As an executive assistant, understanding your executive’s personality and behavioural traits is essential to providing exceptional support. Beyond handling daily tasks, connecting with their unique preferences and communication style can elevate your role, enabling you to support them on a deeper level. By learning how they make decisions, communicate under pressure, and respond to challenges, you can strengthen your working relationship, anticipate their needs, and respond proactively.
Every executive has their own way of working, not just in terms of professional skills but also in personal preferences and behavioural style. Understanding how they operate and what motivates them can enable you to offer a higher level of support, often anticipating their needs before they express them. Being attuned to these characteristics allows you to communicate more effectively, solve problems proactively, and create a more productive and harmonious working environment.
Assessment Tools
Several widely used assessment tools offer valuable insights into personality and behavioural traits, including:
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI): Perhaps the best-known personality assessment, MBTI categorises individuals into 16 personality types based on preferences in perception and judgement. It offers insight into how people gain energy, perceive the world, make decisions, and structure their daily routines.
Enneagram: The Enneagram identifies nine distinct personality types, each with specific motivations, fears, and behaviours. It can be particularly useful for understanding how your executive might respond under stress, approach decision-making, or interact with others in various contexts.
DISC Assessment: DISC focuses on four primary behavioural traits—Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. Understanding these traits helps you tailor your communication style, support their working preferences, and recognise what drives them.
Big Five Personality Traits (OCEAN): This model assesses five dimensions—Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. Widely used in professional settings, it provides insights into compatibility, potential work stressors, and communication needs.
Belbin Team Roles: Belbin identifies nine team roles that people naturally assume, such as Coordinator, Implementer, or Plant (the creative problem-solver). Knowing your executive’s Belbin role can help you align your support with their team interactions and project involvement.
Insights Discovery: Based on Jungian psychology, Insights Discovery uses colour energies—Cool Blue, Earth Green, Sunshine Yellow, and Fiery Red—to represent different behavioural styles. Recognising which colour your executive most aligns with can help you adapt your communication style and understand their decision-making process.
CliftonStrengths (previously StrengthsFinder): CliftonStrengths focuses on identifying an individual’s top strengths, such as Strategic, Relator, or Achiever. Understanding these can help you leverage your executive’s natural talents, whether they excel in relationship-building, strategy, or driving execution.
Our Favourite Tool: DISC Assessment
Among these tools, the DISC Assessment stands out for its simplicity and workplace relevance. DISC categorises people into four traits:
Dominance: Decisive and goal-oriented, people with high Dominance prefer direct communication and are driven by results.
Influence: Outgoing and enthusiastic, Influence types enjoy collaboration and value social recognition.
Steadiness: Calm and supportive, Steadiness types seek harmony and tend to avoid conflict.
Cautiousness (sometimes Conscientiousness): Analytical and detail-oriented, Cautious types prioritise accuracy and value structured environments.
Understanding your executive’s DISC profile can have a transformative impact on your working relationship. It enables you to adapt your communication style, approach tasks in a way they appreciate, and avoid potential stress points.
For those interested in exploring DISC further, we offer a free DISC Assessment Tool on our website. It’s an excellent resource to start learning about DISC and how it can enhance your professional relationship with your executive. Do one for yourself and ask your executive as well.
Starting the Conversation with Your Executive
Taking the time to understand your executive’s personality and behavioural traits can elevate your support from good to outstanding. By gaining a deeper insight into how they work and what they value, you can anticipate their needs more effectively, reduce friction, and build a more fulfilling partnership. So why not take the first step and ask if they’d be open to sharing their assessment results? The insights you gain could make a lasting impact on your working relationship.
To understand your executive better, consider asking if they’ve taken any of these personality or behavioural assessments and if they’d be open to sharing the results with you. A thoughtful question like, “Have you ever taken a personality or behavioural assessment? If so, would you be open to sharing the results so I can tailor my support to your preferences?” could lead to an insightful conversation.
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Book Recommendation: Surrounded by Idiots by Thomas Erikson
A highly accessible way to explore behavioural types is through "Surrounded by Idiots" by Thomas Erikson. This book uses a colour-coded system similar to DISC to describe different personality types—Red (dominant), Yellow (influential), Green (steadfast), and Blue (analytical). Erikson’s book is engaging and practical, offering easy-to-grasp insights into understanding and working effectively with different personality types. It’s a recommended read for any assistant looking to deepen their knowledge of behavioural styles in an approachable way.
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About the Author: Richard Arnott, BA, FInatAM, FIToL, is a Director of BMTG (UK) Ltd, and the author and lead presenter of the groundbreaking, globally recognised Advanced Certificate for the Executive Assistant: ACEA® program. Richard also sits on the editorial board of Lucy Brazier OBE Executive Support Magazine.
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