Personal working styles | Coaching Handbook: An Action Kit for Trainers and Managers

When working with others it is useful to know that there are five distinctly different working styles, also known as ˜drivers . Drivers occur outside our awareness “ they are subconscious attempts by us to behave in ways which will gain recognition from others. There are five drivers, as described by Julie Hay in her book Working it Out at Work: understanding attitudes and building relationships .

Hurry Ups

Hurry Ups work to get things done quickly and efficiently in the shortest possible time. Their major strength is the amount they can deliver; they respond well to deadlines and their energy peaks under pressure. Their underlying motivation is to do everything as soon as possible and they feel good if they complete tasks in the shortest possible time. They will say things like ˜Quick , ˜Get going , ˜Hurry up , and ˜Don t waste time . They may speak quickly and will usually be doing more than one thing at a time. Non-verbal behaviour displayed by a Hurry Up includes foot tapping, finger tapping and checking of the watch. Hurry Ups distress is caused by having time to think, silence and having nothing to do.

When coaching Hurry Ups be aware that they might become frustrated at the planning and reflection stages of the process and that they may want to see immediate improvements in their performance. Whilst you can take this into account when you are planning the coaching programme, you cannot avoid these stages altogether and you may need to give additional support to the Hurry Up coachee to help him or her complete the process fully. Things that you could try which would support Hurry Ups include:

Praising them for their efficiency.
Enjoying their spontaneity.
Not being intimidated by their energy, enthusiasm or outbursts, but acknowledging these features and talking about why they are happening.
Not advocating speed or the benefits of being able to do several things at once.
Encouraging them to take time and thanking them for the time that they are committing to the coaching process.

Try Hards

Try Hards display determination and enthusiasm in their work. Their working style is all about putting effort into a task. They are good at seeing the big picture and when involved in project work they will be recognized for the way in which they follow up all the possibilities in a very thorough way. However, they may lose interest before the end of a task or project as they are more committed to trying than succeeding. They will use words or phrases such as ˜Try , ˜This is a better approach or idea , ˜Can you. . . . They fire off lots of questions “ sometimes the Try Hard person strings so many questions together that the listener may need to work out what question to respond to. When asked questions, Try Hards may well answer a different question and often their sentences go off on tangents. Non-verbal behaviour includes a puzzled or frowned expression, sitting forward, an impatient manner and clenched fists. Being criticized for not caring or for being irresponsible causes their distress; being told ˜You re not trying will be a big issue for them.

When coaching Try Hards help them to clarify their goals and direction and encourage them to focus on completion of activities. Never let them off what they have committed themselves to do and don t praise trying: praise finishing. If the coachee is being very competitive, ignore it. Do not get involved in arguments that focus on comparisons.

Be Strongs

Be Strong people stay calm under pressure; they are self-sufficient and task orientated. They feel energized when they are able to cope and will still think logically when others around them are panicking. Be Strongs are considered to be steady and reliable workers whose strong sense of duty and ability to detach from emotions will help them tackle the most unpleasant tasks. This type of coachee hates admitting weaknesses and will come to regard failure as a weakness. He or she will tend to become overloaded with work, rather than admit to not being able to cope. These people may be highly self-critical about their shortcomings as well as considering as weak those who do ask for help. Verbal behaviour includes ˜The facts here are. . . , ˜Let me sort it out and ˜I will work 15 hours tomorrow to complete it . Be Strongs do not ask for help easily, therefore they may find the whole idea of coaching difficult. Non-verbal behaviour includes immobile face and body (because they are trying to hide any evidence of feelings that may mean weakness), dispassionate tone of voice, straightening of clothes and an aloof manner. Be Strongs will become distressed when they fear rejection because they may be seen as vulnerable, being forced to say what they feel and exposing their weaknesses.

Coaching a Be Strong may be highly challenging, especially if your work style is profoundly different. Here are some things that you can do when working with Be Strongs:

Be factual rather than effusive and emotional.
Praise them for consideration and kindness as they often get taken for granted.
Encourage them to delegate and to take on realistic amounts of work.
Do not force them into expressions of vulnerability, but encourage them to express their feelings more openly.
Do not shout, or they will retreat even further.
When action planning with Be Strongs, spell out exactly what each task involves, so that they only do what is expected of them.

Be Perfect

The motto of the Be Perfect is ˜If a job is worth doing, it is worth doing well . This driver is the opposite of the Hurry Up. Be Perfect types strive for perfection and excellence, first time and with no errors. They check facts and detail, they plan ahead and are well organized. Sometimes their drive for perfection means that they miss deadlines as, for example, they need to check for mistakes and make minor alterations to layout. They have high expectations and fail to recognize when a lower standard would be appropriate and equally acceptable. They make statements like ˜That s right , ˜Perfect , ˜Obviously , ˜There s something missing here and ˜Actually. . . . Non-verbal behaviour includes pursing of lips, smart and coordinated dress, controlled tone and obsessive/ compulsive habits. Their distress is caused by anything that indicates the danger of loss of control, eg others perceived low standards or illogical behaviour, over-emotionalism from other people and failure to achieve goals.

When coaching Be Perfects it is important to be punctual and keep the agreements that you have with them. Set pragmatic, rather than perfect, performance standards and always work with facts rather than emotions. If you do have to confront them, do it gently and firmly and if you have a difference of opinion, express your own thoughts with conviction . Explore with them the consequences of less than perfection and explain that it is OK to make mistakes.

Please People

These are good team members , who enjoy being with other people; their aim is to please others without asking, to work out what others would like and then provide it. They are understanding and empathetic and strive for harmony. They spend a lot of time smiling and nodding at people to indicate their agreement with them. When criticized by others they tend to take the criticism personally and may be upset. They let people interrupt them. They are hesitant to ask questions because they feel they should somehow know the answer. They say things like ˜Really , ˜I thought you might like to , ˜Is that OK with you? and are reluctant to say ˜No . Their non-verbal behaviour includes a lot of smiling, allowing others to interrupt them and good listening. Please People are distressed by being ignored and/or criticized. Please People coachees fear that they will be rejected by being found to be blameworthy.

If you have Please People coachees, encourage them to get in touch with their own needs and ask for what they want from the process. Be careful that they do not turn the coaching programme into an exercise of keeping you happy. You need to keep the focus all the time on them and be careful not to express your own wants. When you are giving feedback, it needs to be couched very positively in order to ensure that the coachees will be able to take the content ˜on board , rather than using it to ˜beat themselves up .

When not under stress, drivers will appear as strengths and the beneficial side of them will become more obvious. Individuals who are not under stress do not have strong needs to gain recognition from others. When stress levels are high, the disadvantages of the drivers are more apparent as individuals seek to become more of what they think they should be “ ie the driver takes over. The role of the coach is to create an environment that helps reduce stress and encourages coachees to accentuate the positives of their drivers.