What are the major personality types?

The knowledge of the personality types of the members of a group of people who are communicating plays an important role in providing efficient communications. Determining personality type is a widely used technique, and there are a number of classifications used. Needless to say, this technique becomes extremely important in an environment where many people of different cultural, technical, and educational backgrounds and different levels of authority have to work together in order to achieve a common result—which closely matches our definition of a project environment.

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One of the most popular classifications of personality types is called a Myers-Briggs classification; this approach has a serious scientific background and has been proved by many years of scientific investigations in Europe and North America.

The classification results in types based on different combinations of four preference scales characterizing how a person restores his energy level, gathers information, and makes decisions and what lifestyle a person prefers (see Figure 11-2).

Energy recovery	Extrovert Prefers to gain energy from outside (people, activities, etc.).	Introvert Prefers to gain energy from internal world (thoughts, emotions, impressions).
Information gathering	Person of sensor type Prefers gaining information through five senses. Pays attention first to the real.	Person of intuitive type Prefers to gain information through "sixth sense" and pays attention to opportunities.
Decision making	Person of thinking type Makes decisions with "head" based on logic and objective considerations.	Person of feeling type Makes decisions with "heart" based on personal beliefs and subjective values.
Lifestyle	Person of decisive type Prefers well-ordered and planned lifestyle.	Person of perceptive type Prefers spontaneous and flexible lifestyle ignoring planning and order.

Figure 11-2: MYERS-BRIGGS' CHARACTERISTICS: SCALES OF PEOPLE'S PREFERENCES

The classification is based on four major assumptions:

1. Each person is unique.

2. There are common features in the behavior of different people.

3. None of the personality types can be considered to be "bad".

4. In life we see all types of prejudices.

If you have identified the personality type of your counterpart, you can build and adapt your suggestion based on this knowledge, so that it is perceived by the other person in the best possible way. This technique is not an absolute guarantee of success but it may give you an opportunity to reach it.

Mode indicator characterizes the ways of perceiving and transferring information and forms an important element of so-called neurolinguistic programming technology (NLP), which was developed in the United States in the late 1970s. This technology can be simply defined as a system of tools for understanding and changing people's behavior. It is based on the assumption that different people perceive, think, and remember information in different ways. These internal processes happen in three different modes related to three major spheres of sensory experience:

1. Visual Mode. External and internal information is perceived as complex visual images.

2. Audible Mode. Information is perceived as a complex of sounds.

3. Kinesthetic Mode. Information is perceived as a complex of sensations: taste, sense of smell, sense of touch, etc.

There are a number of mode indicators that can help you understand what mode type a certain person has. The first indicator considers the expressions a person is using:

• Visual Expressions. You see? Wonderful! Look! It seems … etc.—for visual mode.

• Audible Expressions. Listen! Logical, etc.—for audible mode.

• Sensory Expressions. Don't you feel … touching, comfortable, etc.— for kinesthetic mode.

The second mode indicator, as seen in Figure 11-3, looks at eye signals that demonstrate the internal thinking of a partner. The field of vision of a partner in communications can be divided into nine zones, with the upper three zones corresponding to visual mode, the middle three zones corresponding to audible mode and the lower three zones to kinesthetic mode.

Figure 11-3: SCHEME OF EYE SIGNALS

By knowing the mode of a person you are communicating with and by using the right approaches (words used to attract attention, hands, and eye positions, etc.) corresponding to a certain mode, you transmit your wish and your readiness to have equal and open communications. This gets your counterpart into a more comfortable state, which increases the efficiency of your Communications.