What is “behavior?" According to www.dictionary.com behavior can be defined as:

1. The manner in which one behaves.
2. The actions or reactions of a person or animal in response to external or internal stimuli .

Behavior can also be described as the part of us that is observable to others.  Picture an iceberg.  We all know that most of the iceberg lies under the surface of the water.  Your behavior is the tip of your iceberg: what is observable. 

Behavior is also the expression of our personality traits.  A competitive personality will be displayed differently based on behavior style. 

Behavior is also the part of us that can be changed or adjusted.  Although our natural behavior style will remain relatively consistent over time, most of us adjust our behavior depending on the situation and people we interact with.  A big behavior adjustment in a personal or professional setting causes a high level of stress.

For the most part, behavior is neutral.  Apart from its motivation, behavior is neither good nor bad, neither positive nor negative.   However, most of us view other people's behavior through our own filter and judge it as good or bad based on how we view the situation.  If we can understand how they view the situation we might be able to understand each other better.

 

 

Why is it that some people are easier to get along with than others?  How come you can’t stand to be around certain people, but with others you always look forward to your time together?

It all boils down to behavior styles.  We each have our own individual approach to four different issues that we encounter every day.  How we deal with problems, how we interact with people, what kind of a pace we like in our day, and how we feel about following procedures.  These are the “Four P’s” of behavior:

 

• Problems
• People
• Pace
• Procedure

 

When we’re around others who approach the Four P’s the same, or a similar, way that we do we’ll probably get along easily with them.  It just makes sense – we understand each other and where we’re each coming from.  But when we’re around people who approach the Four P’s from a different viewpoint it’s harder to understand them.  We evaluate their behavior through our value system – and sometimes we just can’t figure out where they’re coming from. 

 

Take, for example, how we deal with problems.  Some people are dominant, driven, take charge people who love dealing with challenges.  But if you are a more cautious risk-taker and you need to “shore up” your energy when you have to deal with a problem you are likely to view those dominant types as being aggressive or obnoxious.  You might tend to consider them selfish (“They always do what they want to do”) or arrogant (“They never ask me what I think when there’s a problem”) when the reality is that for them they just see a problem and they get excited to solve it.  It isn’t because they’re only thinking about themselves or don’t care about other opinions, it’s because they are driven to solve the problem and that’s what they focus on.  And as you may view them as being arrogant or aggressive, they may view your approach to problems as being “wimpy” or “overly cautious.” 

 

Behavior in and of itself is neither positive nor negative.  It is only the motivation for the behavior that makes it a positive or negative action.  Consider the father walking hand-in-hand with his two-year-old son.  An observer across the street sees the father swat his son on the side of his head.  The observer’s conclusion?  The father was abusing his son.  However, considering that the two-year-old is allergic to bees and the father has seen a bee buzzing around his son’s head puts the swat into a different perspective. 

 

The following is a summary of the different approaches that people can take in dealing with the Four P’s:

 

Issue	High Approach	Low Approach
Problems	Dominant Driven Relentless Strong-Minded	Conservative Cautious Amenable  Acquiescent
People	Interactive Enthusiastic Energetic  Trusting	Reclusive Introspective Skeptical Analytical
Pace	Steady  Stable Reluctant to change Deliberate	Impulsive Intense Hurried   Spur-of-the-Moment
Procedure	Compliant Cautious Meticulous Perfectionist	Opinionated Autonomous Independent Individualistic

The key to making it easier to get along with others who have a different style is to understand how their style is different from yours.  If you are a highly interactive type who loves talking to people, but your boss or a teacher is quieter and introspective the best way to get along with her is to change your behavior and become less talkative around her.  When you do that the other person can hear what you have to say and not just be focused on how you’re saying it.

The DISC assessment can help you understand your behavior style better, and how to understand others' styles so that you can know how to get along better with the people that drive you crazy!

 

 Click here to learn more about the DISC behavior style assessment.

 

 

Click here to learn more about the TotalView personality assessment.

Click here to learn more about the Business Values Motivators assessment.

Click here to learn more about the WOWI (World of Work Inventory) assessment.

Click here to register for a FREE values assessment!

 

 

What do people say about the Right Turn on Red assessments?

 

"It was a good experience that showed me more about myself than I expected.  I never knew   other people saw me as intimidating!  I don't mean to be that way."     D. N.

 

"It really is spooky how accurate these tests are!"     J. K.

 

"I was very surprised at how accurate the assessment results were.  It described me perfectly (at least my perception of myself).  I was impressed on the detail of the report."     J. Z.

 

"It was worth the price of admission just for that one scale!"     K. G.

Return to top.