#159 - Behavior Styles Review: Conductors

Speaker A: Foreign.

Speaker B: Here we go, folks. Welcome back to the Managing with Mind and Heart podcast. I'm Ethan Nash, and we are doing a tour of the four different behavior styles. This is from our Behavioral Styles and Understanding People workshop, a, uh, valuable tool that we use to help develop teams, help teams create common commitments and norms, and help groups collaborate well and effectively together by learning how to leverage each other's talents and strengths and ways of seeing the world, as well as helping teams become more flexible and adaptive in how they show up. Anyways, today we're talking about our third behavioral style, which is our conductors. A couple weeks ago, we posted the episode on Analyzers. I, uh, encourage you to at the very least, go back and listen to that one, because I gave a bit of a Runway and preamble to behavioral styles and explaining a little bit more about what it is, what it isn't, how to be, how to be, thinking about this framework and model and maybe a little bit how to use it. Um, so go listen to that one on Analyzers. Additionally, uh, last week we posted on our Promoters, so listen to that one, too. And here we are talking about conductors. So with each of these behavior styles, we're going through their seven organizing principles, or rather their seven wants, needs, and expectations. And this is about how they show up to other people. It's not necessarily about how these styles feel about themselves. Sometimes it is how they feel about themselves as well, but it's mostly about how they're perceived, how they show up to other people in the workplace. So, conductors. Ah, an overview of their seven organizing principles. Here we go. Number one, results. Number two, Action and efficiency. Number three, control. Number four, to fix things. Number five, to be challenged. Number six is conciseness. And number seven is straight talk. Let's double click on each one of these. All right. Conductors. Conductors. Conductors. Now, I do self identify as a conductor as well. As, you know, my team has identified me as a conductor, so I'm speaking from a place of authority here. Wink, wink. Anyways, um, let's talk about results. Their first organizing principle. Results. All right? They're motivated by producing results. That's the bottom line. Now think about this. Maybe a dumb, obvious question here, but, uh, what are the benefits of having somebody around in the workplace that's focused on results? Yeah, they get her done, right? If it's a challenging thing to do, give it to them because they're shooting for good results. They tend to be resourceful people. They tend to figure out ways to get around barriers and get around roadblocks and just Figure out a way to make it happen. So we, of course, everybody here listening to this, understand that we want and need people around us that are focused on results. And this is a gift that they bring to the workplace. And with every gift, depending on the context and how it's used, it can be a weakness or a liability. So let's talk about where this can get in their own way at times. So, you know, imagine this, and this scenario here is one that I've been both on the receiving end of as well as the giving end of, um, as a conductor. So imagine this. You have a report that is due the following day to your manager, and your manager is a conductor. And so you show up that next day and you sit down with your manager and say, hey, you know what? I know I was supposed to get that report to you today, and I'm really sorry, but I don't have it. Um, last night at home, I was planning on working on it, but. But then my kids both got sick and it was just a really hard night and I didn't get to it. And so I don't have your report. Now, as you're saying this to your conductor boss, the initial vibe you might be getting back from them is something like, so you don't have the report. So you don't have the report. Tell me more about all the excuses of why you don't have the report. Now, that might be the vibe you initially get back from them. Now, if this was a listener boss, that we'll cover listeners next week. But if this was a listener boss, they would probably go, oh, forget about the report. How are your kids? Now, I'll be clear. Your conductor manager might get there eventually. It just might take them a few extra beats to get to that relational element of the conversation. Here's the principle. Conductors tend to look stern and upset when you, huh, have blocked their forward progress towards their results. The principle here is when you block the forward progress of a conductor, it stresses them out. So the initial vibe you might be getting back from them is, I'm not very happy with you. And another thing is excuses drive conductors crazy. But what some people call excuses, other people just called call, um, life. So here's the deal. If they are not careful, if we are not careful as conductors, we can give the impression that relationships aren't important, but getting stuff done is. And this can come across as a little intimidating. So just something to watch out for. But of course, someone that's focused on results, it brings a lot of cool things. They get Stuff done. They tend to rise up in organizations. They can be reliable for results. They tend to be given a lot of responsibility. They're dependable people, and we love that. All right, so number two is action and efficiency. By the way, if you're following along, where did you see action before? Which of the other behavioral styles? Uh, that was with the promoters. Which means if your primary is a promoter or conductor and your secondary is a promoter or conductor, it means that action might be amplified because you have more expedient qualities. But if you're a conductor, say a conductor and an analyzer, and you have that mix, this might be mitigated a little bit because analyzers are a little bit less, uh, have less expedient qualities. So that's kind of how these might interact or not, because there's many types of people in the world. But here with conductors, it's not just action, but it's efficiency, too. Meaning, what's the fastest way to point A and point B? Let's just do that. Now, the positives that come from this, they get a lot done and they move fast and they save us time, they save us effort. They tend to create systems that maximize our output and efficiency. And we need this in the workplace. Now, challenges that can come with this. All right, let's try something here. And I'm thinking about efficiency. Let's imagine that you need to communicate with a team member that you need a report from them by 4pm on Thursday. Now, I want you to think through the lens of efficiency. What is the absolute most efficient way to communicate that to your team member through email? Try it. The most efficient way to communicate that.

