About Social Styles

The original SOCIAL STYLE profile has been in use for over 45 years and is the NUMBER 1 tool in the world for understanding human behavior. Training courses that incorporate the profile cover a large variety of areas including: interpersonal skills, leadership, management development / supervisory development, sales management, sales skills, team development / team building, communication skills, parenting and family marriage relationships.

So what are SOCIAL STYLE? From the original research conducted in the 1960′s and thousands of hours of refinement and research over the last 45+ years scientists have found that people could be described by a combination of three scales. First, Assertiveness which is the effort a person makes to influence the thinking and actions of others (Does a person Ask or Tell in interactions). Second, Responsiveness which is the extent to which a person reacts readily to influence or stimulation with a display of feelings (Does a person Control or Display emotions). Third, Versatility which is a type of social endorsement based, in part, on the extent to which others see the individual as competent, adaptable and behaving appropriately.

Assertiveness and Responsiveness combine to describe the four behavioral styles (Driving, Expressive, Amiable and Analytical) of an individual or how someone is wired. Versatility is a measure of the extent to which a person appears to be working to make relationships mutually productive or how they adapt to other peoples SOCIAL STYLE.

Of the three components, Responsiveness, Assertiveness and Versatility – Versatility is the most unfixed and changeable. Whereas Assertiveness and Responsiveness tend to be more consistent aspects of style, Versatility can change across time and circumstances. Of the three components, Versatility is the most amenable to training and development, and the one that is most important for earning the endorsement of coworkers, family members and others.

Because Versatility is such an important and trainable concept it is at the foundation of the SOCIAL STYLE training and programs. Whether you are interacting with a child, parent, significant other, boss, client, peer, subordinate or any other individual the most successful people in life are those that can recognize and adapt communications to other peoples SOCIAL STYLE. THAT is what SOCIAL STYLE is all about, giving individuals the ability and power to tailor communications to maximize productivity and fulfillment in business and in life.

So how does SOCIAL STYLE compare to other popular behavioral assessments and communication tools. A Colardo State University research study in conjuction with Regis Learning Solutions found people retained 34% more information than Myers Briggs and 18% more than DiSC. Another benefit was SOCIAL STYLE participants we almost 4 times more likely to recognize others social style than Myers Briggs and 1.5 times greater than Disc.