Having seen the Behavioral Model live in action at work for over a decade, and seeing the connections in contact centers – between both employees with customers, and coaches and employees – the language and style clues are always present and drive the ability to connect, or emphasize where there may be a disconnect. This is the power of personality. Our language is a clue into who we are and how we operate. Our style needs and characteristics are prevalent in how we communicate, because at the end of the day, we want others to recognize us in a way that best fits our needs. In addition to our language, we also leave clues around us to advertise to others how to meet our needs.
In filming our latest videos featuring Predictive Behavioral Routing, we took a deep-dive into personality. With the characters in the videos, we brought them to life by adding in the details that make each style unique, identifiable, and entirely their own – which style clues did you pick up on?
You can reference the videos on our YouTube Channel:
Predictive Behavioral Routing Overview and the
Personality Vignette.
Character Profile, Organizer - Phil
As an Organizer, Phil's strength is Planning. His style need is for recognition of work and his time structure. Advertisements in his language that indicate his specific work and time are important. In his office, there is a keen level of organization and order. He has binders; each labeled, and precisely organized. His awards, recognizing both his work and time spent in achieving these are hung with exactly four push-pins each. While Phil has photos in his office, they are a recognition of his achievement: 4 friends, 2 children, 1 wife. Phil's office is neat, tidy, and matched accordingly. Phil is wearing a watch, and has another clock in his office to ensure he is not late to a commitment; multiple clocks can also be signals to someone else that he is running out of time during a meeting in his office. When Phil calls customer service, he anxiously checks the time in anticipation of the meeting he must be at in 5 minutes; after all, it would be irresponsible to be late for his meeting. He is satisfied when the employee he contacts gets right to business and the next steps to efficiently resolve his issue.
Character Profile, Connector - Sarah
Sarah is a Connector, her strength is Relationships. She has a style need for recognition of person and sensory. This means her compassionate, sensitive, and warm personality is highly attuned to understand and empathize with the feelings and experiences of others. To get her needs met, Sarah speaks with feeling states that may come across on the phone where she says “she is confused,” or “overwhelmed” – both signals that she looking to be met by an employee’s response that she is okay, and they will work together. To meet her needs of person and sensory at home, Sarah’s apartment is filled with things that make her feel good. For example, her friend made her coffee mug for her, and her grandmother gave her the sweater she is wearing. Sarah has many photos of friends and family around her, because these are the people she cares about. Her coasters, books, candles, and travel souvenirs all create a certain feeling of comfort, coziness, and calmness giving her space a warm, welcoming, and “homey” feel – sure to make Sarah, as well as any guest feel at ease. Sarah is relieved when her phone call is answered by an employee who is warm, welcoming, and open to working together.
Character Profile, Advisor - Kelly
Kelly, an Advisor, has a strength in Commitment. She is dedicated, observant, and conscientious and her style needs are for recognition of her work and convictions. Kelly’s language is formal, respectful, and indicative of her values. She is calling because her status with the company she has been a loyal customer of for 15 years, is not treating her with the same dedication that she has shown them throughout her commitment to them. Kelly has her status number, case number, and issue number prepared for the call – not because it is logical – but it is the right thing to do to be respectful of others. She is wearing a suit, patent leather shoes, and dresses in a way that is appropriate for the organization to demonstrate her commitment to her role. She diligently wears her badge as part of corporate policy adherence (it is the right thing to do). Kelly carries a laptop that has a sticker on it – the sticker is from a company that has a mission statement around sustainability and environmental protection – causes which Kelly highly values. When asked about the sticker, Kelly proudly shares her opinions on the environment, and her involvement in the board of the company to ensure they make a strong impact to achieve their goals.
Character Profile, Original - Liam
With untied shoes, and surrounded by objects stimulating creativity, our Original, Liam, paints in his art studio while calling customer service. Liam’s strength is Creativity. He has a need for contact – things that get him “jazzed” or spark new, different ways of looking at common objects, or solving problems with “out of the box” thinking. Liam’s language is casual and expressive; both his facial expressions and the words he uses are animated – there is even a bit of a twinkle in his eye. He wants his customer experience to be easy and hassle-free. He is surrounded by things that he thinks are “cool” or neat – Liam wants people to ask him about “this stuff” because they have neat stories – like that time he went to Tanzania and got that statue in a tiny village after hiking through a rainstorm, or the textile from Peru that he got while volunteering to help out at an art camp for disabled kids, or the artist Big Bird that inspires him to keep things light and not take things too seriously. Liam is looking for the employee on the phone to understand he’s not just another number, or the next step in the process; he wants things to be light and casual, to resolve a problem, things don’t have to be stuffy or regimented. It’s okay to have fun and get work done too!
Now that we’ve given you a bit more insight on these characters, what else do you see in the videos that shows the differences between the personality styles? Are you seeing yourself or someone you know in each of these styles?
Remember, it’s always in the language; be tuned in to what you hear versus what is said. Predictive Behavioral Routing is the only solution licensed and patented to use the Process Communication Model and language-based style clues in making connections smarter. Find out more on
www.NICE.com/PBR.
Want more on personality? Read our December Blog Post, “The Process Communication Model - Personality, Actually Is All Around.”
