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Goal Setting - To Achieve Your Goals
Know Your Personality Profile
Joy Healey
It's now commonly known that those who set goals will be
more successful than those who don't. But did you realise
that your personality affects the type of goals you're most
likely to succeed with? Read on to learn how to set the most
appropriate goals for your personality type. But before looking
into the relevance of profiling in goal setting, first a little
background on the profiling method.
Introduction
People are different - but they are predictably different.
Being able to predict how someone will react in a given situation
can improve their success, well-being, and hence, value in
any environment. In his book "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective
People", Dr Stephen Covey said: "Seek first to understand,
then to be understood."
In 1926 Dr William Marston, an expert in behavioural understanding
and the inventor of the polygraph (lie-detector), devised
a system to understand people's personality styles. In his
book "The Emotions of Normal People" he grouped people according
to their active or passive tendencies, dependent upon their
view of the environment. The main styles identified are:
D - Drive - "My Way" (3% of the population)
I - Influence - "The Fun Way" (12% of the population)
C - Compliance - "The Right Way" (16% of the population)
S - Steadiness - "The Safe Way" (69% of the population)
Of course there aren't just four styles, as everyone exhibits
different levels of each of the four, resulting in an almost
infinite number of combinations of the main styles. In fact
a profile that showed someone as all one style would be extremely
suspect. Your style, for instance, may be a combination of
'High D', 'Medium I', 'Fairly C' and 'Low S'. No style is
inherently 'Good' or 'Bad'. The aim of profiling is to identify
and play to people's strengths, while utilising the self-awareness
of possible weaknesses.
The personality profile derived from the combination of the
different levels of each style gives an amazingly accurate
profile of the subject in:
How they think of themselves;
How others see them;
How they act under stress;
Their communication preference;
Greatest fears;
Greatest motivators.
Knowing your own preferred style, and that of others, can
go a long way towards creating an environment in which Dr
Covey's recommendation to "Think Win/Win" can flourish.
Relevance to Goal Setting
The dominant style of the subject tends to influence goal-setting.
Each type will set different types of goals - which can have
both advantages and pitfalls.
For instance, a 'High D', being very determined and driven,
will know what they want to achieve, tending to set huge goals
with great determination and high expectations. This is great
- as they'll usually be high achievers and very committed.
It's not the end of the world if they don't achieve all they
set out to achieve - they may 'Shoot for the moon, and just
clear the trees', but that's still progress. If they're disappointed
they'll easily bounce back.
Possible pitfalls of this approach are that the High D may
take on too much, or, having no concept of failure, may fail
to make adequate plans. They may also be so taken up with
their own view of the world that they neglect to consider
the plans and input of others.
People with a High I style are those who enjoy interacting
with others; they'll enjoy life and be highly optimistic,
working on 'the big picture'. This can lead them to set lots
of goals, which may change regularly, but they'll have set
goals that they'll enjoy working towards and by the law of
averages they're sure to achieve some of them.
However, many High I's suffer from lack of focus as they're
easily distracted by having a good time. Goal setting that
incorporates networking and rewards will have the best chance
of success for these outgoing and sociable people.
On the contrary, people with a High S style are more reserved,
steady, supportive and preferring the status quo. They will
work best with incremental, step-by-step, safe goals - and
they'll tend to have a high success rate. The danger of setting
safe goals is that they'll miss opportunities, by not stretching
themselves. It's interesting that 69% of the population fall
into this category.
Finally, those with a High C style are cautious, calculating
and competent. They prefer detailed well-planned goals with
plenty of data and analysis to support any actions. Because
of their detailed plans they're highly likely to achieve their
aims - so long as they don't spend so long planning and preparing
that they never quite get round to the 'doing' part. "Paralysis
by analysis" is something to avoid.
Tailoring the goal-setting process to a person's personality
profile can be a vital part of achieving success, or supporting
someone in their aims.
Have you guessed what your style is? I guessed mine, before
completing the questionnaire, and I was completely wrong.
But I have to confess that, as I read the report, I could
see that I was deceiving myself, and in fact the analysis
knew me better than I did. I wanted badly to be a High D -
direct, dominant and demanding, instead I was a High C - compliant,
contemplative and careful.
At first I was disappointed, but the point of personality
profiling is to highlight strengths. The more of the report
I read, the more I realised that characteristics I was lukewarm
about in myself are actually strengths I can use to move forward
in a way that won't make me feel threatened and I now know
(and recognise from the past) the pitfalls I need to avoid.
To learn more about personality profiling and download a free
sample report visit the website below.
Joy Healey is a qualified life-coach. For a free
eBook giving more information on the benefits and applications
of personality profiles visit www.life-coaching-london.co.uk/personality.html.
Article Source: http://www.upublish.info
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