Speaker A: All right,

Speaker B: I'll give it a try. Need report, 4pm Thursday. And by the way, that's just in the subject line. I don't even have anything in the body of the email. And I'm certainly not saying please or thank you or hope you have a, uh, nice day. And I definitely ain't adding in any sort of cat meme. Okay, and now think about how cool that is. I just saved myself, like, 20 seconds by not adding in all this unnecessary fluff. And imagine if I save myself 20 seconds on every one of these emails that I'm sending you throughout my career. I'm going to save myself hours and hours of time over my career, except for all the whiny conversations I now have to have because I've hurt people's feelings. Now, this is exactly what can happen with us conductors if we're not careful. We think we're saving Time, because efficiency, efficiency, efficiency. But we forget that that extra 30 seconds for adding in a little bit of relationship goes a long way in building buy in and building trust, which ultimately will enhance your results in the long run. Okay, so some main points here. Now, if I put these two together, so I'm putting together results and action and efficiency, can you see someone who is probably accomplished, who improves things, who drives us forward, who takes charge, all great things, and if they are not careful, they can end up stepping on people's toes and they don't even know it. I find that more than the rest of us, conductors are surprised about the vibes that they send out. One thing I often hear from conductors is, well, all I said was, I don't understand why they took it to be such a big deal or you have to be really careful around here. People are really sensitive. Now, we got to understand that's often just conductors talk, right? One of our team members here at Nash Consulting, they were working with a team, and this team had a, uh, conductor manager, and they were doing behavioral styles with this group. And at one point the conductor stood up and said, hey, look, folks, I gotta address something like, I get it.

Speaker A: You get it.

