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A week ago I was introduced to two seemingly benign questions. Over the past week I have been able to ask these questions repeatedly and the answers seem to point to the way things are. The first questions is If you were to describe yourself, would you describe yourself as more outgoing or more reserved? This seems like a simple question, but some people seem to waver on which side of the fence they land on. And to tell the truth, most people have both in them. But, if you were to give an answer right now 51%/49% what would it be. The second questions sits on top of the first. If you were to describe your self, again if its difficult 51%/49% and you can change your answer, would you say you were more task oriented or relationship oriented. Wow, see two very simple questions. Except that when these two questions are used in tangent they actually begin to display a lot more about you then you might at first think. The answers to these questions splits people into four different personality groups. Outgoing-Task, Outgoing-Relationship, Reserved-Task, Reserved-Relationship. Of course, we all have a little of each quadrent in us. Sometimes we are more Reserved-Task to get something done in a very detailed fashion but other times we are more Outgoing-Relationship when at a party. The interesting part about these questions is that for the past week I have asked myself these questions about all the new people I met while I did on-site training for a company in Minneapolis. One of the employees what Outgoing-Relationship and he was boisterous and vibrant and a little crass. The other office employee was Reserved-Task and she definitly had a right way of doing things that was about to be completly turned topsy-turvy. Knowing the anwers to the two questions for these trainees I was able to mirror their attitudes and mode of communication in order to have the most effective training. It was a very real way to experience the different personality types and get a feel for working with two very different types. Oh, and with the Task/Relationship break they view building new relationships very different. The Task people feel that there must be trust before there can be relationship. The Relationship people are the exact opposite and feel that there must be some relationship before trust can be built.