May 6, 2015

Insights - Fiery Red

Insights - Fiery Red

This is the first of four posts that will go into a bit more depth on all of the different behavioural profiles in Insights. First up are fiery reds and below are some characteristics which are quite common amongst them:

  • Aggressive
  • Efficient
  • Like to win
  • Results driven
  • Extroverted

Fiery reds have a strong determination to get things done, and quickly! They tend to try take control of situations by being assertive and are extroverted with very high energy. However, since they are primarily focused on action, they tend to show less concern for people's feelings or relationships and as such tend to find it difficult in interacting with earth greens, their opposite colour.

Environmental clues

Fiery reds can often be identified from the following indicators at the workplace:

  • Their desk tends to be very busy with work and projects separated into piles.
  • The desk may also be very large to reinforce their power and separate them from their visitors.
  • The walls is often covered with achievements.
  • The general seating arrangement is closed and formal and positioned for power.

Interactions

What to do

Fiery reds really appreciate it when you are competent, efficient and effective. They get irritated when having to deal with incapable people. They also tend to prefer spoken words rather than documents and like it when you are quick and confident in your interactions with them. A catch phrase has even been coined to describe the interactions with fiery reds:

Be brief, be bright, be gone!

One thing to remember, is that since they like fast paced information, fiery reds tend to be poor listeners and as such may react loudly to things that they do not fully understand. In order to reduce this, what you can do is occasionally ask them if they are following your train of thought.

What not to do

Since fiery reds are quite direct and to the point, they don't tolerate people who tend to waffle or hesitate. Another thing to note is since they like to control the situation, so as soon as they feel like they have lost control, they tend to push back. Lastly, as I mentioned above, they don't focus to much on feelings and emotions, so they tend to loathe it when people bring those emotional issues to them.

Scenario time

Lets say you have the situation where your kids were playing soccer and mistakenly kicked the ball through the neighbours window. Your neighbour, a fiery red, comes storming out and starts yelling at you. How do you handle the situation? What do you do?

From what we have learnt the best approach would be to be brief, quick and cause the owner the least amount of inconvenience. So when he comes storming towards you, a suggested approach would be to tell him that you will replace the window and call a glass maker and have it repaired immediately. This would would address all his concerns, without any disagreements.

Now lets say that you approached this in a cool blue manner, where you said to him you will fix it for him, but you took a week to do as you would phone the various glass makers and ensure that he gets the best glass he can find. The neighbour would no doubt have been angered and arguments would probably have ensued.

That's if for this post. Next week we will be looking into the analytic, cautious cool blue profile.

Until next time...keep learning!