Speaker B: I'm a conductor. I know I can be a, um. I know I can be a bit blunt, and I just need to address something. And then this manager turns to somebody in the room and goes, yesterday when I say it said to go upstairs right now to get the report. All I meant was go upstairs right now and get the report. Why do you have to read into all these other things? I wasn't mad at you. I just wanted the report right now. So this is a misconception that we often have with conductors. And that misconception is they don't like people. They don't care about relationships. Which isn't true, or at least for most people. I'm sure there's some people that just don't like people. But for most conductors and most everybody, it's not that they don't like people. So that said, it's important for conductors to remember that every interaction you have with another human being has a relational component. And if you're just being tasky and not paying attention to the relationship, it can be taken as aggressive or even uncaring. And it's important for others to remember when they're working with a conductor that just because they're being direct with you doesn't mean they don't care about you. M. So it's both. It's us as conductors. Making adjustments and, and making sure we're adding in the relational component to interactions. And it's other people understanding that this is, you know, a conductor is often more blunt and direct in how they communicate. All right, number three is control. Now, uh, before you read into control freak, instead, think air traffic controller conductors are really good at stepping back, seeing the big picture and putting things into place. They're really good at taking the 30,000 foot view and then seeing what needs to happen next and then moving pieces and people and parts into place to make that thing happen, which means they're also pretty good at delegating. Now, the thing to be careful of is people don't like to feel like pieces on a chessboard. People have their ideas. So it's important that us as conductors take time to get people's input before deciding. That's going to be really important to remember. But again, this focus on control brings a lot of good things, brings the ability to lead, the ability to direct, the ability to air traffic control. And not everyone has these leadership skills. All right, number four is to fix things. This system could work better. This process could be more efficient. There is something we can do to improve this. Conductors are often innovators. Now, of course, the annoying thing is, is when the thing that they're trying to fix is you or something is working just fine. But it changes every week because they're constantly looking to improve and fix things. And this can burn people out. But, you know, someone with a constant eye on fixing and improving is someone we want and need around. And they're going to be motivated by being given a hard problem to fix. Because number five for us is to be challenged. They have a high bar when it comes to challenges. And by the way, if you really want to motivate a conductor, give them a challenge and say something like, hey, I'm not sure you're going to be able to fix this. They're going to think, oh, yeah, hold my beer, I've got this. Conductors. Conductors tend to get into jobs above their current skill level. This is what we find. Because what I think happens is they're in a job and they start to get pretty good at it. And when they're pretty good at it, it's time to stretch and challenge themselves again for that next position. And so they rise up in organizations because of this. So look, if it's a challenging thing to do, consider giving it to a conductor because it might motivate them. Um, conductors, you know, what comes with this is conductors tend to be competitive. If not with others and with themselves. Now, of course, the downside, the challenge to someone that's focused on being challenged is if they aren't challenged enough, they might get pretty bored or they might get dissatisfied, or they start pushing for change when it's not needed because they just want a challenge. And so to keep our conductors engaged and motivated, it's important that we check in with them. Are they challenged enough? What can we do to help continue to challenge them, and so on and so forth. M. All right, number six is conciseness. And you know what? I'll put number six and seven together. So we have conciseness and we have straight talk. Alrighty. So both of these are obviously communication dynamics. Now what do you want from me if you want me to be concise? Conciseness is just efficiency in communication. Like, just get to the point. Like, I don't need the two month backstory. If I want more details, I'll ask. There was a, um, a coaching client of one of our team members and they were coaching a conductor. And, um, this person was super adaptable. Like, she totally got the message. Which is, when it comes to behavioral styles, don't try to change your style because it brings a lot of gifts and blessings. And we need all the styles in the workplace and make small adjustments to be more effective with working with other people. Okay, so they were coaching this conductor. She got it. Then they did a group session with her team to go through behavioral styles. They all got it. At the end of the session, she stands up and she says, hey everybody, I've been working on this in my coaching and I just got to say, look, I know I have this kind of, this kind of look of annoyance when you come to talk with me in my office. And I know I tend to be kind of just blunt and just to the point. And I know I haven't always kind of made time for the relationship. And I also get, because of that, that some of you are probably avoiding coming to talk talk to me. And you know what? I am going to work on that. I need to look more open and I need to recognize that I need to add in more relationship because the truth is I care about all of you. And so I'm working on that. And then she goes, uh, again, and I really want you to come talk to me anytime you need something. And then she laughs and she goes, and then come tell me what you need and then go away. And everybody was able to laugh because they got it. And then she pulls out pictures of her kids and she shows them to everybody, and she goes, and by the way, these are my kids. They're fine. So it was a humorous moment, and I actually thought that was a really cool balance that she was demonstrating in that meeting, because first, she owned her impact, and she owned what she needed to work on, and she was honest about who she was. Like, hey, just be concise with me. So that's about conciseness. Now, what do you want from me? If you want straight talk? Straight talk is just honesty and directness. Like, if you're upset at me, just tell me. Like, don't sugarcoat it. Now, you might be able to recognize the irony in this, because of the four different styles, who do you think is going to be the most difficult to kind of just give straight talk and honesty to? It's the conductor, because they tend to look a little bit more stern. Um, they tend to be able to kind of like, push back and challenge you. And so it can be a bit more intimidating to give them straight talk. So, you know, it's a blessing. It's a curse at times, but this is just kind of their vibe. But, of course, the benefits of conciseness and straight talk is we get clarity from them. We get directness. Like, we know where they stand, which is a really beautiful thing. All right, all right, folks. So with each of these styles, we're doing a little bit of a kind of summary by talking about, hey, what are the top three things that we should know about working with a conductor to be able to communicate and work with them effectively and meet them where they're at? And then what are three things that conductors should consider paying attention to, being careful of or adjusting? And you, uh, know what? There's a conductor in my life that we could probably ask about this. And, uh, it's also Conductor in your life. If you've been listening to this podcast, let's give a call to the man, the myth, the legend, the Mr. Mike Nash. And let's see if he picks up here and see what he has to say about what we should know about working with conductors. Hello, sir.

Speaker A: Hello. How are you, bud?

Speaker B: I am doing well. Would you enlighten us, uh, on your perspective of, like, hey, what are. What are three things you think people should know about working well and working effectively with conductors?

Speaker A: Wow. Do you start all your conversations this way?

