soft in voice but strong in will, the peaceful phlegmatic is the reason we have social services, therapy, caring outreach, loving teachers and healers. Without Phlegmatic human beings our world would be a hard place to live in. They are understand to all personality profiles but enjoy Sanguines creative joy with almost jealous desire. They are the glue that keeps us together and brings harmony to a world full of joy and pain.
Summation: Peaceful Phlegmatic is a heart minded, relaxed human full of empathy and sympathy for others. They are the teachers and healers of our world.
The actual personality profile of each client will be unique. We are a blend of the various natures. Like mixing blue and yellow together to make green. Some of us have more blue and generate teal. So to get an accurate picture of the true nature of your client you will need to have them take a quick quiz. We have supplied that in our learning module. Take it yourself and you will get a deeper understanding of your drivers and blocks. Are you more Sanguine? Do you struggle with structure and timeliness? Are you more Choleric and have a challenge with taking direction from others that may possess the answer you seek but have weaker natures? What if you are primarily Melancholic and your biggest challenge is just moving out of assessment of opportunity into action? Or maybe you are a lovely phlegmatic and are afraid of rejection in the sales experience of building a business?
Whatever the primary personality profile is, a recipe for success can be adjusted to access the primary strengths and a plan put in place to grow through the weaknesses. Can you see how each client would need the content and presentation of your ideas to be customized? Can you begin to understand how simple text and “how to” language doesn’t work for all? We are different. We hear and see things from unique lenses. As a Master Life Coach, it is your challenge to first understand your client’s unique form and then go deeper into research on the best goal suite, partnered with a custom recipe of action, that has the best potential for actualizing their joy and success.
But we can all change and grow.
Life hammered and shaped our profiles and technique and life experience can re-shape them. The Phlegmatic can learn to Sanguine up a bit. The Choleric can learn to Phlegmatic up as well. The Melancholic can grow Phlegmatic attributes and so on... We all change if we conduct personal change actions in our daily life. Personality Profile adjustment is a skill not a talent. That means that we can Skill Transfer it with best practice and a coach.
In the meantime how do we gage the exact nature of ourselves? We have supplied the profile test from Florence Littauer’s book Personality Plus for you to use. It only takes about 10 minutes to complete and will give you an exact profile, but there are several ways to assess your client from the moment you meet them to garner their primary profile and build a talk track that immediately builds trust. Let us demonstrate:
Each primary personality trait will lead in the traits and actions of the human under most conditions. In other words, they can’t hide their primary profile since it will show up in their vocabulary, dress, attendance, goal descriptions, fears, likes, dislikes and body language.
Example: Client comes into the office 10 minutes early. They are dressed conservative but well. They ask if there is a process that they must follow to begin the registration process for coaching. They shake your hand firmly, and sit. As you discuss your coaching process they begin to ask a lot of detailed questions and even write the answers down in a journal. They keep eye contact and pay very close attention.
Hello Melancholic Personality. The client is more than likely a mixture of a few personality traits but their primary profile is Melancholic. Their precision for attendance, inquisitive nature, attentive body language, need for process and clean orderly appearance gives them away. As we identify their nature we recall that Melancholics don’t respect disorderly fun Sanguine like Cholerics or Phlegmatics do, so we adjust our language. This Melancholic will enjoy knowing how and why a particular technique will work with the substance and data behind the idea. They will enjoy your guidance more if you slow down your speech and cut out slang and social wording and are clear and precise. They will trust you more if you are on time and structured in your coaching process. You will need to build authority and organization into your process for this individual.
Example: Client comes rushing in about 15 minutes late. They have blue hair and stylish clothes. They comment about an art piece you have on the wall and bust out a joke about cats and are a bit ADD in their listening and talking within the first 10 minutes of conversation.
Hello fun Sanguine Personality. This client is primarily a Sanguine. The tardiness, uniqueness of their appearance, the inability to focus, their sense of humor and their love of your art piece tells the story. You will need to relax and be patient with their bouncing around attention span and lighten up a bit. Feel free to joke a bit but maintain authority. Sanguines are good with Cholerics but feel bored quickly if the session isn’t a bit fun here and there. Compliment their fun look and just get comfortable with bringing them back to point here and there. They will respond well to the philosophy of your process and love to hear more about how change will make their life more fun, creative and explosive.
Example: Your client comes in wearing a power suit. They come right in your office without knocking and shake your hand. Loud and dominate they say their name and they sit down almost regally. They explain to you that they have only 55 minutes and then have to leave for an important appointment and immediately begin talking. It’s hard to get a word in edge ways and they have an opinion on many of your comments.
Hello Choleric Personality. This person has revealed their nature from their dominate nature, their sense of personal importance, their inability to listen and by giving direction to YOU. They will relate to a qualified coach. You will have to describe your process and your accolades to garner attention. You will need an authoritative approach and need to describe how your primary objective is to help them to win, conquer their goals, become the best or ultimately be a huge success. As you speak the Choleric language they will hear you and begin the process of transference.
Example: Your client knocks on the outside door and waits quietly for you to open it. They come in soft and quiet with a pleasant demeanor. They ask you if you need anything from them and if you comment on how cold it is they may offer to turn your thermostat down. They let you do all the talking. They listen and compliment you.
Hello lovely Phlegmatic Personality. This lovely human needs you to soften up. Be authoritative but ultimately practice inviting your client to share and share and share. Compliment them on being vulnerable and open. Tell them how much you love doing what you do because to help another human being accomplish their joyful goals is a loving way to care for your world. Use thoughtful language and let them know that they are safe with you. You are here to help them stand up with guidance and help.
As you can see, quickly assessing your clients and adjusting your language and style to communicate to their core agenda will begin the process of building trust and partnership. As you practice traversing the various personality profile accents you will notice yourself picking up more varied traits. This is actually a role-play exercise that will aid you in transferring more of each personality food group into your DNA makeup. Think of it as being quad-lingual. Each of your primary personalities is a different language suite and you will begin to speak each more efficiently as time goes on. But, they will all respond to you better if you do. If you only meet each person with YOUR current primary personality style, then you will push away all individuals that can’t relate to your communication and process track. This will restrict your practice and ultimately it demonstrates an inability to understand the need to be ambidextrous in your practice. We are very different human beings. So adapt, relate and accurately communicate.
Once you have your personality test learn to understand why personality profile assessment is so important. Build clarity with the concept that your core profile has dreams and wants and that if we don’t build plans that speak to it we will always feel a bit unsatisfied. We can demonstrate that we have techniques and answers that will affect change in your life and you will build a closer relationship with your world as you learn to speak in its primary language. We will discuss more depth in assessment in all areas of their life as the modules progress, but for now we know ourselves a bit better and have a better chance of making a sincere difference.