Healthcare Training Institute - Quality Education since 1979

Section 7
Track #7: Harnessing the Take-Charge Person

Table of Contents | NCCAP/NCTRC CE Booklet

Get Audio Track: Open a new window with Ctrl N,
Left click audio track to Listen, Right click to "Save..." mp3

Note-Taking Exercise

What is your teamwork style?

What are two behavior changes an Expressive can make to synchronize to a Driver?
1.
2.

What are four behavior changes an Amiable can make to synchronize to a Driver?
1.
2.
3.
4.

What are two important behavior change an Analytical can make to synchronize to a Driver?
1. 
2.

What is it important for a Driver to remember about synchronizing to another Driver?

Transcript of Track 7

On the last track, I provided you with a heads-up regarding how each of the styles handle stress in the facility or handle Overload.  If you recall, under stress, the Driver tends to dominate; the Expressive would tend to verbally attack other staff; the Amiable would provide superficial compliance, and the Analytical would become avoidant.

So, let's take a minute to talk about how exactly teams are built.  On the first six tracks in this CD set, I have gone into a lot of detail, assisting you regarding how to decide what your primary communication style is, as well as requesting you to turn the CD player off frequently and think about the communication styles of other staff members.  So, how do you build a team atmosphere in your facility? 

Well, you do it one staff member at a time.  It has been my experience that there is no global technique or magic wand for teambuilding, because actually, don't you agree, your team is made up of individuals.  So, as the old fable goes, how do you eat an elephant?  The answer is “one bite at a time.”  So, in your facility, how do you create a team atmosphere?  One person and one relationship at a time.  The remainder of this 2-CD set will be spent giving you specific techniques to shift your style to synchronize or coordinate with another staff member's style.  This person may be your administrator, dietary supervisor, director of nursing, charge nurse, CNA, etc.  

Four key aspects of harmonizing or coordinating your communication or thinking style with another staff member's are as follows.  First of all, clearly you need to know what your own communication or thinking style is.  If you don't know your own style, you won't know the direction in which to change in order to coordinate with another team member's communication style.  Right?  The second key is to target an individual in the facility with whom you would like to create more of a team relationship.  Points one and two have been dealt with in tracks one through six of this two CD set by defining each of the four communication or thinking styles. In addition to knowing your communication or thinking style and targeting an individual with whom to start to create a teambuilding atmosphere, third, you need to have some idea what the communication or thinking style of that other staff member is.  The fourth and final point of communication, style-shifting, will be dealt with in the last eight tracks.

When you hear the musical tone, turn your CD player off and think about the first three of the four points just mentioned.  What is your style?  With whom would you like to build a better relationship?  What is the other staff member's style?  MUSIC

Let's see how each of the four communication styles need to shift to create a teambuilding atmosphere with the driver.  If you are a driver, you perhaps may tend to be so task-focused and so take-charge that the goal for yourself is to harness your take-charge nature. 

#1 Behavioral Changes for an expressive synchronizing to a driver
The first teamwork style that we will discuss is synchronizing or coordinating is a Driver in your facility. Let's look at how expressives coordinate with drivers.  Are you an expressive?  The driver and the expressive teamwork styles are similar in their assertiveness levels.  Oftentimes, there is an easy communication flow between the two of you.  However, if you are an expressive, you may have a lot of emotional toning-down to do, if your targeted staff member for teambuilding is a Driver.  Here are behavior changes you might consider when synchronizing or trying to build a team relationship with a driver.

First, be more task-oriented.  Drivers are goal-oriented and don’t see the value in digression.

Secondly, deemphasize feelings.  As mentioned on a previous track, drivers aren’t much for expressing their emotions, so try not to be offended by their impersonal manners.  Talk more about what you think rather than what you feel.  By presenting yourself more logically and rationally an expressive will gain more respect in the eyes of the driver.

Now, let me digress a minute.  I sincerely hope that as you hear these communication style-shifting suggestions, you are doing more than just passively listening, but you are actively creating a visualization of yourself in your facility talking to a driver or talking to whatever communication style is being presented.

If you are an expressive, try to suppress your optimistic nature and see things as they really are, rather than how you dream them as being.  Plan your work and deliver on your commitments.  Focus on the results of the actions being discussed, because drivers, as you will recall, are result-oriented. 

#2 Behavioral Changes for an amiable synchronizing to a driver
Now that we have discussed how the expressive is to style shift to team-build with a Driver, let's talk about how Amiables need to style-shift with Drivers.  Amiables, like expressives, are much more people-oriented than drivers and amiables tend to emphasize personal feelings rather than results.  Be more task-oriented; deemphasize feelings; be clear about goals and plans; and be well organized in your teamwork. 

#3 Behavioral Changes for an analytical synchronizing to a driver
Third, when synchronizing to drivers, analyticals share many characteristics with amiables in relating to a more assertive teamwork style.  One behavior change for the Analytical when teambuilding with a driver is to not focus so much on details or intangible theory.  Drivers don't like to be bogged down by the details.  They are "big picture" people.  Their goal-oriented minds prefer to concentrate on information they consider to be high-priority issues.  Present only the main points and skip to only the most important details. The only thing in which the driver is interested is how to solve the problem.

#4 Behavior Changes for Drivers Synchronizing to Other Drivers
Lastly, let's talk about how drivers need to synchronize with other drivers.  You may ask yourself, “if I am a driver, why do I need to shift my communication style to have a teambuilding atmosphere with another driver?”  The challenge is both of you, as drivers, are task-focused, and perhaps feel that your ideas are the only ideas.  Therefore, you need to perhaps relinquish the strength of your convictions when trying to coordinate with another driver.

On this track, we discussed how each teamwork style can synchronize or coordinate with drivers.  If you are a driver, a teambuilding goal for you is to harness your take-charge nature.  When you hear the musical tone, turn the CD player off, and envision or think about how you can synchronize or coordinate your style of communication with a Driver in your facility in order to generate more of a team atmosphere between the two of you. MUSIC

But how does each teamwork or communication style get in sync with an expressive?  On the next track, we will examine how each style can synchronize with expressives.