Success In The Workplace
Having a basic understanding of MetaProgrammes, or utilising the knowledge of someone who does, can be incredibly useful and advantageous to businesses.
From a business owner or senior management perspective, being able to comprehend their own as well as their staff’s key traits via the use of language is vital. It can make the difference between hiring or firing somebody and whether a particular person is either suited to your business or is simply in the wrong job role.
Remember, without factual evidence, what we believe we see from the outside is not always the case and more often than not can have been misinterpreted via a mind read.
Different people respond to different types of information and challenge. The underlying cause of this difference is that people have differing MetaProgrammes - patterns of seeing and reacting to the world that are either innate or built into us at an early age.
Via various human behavioural studies, many of these MetaProgrammes have been identified. Here are a few of the most common and powerful ones - see if you can identify yourself in any of them!
Toward / Away From
Some people are motivated to move towards goals, others by the desire to avoid problems. ‘Toward’ people are the former. They are good at establishing and meeting goals but can also be seen to be naive, as they often overlook problems in the way. ‘Away From’ people are the latter. They are good at spotting potential problems and fixing them, though they are sometimes seen as cynical by goal-driven ‘Toward’ people.
External / Internal
An ‘External’ person will be influenced by strong, fact-based authoritative language. An ‘Internal’ person will also take in data but they will ultimately decide for themselves. An ‘Internal’ boss may rarely or never praise their staff because such praise doesn’t matter to them. Staff with an ‘External’ pattern will probably resent this. On the other hand, staff with an ‘Internal’ pattern may find the praise patronising.
Options / Procedures
‘Options’ people are interested in new ways of doing things. They love to create new procedures but find it hard to follow them - they’d rather tinker with them. They are the ‘starters’. 'Procedures’ people like to follow set patterns and focus on results. They are the ‘completer/finishers’.
Sameness / Difference
When asked to compare things, ‘Sameness’ people look for the similarities between things and ‘Difference’ people look for the differences. This also extends to how they like things to be: ‘Same’ people, perhaps rather unsurprisingly, don’t like change; while ‘Different’ people not only like it but often crave it.
Big Chunk / Small Chunk
‘Small Chunk’ people like detail; at worst, they form no overview. ‘Big Chunk’ people like the big picture and become impatient with detail very quickly. A famous Japanese proverb says “vision without action is a daydream; action without vision is a nightmare”.
Self / Other
When under stress, ‘Self’ people will tend to focus first on themselves and how a goal will impact on them, while ‘Others’ focus initially on how it will affect those around them. If you have a strong ‘sort by self’ pattern you may find it difficult to really care about those around you. If you have a strong ‘sort by other’ pattern, you may feel that self-sorting people are selfish and therefore unworthy of your time.
A Game Changer says…
The majority of us will have at least one or most probably a few dominant MetaProgrammes and may be more towards the middle in others.
Ex British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was someone with a hugely dominant ‘Internal’ MetaProgramme. When outvoted 49:1 on an issue, she said she felt sorry for the other 49! Clearly there was no use telling her that other people didn’t agree with her point of view.
As referenced in the first few paragraphs, understanding whether people have one or several strong MetaProgrammes can make a massive difference to the harmony, efficiency and growth of a successful business.
For a start, you may simply have the right person in the wrong role or perhaps the wrong person in the right role - having a knowledge of MetaProgrammes, of how they trend and run, allows us to work from the ‘same page’ and creates understanding, unity and stability.
There is no doubt that certain people are better suited to certain professions.
Solicitors, Accountants and Doctor’s are ‘Away From’ people, while Sales & Marketing, Politicians, Artists and Athletes tend to focus on what they want to get - ‘Toward’ people. ‘Small Chunk’ people make for good lawyers but poor legal theorists.
All MetaProgrammes are there to be calculated, understood and ultimately worked upon as and when necessary. Each of the above examples allows us to improve ourselves.
The External / Internal example above shows exactly how a particular behaviour without the right knowledge and understanding can present potential conflict!
This knowledge and comprehension of people should never be underestimated and in our humble opinion spending time, energy and investment in fully understanding and working closely with your staff can pay big dividends in both the structure and success of your business.