Speaker B: Yeah. Before every. Every call. Just so we all are, you know, you know, building trust and respect with each other, you know?

Speaker A: All right, all right. Okay. Three things that, uh, I would want people to know in Working well with a conductor. Okay.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Um, I would say. Okay, I will start with, um, if at all possible, uh, respect my time. Um, I'll start with that. Um, and maybe especially when it's clear that I'm trying to accomplish something or make something happen. I think are pretty sensitive to their time getting wasted, so. Mhm. That's one nice. I would say, I would say be willing to. Yeah. Oh yeah, that's kind of a big one for me. Be willing to. Kind of be willing to push back or have a boundary or disagree. Like, like, don't, don't let my, you know, my sense that I'm, you know, the fact that I'm adamant or I'm sounding really firm or strong or, uh, decisive. Don't let that shut you down. If at all possible. Yeah. Ability to kind of push back and say what you think and maybe even ask me to maybe listen. I need to listen, you know. Yeah. That kind of thing.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Don't let me, don't let me run over yet, because I might not. I don't mean to. So I need to be reminded. Buddies.

Speaker B: Yeah. It's almost like kind of in a sense like appreciating your. Appreciating your directness, in a sense by kind of letting it happen and also being willing to go there with you.

Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, let me do it when that's happening. But then also if you need me to stop or stop and listen, say that too so that I don't keep going. I think that's, that's good for me. Good for conductors, I think.

Speaker B: Okay, good one. What about one more?

Speaker A: Yeah, one more, one more, one more. Um, okay, I guess I, and, and I think these are kind of hard because I think conductive students, you know, be, be a little hard to understand. But I would say, um, like, like try. I. So hard to say. Don't, don't take it personally. Uh, don't, don't take, don't take me, um, maybe disagreeing with you overly adamantly or maybe I interrupt you, whatever it is, do your best to not think that that means that I don't care about you or I don't respect you. It's a, it's a, it's a style that's showing up that kind of, kind of gets away from me sometimes, I think. And I think that's true for a lot of conductors. Yeah. Read into things if you don't need to read into it.

Speaker B: Mhm. Yeah. Yeah, no, agreed. Well, actually, why I have you here? Can I ask you another question?

Speaker A: Yes. Sir.

Speaker B: All right, what about like, what are three things that conductors should be careful of? Or you know, another way of framing that is three things that they might need to adjust a little bit.

Speaker A: Yes, yes, yes. Um, well, the first and biggest one that probably, if I only had one, it would be all the moving parts of what it means to listen. So that's a whole bunch of behaviors all rolled into one. So that would be things like, um, say something about what the other person just said before you push back or give a counter. Um, be quiet a little bit more. Ask a couple questions before you jump to a conclusion. Mhm. So really active listening would be the number one thing I would think a conductor needs do to help them. Yeah. In all their relationships. Okay, um, two more. Two more. Um, oh yeah. Um, just, just remember that your the way you think it should be. And even though you are 100% sure that any reasonable person would agree with you, that doesn't mean you're right. Um, so to kind of let go of so what you think it should be and be open to more possibilities. Mhm. And that might be an analyzer conductor combo maybe on that one. But yeah, conductors too.

Speaker B: Wow, you're just totally, totally calling me out, aren't you?

Speaker A: Well, I wasn't thinking about that.

Speaker B: Okay, all right.

Speaker A: Okay, one more, one more things that conductor continue to be more effective. Um, how about, um, yeah, I would say, and I would apply this to promoters too. So conductor promoter, it would be just slow it down. And specifically for conductors, um, you don't have to choose the quickest way, the quickest route. You know, you could ask more questions, you could gather more opinions from others, you could give people more process time. So, so just don't feel like everything has to be done quite so quickly.

Speaker B: Right, right. Which probably also includes like inviting in for um, inviting input before taking charge or fixing things.

Speaker A: Right? Yes, yes. Because that all takes time. Inviting input. Yeah. Even listening well. Takes time.

Speaker B: Yeah. Well, very good. Well, well said. Well, thanks for contributing. And you know what, since I have you here, welcome. Why don't you just close out the episode for us? So give us all your parting words.

Speaker A: Well, thanks for joining us everyone. And yeah, it's Ethan. I am now walking downtown Seattle and this is a really fun way to do a podcast. We should do more of these.

Speaker B: Okay, so more random calls. Good, good.

Speaker A: Yes, yes.

Speaker B: All right, well, thanks, appreciate you, bye.