Setting goals and making plans
Establishing and maintaining order, structure, and control
Undertaking responsibility
Being appropriate
Belonging
Achieving bottom-line results
YOU’RE NOT ONLY a Gold; you also have strong secondary characteristics of the Blue personality. And you have tested as a Color Q Introvert, which means you recharge your batteries by being alone. Gold/Blue Introverts may think a chapter about “feelings” is a waste of time. However, this chapter is actually about preferences. The Color Q system is based on the research of the Myers-Briggs community, which has conducted studies worldwide for more than seventy years.
Here are the four main advantages of reading this material: 1) Gain mastery over coworker interactions. 2) Develop stronger core competencies for dealing with irritations and energy drains. 3) Identify the roots of ongoing conflicts. 4) Understand the exact steps to achieving buy-in for your procedures and plans.
Research has proven that the Gold/Blue Introvert’s strongest motivators are:
Setting goals and making plans
Establishing and maintaining order, structure, and control
Undertaking responsibility
Being appropriate
Belonging
Achieving bottom-line results
A final motivator is that, as an Introvert, you need a workplace where your intense concentration will be uninterrupted. Always negotiate for private space.
Gold/Blue Introverts account for 9 percent of the world’s population, but without your orderliness, society would be less civilized.
It is the responsibility of every personality to find or create their optimal work environment. Optimal cultures differ among Color Q personality types. Strengths in one company may be unneeded elsewhere. The corporate culture itself may not be dysfunctional; it’s just that Golds hate what Reds love. Conflict, sapped strength, resentment, and feelings of defeat are symptoms of poor cultural fit and can be avoided by understanding your preferences.
The Gold/Blue Introvert’s most preferred work environment emphasizes:
Tangible projects/products and measurable results
Clear chain of command and advancement opportunities
Working on one task at a time without interruptions
Neat, orderly surroundings, with appropriate decor and dress code
Diligent coworkers who follow rules and procedures
A stable, well-respected institution that offers long-term security
If these points seem obvious, it means you’ve tested correctly. (Compare with a Red/Green Extrovert’s ideal environment.)
The Gold/Blue Introvert’s least preferred environment is characterized by :
Unclear goals
Open-endedness, loose controls, and noise
Little privacy with many interruptions
Coworkers who are inefficient and casual about deadlines
People who hold grudges or waste time discussing personal issues
Rewards for intuition over facts
One of the critical tasks of a Gold/Blue Introvert manager is to build one’s personal executive reputation or “brand.” Objectively speaking, this communicates your achievements, skills, and honors; in short, your hierarchical status. Your brand enables you to implement organizational structure and promote yourself externally when necessary. Here is an executive summary of the Gold/Blue Introvert leadership brand:
You are among the best at setting goals, making plans, and getting the job done. Gifted at implementing well-defined policies, you honor “the system,” trust contracts, and organize work around procedures.
You are naturally decisive and adroit at time planning. With these strengths, you rise to power quickly. Rewarding subordinates who play by the rules, you earn respect and a reputation for fairness. You provide security and stability for your staff; by midcareer, you often are recognized as a pillar of your community.
Steven Brill, The Lighting Design Group
You have seen Steven Brill’s work. You probably were unaware of it, because he’s so good at it. Brill is the president and founder of The Lighting Design Group in New York, the largest television lighting design firm on the East Coast.
Gold/Blue Introvert Brill is the reason actors and sets look good. He has more than twenty years of broadcast lighting design experience and multiple Emmy awards. He has done lighting design work on The Cosby Show, CBS’s The Late Show with David Letterman, CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, and dozens of Olympics and presidential debates.
Keeping things on track and orderly during projects such as timed television shows are natural strengths of the Gold/Blue Introvert. Brill is stimulated by the chance to work independently, with efficiency and accuracy. “I am extremely determined; I manage to work through failure and turn it into a success,” he says.
His Gold/Blue managerial preferences are evident and help him excel under pressure. He says: “It’s difficult getting the team to work productively under stressful conditions. I try to handle conflict by breaking down the stressful issues into component parts; I find that people are more able to handle the stress when they can look at the situation from that point of view.”
Gold/Blue Introverts work best independently. You consistently deliver on time within budget. “I analyze what the client needs are, and modify our response appropriately,” says Steven Brill. You’re a reality check for others’ abstract ideas, analyzing procedures and costs. Focusing on one thing at a time, you implement plans even under pressure. “I am good at organizing an effective team that is appropriate to our clients’ needs,” says Brill.
You contribute efficiency, accuracy, predictability, thoroughness, and responsibility. While recognizing the core of problems and how to get things done, you need to guard against procedural rigidity.
Adjusting one’s vocabulary to align with the style of another Color Q personality can elicit powerful positive responses. Empathetic vs. objective analysis, theoretical vs. practical, structured vs. adaptable—these clashes fuel most workplace conflicts. It has been proven that being able to “style shift” provides substantial benefits during negotiations, managing, and interviewing.
