Going Beyond Networking - In Style!

From the desk of Ron Sukenick

Before starting out on a journey, it helps to think about how things might look at our destination point. You and I, remember, are going into the Beyond Networking zone (beyond traditional networking, that is) and on to Connection, and then further on, to Relationship. And we don't want to just get there - we want to relish the trip itself, every step of the way.

When I was studying under Dr. Robert Rohm to become a Certified Human Behavior Consultant™, one of the very first things I learned about was the Four Main Personality Styles. Of course, the whole purpose of studying these is to be able to really understand what another person is saying, and what motivates that person. No, we're not talking about some parlor game that helps you "guess" what others' styles are, but a way to better connect with all kinds of people. Connection, remember, constitutes the first big leg on our journey to Relationship.

Dr. Rohm uses a model of human behavior called the DISC. You may have heard of the DISC, because so many big corporations use the DISC profile in working with their employees and maximizing the productivity of business teams. The DISC is based on four basic behavior patterns that people tend to use. (By no means is Dr. Rohm implying that each of us always follows one type, because we all use all four styles in different settings and different situations.) What almost all of us have, though is a "fall-back" style of behavior, a way of being that feels most natural and comfortable, a style we tend to use first, and which we use without thinking about it!

Discovering our own style and learning to recognize others' styles can give us an extremely valuable tool in building connections that work. The DISC has proven to be a very powerful tool for beginning this self-discovery. For today, I'll just mention the four styles, and then we'll go much deeper into each type later on.

D stands for Dominant, I for Inspiring, S for Supportive, and C for Cautious.

If you're fresh from many years of old-style networking, I imagine that every fiber of your businessperson self is screaming with impatience (if you're still reading this blog). After all, there's business to tend to and deals to close. Who has time time for self-discovery? You need results!!

I have three words for you if that's the way you're thinking: Hold those horses! Remember what we don't want - to keep up this frantic pace of working at networking. We want networking to work for us! To do that, we need to reach beyond networking and go inward a bit. We need to understand what really makes business people "tick", and what makes us tick in "style"!