PeopleSmart in Business eBook - The Platinum Rule

existing performance levels, and organizing systems. Th ey oft en enjoy
helping set up or implement guidelines that allow others to be more
organized. Remember that Steady Relaters are the ones who assemble
all their equipment fi rst, set up their tools, and begin to work only
when everything is in place.
For instance, when she’s ready to collate, Steady Relater Paula places
all the pages in descending order on a table. Next, she places a stapler
on one side of the desk, extra staples close to that, and fi nally a large
enough opening near page one for the completed stacks. When everything
is ready, she begins to work on the completion of this task.
Many a Dominant Director and Interacting Socializer who initially
rolled their eyeballs at what they viewed as a laborious preparation
stage have later found themselves marveling at such assembly line effi
ciency. At this point, a sincere compliment on her work procedure
might be both appropriate and welcome. “Paula, your collating technique
is more effi cient than I could have imagined, let alone be likely
to do myself.”
Th e typical Dominant Director may want to delegate and oversee
such a procedure: “Paula, you can start without assembling all that paraphernalia,
can’t you?” But for Steady Relaters, that’s not a comfortable
approach because they’re advocates of the Be Prepared and Plan Ahead
schools of thought. An Interacting Socializer may tend to haphazardly
set up such a collating area, possibly on the fl oor, and omit key items
like extra staples or adequate copies of page 13. “Darn, I need to go to
the closet again,” or, “Oh, no! I’ll have to run to the store for more paper.”
Both of these individuals can waste more time than they thought
they’d save because they didn’t prepare as well as the Steady Relater.
Both the personalized people factor and going along with established
practices rate high with this type. So when problems bombard
Steady Relaters, they try to solve them by helping or working with
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