Gold/Blue Introverts are outwardly composed and businesslike; they are quiet observers with an inward, wry sense of humor. You prefer written materials and want to think before replying. You respond to words like “facts,” “tradition,” “respected,” and “proven.” Blues (with whom you share some personality traits) prefer theoretical jargon, statistical data, and technical terms. Reds like concrete words and action verbs like “move,” “stimulate,” and “expedite.” Greens (with whom you are least comfortable) prefer abstract concepts and metaphors, emphasizing words like “values,” “relationship,” “feel,” and “friendly.” (The “Political Savvy” section lists step-by-step suggestions for style shifting.)
Your communication style is clear and direct, asking for specifics and talking sequentially. You handle conflict logically, objectively, and impersonally. When the discussion’s over, it’s over. Logic rules. You are uncomfortable discussing personal matters at work.
Certain blind spots are prevalent in Gold/Blue Introverts (only some of them will apply to you):
The workplace conditions that stress and fatigue Gold/Blue Introverts include:
Seeing well-laid plans fail to correct a problem
Doubting your ability to handle a situation
Having to endure interruptions and last-minute changes, or being asked to “wing it”
Seeing things “fall through the cracks”
Working with thoughtless, overly casual coworkers
Being taken for granted
Under extreme stress you may exhibit the emotional outbursts you dislike in others. If you fear losing control, you’ll withdraw, freeze, or barrage others with facts. Long-term stress can cause physical pain. “I had fifteen years of back troubles,” says Gold/Blue Introvert Elizabeth D. “When I got divorced, they disappeared.”
The primary focus of the Gold/Blue Introvert who wants to self-coach for career advancement should be on improving how you handle change, emotions, and abstract thinking.
The Gold/Blue Introvert has these strengths:
Identifies and analyzes key facts
Develops existing ideas
Concentrates on improving efficiency
Plans ahead, sets goals, and controls the schedule
Implements what has worked elsewhere
Measures costs before proceeding
Interpersonal challenges detract from productivity. Here are step-by-step self-coaching strategies for your biggest challenges:
Challenges to the status quo. You believe that power resides in structure and hierarchy. Some does, but there also are other kinds of power. Feelings and innovative ideas contain power, too. Learn how they might be utilized to improve current procedures. Keep an open mind; offer planning assistance to maintain control. Remember, today’s tried-and-true methods started as innovative ideas.
Having to work in large teams or open offices. Ask to work primarily on smaller subcommittees. Bring physical order to your space. Negotiate private work space for greater productivity.
Foreseeing/responding to marketplace shifts. Departing from the plan is uncomfortable, but sometimes necessary. Cultivate a Blue you can turn to for strategic help and a Green for people/marketplace intelligence. Be prepared to “style shift.”
Defeating buy-in to your plans by ignoring emotional components. You often don’t understand why others irrationally resist your logical procedures. Find a Green mentor to help you master “emotional intelligence.” Use “if . . . then” equations. Focus on appreciation to win people over and to soften your bluntness.
Being asked to lead through a crisis. This situation raises inner doubts, preventing you from moving forward with full capability. Delegate to a Red, who will find the crisis energizing. If you can’t delegate, follow a Red colleague’s advice even (or especially) if it goes against your grain.
Working alongside lazy, gossipy coworkers. This is a “style shift” challenge. Reds might seem lazy, but they’re like firefighters waiting for the next call. Greens foster relationships, through which they identify needs that translate to sales. The best solution to these differences? Acknowledge and laugh appreciatively about them, and use them as necessary.
When dealing with challenges, prioritize your need for privacy. Imagine all worst-case scenarios and plan step-by-step responses, but focus on one task at a time. Communicate to your boss that, to be most effective, you need structure and a sense of belonging. During leisure hours mix business with pleasure. Volunteer, watch or coach sports, design a garden, or plan a holiday.
Brent Samuels loved the law. As a boy, he always played policeman, telling people what to do and what was right. Gold/Blues believe people should behave properly and be held accountable if they don’t.
After high school he was accepted into the police academy. He learned how to make arrests, use firearms, and render attackers powerless. A diligent student, he especially enjoyed the simulation exercises and graduated top of his class.
Then he beat the odds. While getting coffee, he interrupted a convenience store holdup. In the split second it took Brent to remember appropriate firearms use, the perpetrator shot him and shattered his right femur.
Months of medical care followed. His supervisor expressed concerns about Brent’s fitness to continue with police work—not only physically, but also because of Brent’s hesitation in a crisis. Brent became deeply depressed; his sense of belonging with his police family was as shattered as his leg. X-rays revealed slow, steady healing, but his career crisis left him frozen.
In this low place, Brent observed the radiologist performing his X-rays. Gold/Blues find set procedures and attention to detail soothing and engaging. After a few weeks Brent was on a first-name basis with Curt; after two months, the pair had mapped out a plan for Brent to enter radiology training. The police department picked up the costs of retraining. Today, Brent enjoys doing things right—at his own pace.
A valuable part of the Color Q system lies in learning how to harness the Green’s marketing and people skills, the Blue’s strategic talents, and the Red’s crisis-handling strengths to your advantage. Engage irritating coworkers as powerful planning and implementation allies.
