“S” type personalities are the “Steady Eddie” people among us who focus on people rather than tasks and are typically more introverts than extroverts. They pay more attention to others than to themselves.
These people are the ones you can always rely on in any situation. They strive to please and work hard to maintain harmony in all situations.
These are the Florence Nightengales of this world, the Barbara Bushes, the Mother Teresas. They love helping other people and work hard to create a stable environment at work and at home.
Every team needs to have one or more Type S personalities. They love teamwork and strive to create a positive work environment where everyone is respected and included. They are very process oriented and prefer to have preset processes for all their work and not complete work that is in “uncharted territory”.
The S’s, like any of the personality traits, have strengths and weaknesses. I have summarized these characteristics in the following table;
Trends
- Stability
- good listeners
- patient and tolerant
- Logical
- Harmony – dislikes conflict
- perform consistently
- Help others
- Develop specialized skills
- Create a stable environment.
required work environment
- When a sincere thank you is provided for the work done.
- Requires process and time to finish the job
- acceptance
- Maintaining the environment unchanged.
- predictable routines
- Standard Operating Procedures
- minimal conflict
need people who
- Handle unexpected changes
- manage conflict
- they are flexible
- Who can apply pressure to others when necessary
to be more effective
- needs appreciation
- Consistency
- clear direction
- It must be conditioned before the change occurs.
- You should know how your effort contributes
- Must have encouraged creativity.
main strengths
- Tolerant
- Patient
- Loyal
- team player
- Dependent
- support
- Manage repetitive work
- Practical and organized.
main limitations
- Under stress you can become stubborn and not want to negotiate
- sudden changes
- undecided
- hypersensitive
- hold a grudge
- You don’t like to deal with conflicts.
Dealing with S types
- Please provide enough detail
- To be honest
- Provide time for decisions.
- reduce risk
- Let them know that you care about them as people.
If you have a type S personality, your biggest challenge is dealing productively with change and situations that require quick decisions. Changes and decisions that don’t fall into existing processes can be stressful. Work with your team to manage and anticipate change and set guidelines for decision timing. Be sure to give yourself adequate time to think about the issues before you have to make a decision.
If you are managing an S, keep these things in mind and provide a low conflict work environment complete with pre-established processes and procedures. Try not to put them in a pioneer type role. Give S’s adequate time to make decisions and bring them into team building conversations.
If you follow these basic guidelines, your interaction with Type S personalities will be much more fun and substantially more productive!
For more details, see the Strength Zone website.