What kind of mainframer are you?

I’m thinking in terms of personality when I ask that question. So, how would you describe your personality?

The trouble with personality inventories like Cattell’s 16 PF test and similar is that they only allow for a small number of personality traits. The Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is much loved by HR departments, but generally derided by the scientific community. Even Wikipedia describes it as. “a pseudoscientific self-report questionnaire that claims to indicate differing personality types. The test attempts to assign a binary value to each of four categories: introversion or extraversion, sensing or intuition, thinking or feeling, and judging or perceiving. One letter from each category is taken to produce a four-letter test result representing one of sixteen possible personalities, such as ‘INFP’ or ‘ESTJ’”. Other personality descriptions often include opposites like, “you are generally an outgoing person, but at times you like to take a backseat”. And, I guess, the truth is that people change their behaviour to suit their mood. However, let’s assume that there is some kind of personality that each person has that simply gets expressed differently in different situations.

That brings me to the Merrill-Reid method, which allows you to profile yourself or your mainframe colleagues. The Merrill-Reid model identifies four key personality types, which are analytical, driver, amiable, and expressive. The idea is that you can change your style of behaving to match that of your colleagues (particularly non-mainframers), and so they can understand what you’re trying to tell them because you have used an appropriate personality style.

The truth is that the technique is often used in selling so the vendor changes their style to match the client’s personality style. But that doesn’t matter.

David Merrill and Roger Reid were psychologists, who used factor analysis to identify two scales: assertiveness and responsiveness:

• Assertiveness is a measure of how outwardly people try to influence others. People who are high on assertiveness tend to reveal their opinions, try to persuade others, and have things their own way. People who are low on assertiveness tend to keep their views to themselves, fit in with others, and avoid conflict.
• Responsiveness is more about how outwardly emotional people appear to be. People who are high on responsiveness are more socially engaged, aware of the needs of others, and how they feel about things depends on interpersonal relationships. People who are low on responsiveness tend to be more socially distant, and primarily think about work.

This can be used to create a 2x2 matrix, with four personality types – see the Figure below:

 

If you or your colleagues are analytical, they will ask ‘why’ questions, which means whoever they are dealing with needs to have all the facts and be ready to answer their questions. They like objective information and have a low tolerance for ambiguity. They like organization and structure, and will be more concerned with work than people. They will also be reserved and logical in their behaviour. They will show little or no emotion, and make decisions slowly because they need time to think. They like to be right and can seem very critical.

If you or your colleagues are a driver personality type, they will display assertive and direct behaviour. Their focus is on results and achieving their goals. They very much like to feel that they are in control. Working with this personality type, get straight to the point. Explain how their level of satisfaction will rise – they don’t care about other people. They may appear to be arrogant and standoffish. They are action people who like results, but aren’t great listeners.

If you or your colleagues are an amiable personality type, they will display friendly and cooperative behaviour. Their focus is on harmony and maintaining relationships, and they have a low need for control. It’s important to ask them questions to make sure they are with you, and talk about the successes of similar projects you’ve worked on. They like to go along with whatever is happening. Explain how a project will help them to achieve their goals and will have a positive impact on their team. They like to feel safe and aren’t good at taking action on their own, which means that they can seem obstinate or apathetic.

If you or your colleagues are an expressive personality type, they will display outgoing and enthusiastic behaviour. They are competitive, their focus is on being creative and optimistic, and they will have a need for self-expression. With colleagues like this, rather than focusing on the facts, be empathic, be their friend while they are working with you. Don’t be surprised if they arrive late for a meeting because they have lots of commitments and a rushed lifestyle. They like to be the centre of attention. They are quite animated when they speak and don’t like to be bored. The prefer spontaneity and can be impulsive, but they do like approval.

If you want to find out what personality style you have, there are questionnaires on the Internet, for example at https://www.bradfordvts.co.uk/wp-content/onlineresources/communication-skills/behaviour-analysis/behavioural%20social%20and%20communication%20style%20questionnaire.pdf. How accurate the questionnaires are, I can’t say. Obviously, you can’t ask a new colleague to take a personality test, but, knowing the characteristics of each type, you can probably identify which category they principally belong in. If that doesn’t match your style of presentation during a project meeting, then it will be useful for you to modify the way you present information and the type of information you lead with. That way, let’s hope, you can achieve the outcomes you want and help them to understand the power of the mainframe and the benefits to your organization of utilizing it.

You can always practice, at first, on your friends and family to see which of the four domains you think they are in, and then check with their assessment of their own personality.