Greens. “You’re really going to make Karen and all her clients angry if you impose penalties on all accounts unpaid after thirty days,” warned Lisa (a Green). “I don’t think we need to factor in feelings. This is just a bottom-line issue,” replied Jared (a Gold/Blue). But Lisa replied, “Yeah? What happens to the bottom line if Karen jumps ship and takes all those clients with her?”
Greens are the most people-oriented of the primary Color Q personalities. Their understanding of emotions may appear soft and secondary, but it’s also a vital balance to your logical, structured orientation. Your style can irritate Greens; you are obvious in your disapproval of their colorful dress style, and you test them on facts and details. Abstract-thinking Greens are often intimidated by your sequential logic; they immediately sense your low opinion of them. You prefer to do things for others to show affection; Greens lead with their emotions all the time. You dismiss values that challenge rules and procedures as highly unprofessional. To Greens, your style seems blunt and critical. They won’t confront you, but they’ll become distant and unsupportive. Explain to them that you find it difficult to discuss emotions at work because those emotions might be overwhelming, and a Green will instantly support you.
Find common ground with Greens, especially in midcareer, as you become more open to considering people’s emotions.
Ask Greens how to develop emotional patience. Their feedback will be gentle and tactful. When they use metaphors, ask them to “style shift” and speak more concretely to you.
Show patience, respect, and appreciation (even if it irritates you) for their substantial people and marketing skills. This effort will increase buy-in for your plans and procedures.
To ensure their support, factor in their values.
Explain that your love of details, questioning, and critiquing is just your process and should not be taken personally. They’ll have a hard time understanding this part of your personality, so reiterate often.
Blues. “Why are you rejecting this product improvement? It’s got a guaranteed 22 percent profit margin, possibly as high as 50 percent,” asked Doug (a Blue) heatedly. Max (a Gold/Blue) replies: “We’ve never risked implementing any improvement that didn’t bring in at least a 30 percent return.”
To a Gold/Blue Introvert, Blues appear to put all their formidable mental energy into creating strategies that may ignore the details of implementation. Although you share some traits, your style can irritate a Blue by emphasizing details, procedures, and cost analyses rather than overall strategy. In the Blue’s mind, your desire to stick with the tried-and-true must be challenged with criticism and questions. You won’t take the challenge personally. Remember, it’s actually a compliment, so bond over the show of interest.
Be verbally short and concise.
Use “if . . . then” sentences, which are very effective.
Relate your procedures to their strategies. For instance: “In order to introduce this new product by August, you’ll have to line up X, Y, and Z,” or “I’ll research the legal and patent ramifications, so they don’t trip you up.”
Adjust your vocabulary to use theoretical jargon, statistical data, and technical terms. To prove a proposal’s worth, point out long-term benefits. Use ingenuity, logic, and wit to make the case.
Accept that the Blue/Red’s workspace may have many piles on it. Ignore the neat-and-tidy stuff; choose other battles.
Bond with Blues over your mutual desire to innovate. You improve existing products/services; Blue starts from scratch. You innovate when needed; Blue innovates constantly.
Reds. “We need to suspend work on store 322. The tornado damaged the street and half the town’s population has been relocated,” reports Blythe (a Red). But Tory (a Gold/Blue) replies: “Move ahead as scheduled. Our builders say they can get local workers in. I’m not going to be the first project manager to miss a completion deadline.”
Your style can irritate Red by limiting their autonomy and enforcing established procedures. The Red’s strength is to handle midcourse corrections, last-minute changes, and those stressful crises that derail “the plan.” You also need Reds to create team rapport. You point out logical flaws; Reds (who operate in the here-and-now) ask, “Does the ‘flaw’ matter at this moment?”
Use words and phrases like move, expedite, stimulate, “let’s get some real work done” with a Red, and evaluate the response.
Rein in the tendency to criticize “lazy” Reds. They are coiled springs waiting to jump on the next crisis. Downtime (which they fill with gadget play and camaraderie) keeps them on top of their game.
Find common ground in your keen observation of details, working with tangible items and trusting your own experience.
Invite Red input into a business plan. When midcourse corrections are needed, Reds will be up to speed.
If the aforementioned strategies are still missing the mark, the colleague may be an Extrovert. If so:
Respect, don’t challenge, their need to recharge their batteries by interacting with others—they need this the way you need private time. But expect that it will be difficult for you to understand why they must be constantly around people and why they prefer noisy environments.
Ask as many questions as you want, but be neutral, not challenging.
Interject verbally often; keep them on point.
Volunteer to handle tasks for them that require working alone. Benefit from their gratitude—and the solitude.
Recognize any of your coworkers in the preceding descriptions? Further advance your understanding of the other Color Q personalities by reading their overall chapters and then Chapter 25, “Adjusting to the Workplace Styles of Others.”
In summary, Gold/Blue Introverts are responsible, patient, loyal, and steadfast. Often you serve as anchors in your work or personal communities. Your strength is creating and enforcing policies, procedures, schedules, and deliverables. You naturally adapt to the roles assigned to you—be it leader or follower—ensuring that your organization remains efficient and on track. Decisive and duty-bound, you get things done and are fair with others. You need to be needed and readily take on parental roles in your professional and personal relationships.