Connection Kata: Recognition; What Type Are You?

Recognition has a double meaning in my book: (1) other-related -- letting others know you remember about them beyond the initial meeting and greeting phase, finding ways to acknowledge their contribution to you, your business, and the community when applicable; (2) self-aware -- being conscious that how you interact, communicate, explain and act have an effect on others and you when the loop closes.

When you recognize that both of these forces underlie relationships, you demonstrate that you can listen, pay attention and take the time. All characteristics in scarce supply and great demand in the new accounting -- accountability, that is. These forces also make for optimized economics. They are a good foundation in your employee or customer referral programs and are becoming the currency of social media. Connecting is about recognizing the role that everyone plays, including you, in the ever changing context of business and life.

The Bow

We all have different ways of processing information and learning about new things. When going out to meet new people at events, in business development situations and in interviews, we have fresh opportunities to discover what those are.

For example, according to the Myers-Briggs Type indicator I tend to be an ENTP, which is for extraverted, intuitive, thinking and perceiving. I may or may not know about you, yet. If you'd like to discover your type indicator, go right ahead and feel free to share your interpretation here. What are you? What does it mean to you? As for the self-aware part:

I'm extraverted (E), although you would have not known that when I was growing up as I started life as a shy person. This is actually not exactly what that means. It means I draw energy from action. Although I do like being with people and can take quite a bit of socializing before I need to retire to a personal space. One of the reasons why I love social media is that a lot more action can be done all around. Once the hierarchies are not a consideration and decisions can be made in beta, I thrive.

As an information-gathering function, I prefer to rely on intuition (N). This means that I tend to trust information that is more abstract or theoretical, that can be associated with other information (either remembered or discovered by seeking a wider context or pattern). I may be more interested in future possibilities and tend to trust those flashes of insight that seem to bubble up from my unconscious mind. The meaning is in how the data relates to the pattern or theory.

In the decision-making realm, I have a preference for thinking (T) my way to a rational decision. I prefer to decide things from a more detached standpoint, measuring the decision by what seems reasonable, logical, causal, consistent and matching a given set of rules. This doesn't mean I'm not empathetic, of course. I have feelings too.

You got me, I'm a right brain dominant. Small detour here -- I was supposed to be left handed, but they would not allow it in school when I grew up. And laterality as in the side your favor for movements has an impact in expressing how your brain is wired. Right dominant here means that when relating to and dealing with the world, I show my perceiving function (P). This is a big surprise, as I tend to appear abstract, given my "N" for intuition and I tend to keep matters open. Yet I have always considered myself a very practical person. Because I am extraverted, this is my dominant function.

[the Keirsey Temperament Sorter is not directly associated with MBTI]

The Practice

There is a reason why I used the verb "tend to" in my description. Although it may be interesting and helpful to learn our type indicator, we should be careful with labels. Context plays a large role in how we express who we are.

The same happens with organizations. How can companies differentiate themselves in industry and communicate such distinction through conversation? Earlier in the month Venture Outsource published and interview I did about this very topic within the context of building a brand. In it I share several examples of the practice of recognition:

• Communications as a strategic piece during mergers and acquisitions, especially in situations that are culturally diverse -- don't wait until profits erode to do it
• Branding and 5 things companies can do when formulating a marketing strategy designed to help differentiate a company in its respective marketplace
• Emotional vs. functional buying process and differentiations in the presentation of brands -- how do you determine them?

Your turn -- what's your meaning of recognition? What type are you? How do you interpret that?

Comments

[John Dodds]

I can never get a definitive answer to this, but I've been told that the E is in fact extravert not extrovert - and relates to one drawing opinions/beliefs/ideas from other people as opposed to one being the life and soul of the party. That may just be splitting hairs but it would be interesting to nail it down once and for all.

[John Dodds]

Ooops I see you said that already.

[Valeria Maltoni]

It's a hard distinction to make, yet an important one. I did play with the concept a little in the post, so I might have muddled the issue.

[Marshall Sponder]

I posted on this http://www.webmetricsguru.com/2007/11/what_kind_of_type_am_i_myers_b.html

- I guess the whole Twitter thing does help.

Here's the thing - I don't feel external classification systems like the Myers-Briggs Type indicator really are accurate enough because many of the questions don't really fit - at least I tried answering them - and I found at least 5 or 6 that I did not want to answer at all - I had no idea.

When I answered them, finally, it was more of a guess - but as I pointed out - the way people behave and they way they describe themselves, or view themselves, can be very different.

I think it would be more useful if a social network would be used to answer these questions about others in the network - at least - both sets of scores could be compared (the one you fill out about yourself vs. the one that 500 people fill out about you) then you can get some idea of the gap between who you are, and who people think you are.

That's just my take.

[Valeria Maltoni]

Good observation about social media. However, I find that popularity plays a role in likeability, so caution is in order.

And that is why I started my post by defining what recognition means to me -- it is other-related and self-aware. There is another instrument that I found helpful in compiling a more complete self assessment -- the Birkman Method, of which I blogged about a while back. In it, there is a built-in consideration for where you go when life bounces off you, under stress.

Also, something to be considered that my test was conducted as part of a professional assessment that went a bit deeper into questions. There are many available with a follow up by a coach.

[Kami Huyse]

I am an ENFP, a little closer to the middle on the F, I have been known to logically approach a problem.

To answer John, my understanding is that extroverts draw energy from being around other people, while introverts draw energy from being alone. I think that you can be quite outgoing and be an introvert or you can be quiet and still be extroverted - though these traits more usually match up.

As for using personality typing in a business context. One of my college professors wrote a great book, Write Type, matching personality styles to their writing style. You can use a lot of the concepts he lays out in other contexts.