Personal Styles & Effective Performance

Tens of thousands of professionals have attended David W. Merrill's acclaimed "Style Awareness Workshops" The goal: improvement of interpersonal effectiveness skills-inspiring better communication, improved productivity, and a more harmonious working environment.
Students preparing for business, management, or sales careers can also benefit from Merrill's techniques, presented in Personal Styles & Effective Performance.

Merrill's approach emphasizes the interrelationships between behavior and social style-encouraging students to consider how their own actions influence responsiveness from others.

Those actions tend to be rooted in one of four primary social styles: Analytical, Amiable, Driving, and Expressive-which readers are invited to compare and contrast with their own styles, as a starting point for potential improvement.

First published in 1981, Personal Styles & Effective Performance continues to be a popular resource for the self-improvement minded. By learning its lessons now, tomorrow's business professionals can have the edge in interpersonal effectiveness-one of the most important facets of a successful career.

1. Behavior: Setting the Scene
• Discovering the Public "You"
• Behavior versus Intention
• Practice Suggestions
2. Behavior: Looking at It Objectively
• The Roots of Behavior
• Tension: A Stimulus to Action
• Finding a Tension Equilibrium
• Observation Skills
• Practice Suggestions
3. Your Style and Other Styles
• Evolution of the Theory of Social Styles
• The Three Dimensions of Human Behavior
• Assertiveness: Who Tells, Who Asks
• Responsiveness: Who Controls Feelings, Who Shows Them
• Appearances are Deceiving
• Assertiveness + Responsiveness = Social Style
• No "Best" Style
• The Driving Style: Action Oriented
• The Expressive Style. Intuition Oriented
• The Amiable Style: Relationship Oriented
• The Analytical Style: Thinking Oriented
• Style Themes
• Society's Children
• Backup Styles
• Style Clashes
• Conflicts of Habits
• Observing Styles
• Social Styles — It's Different
• Practice Suggestions
4. Versatility: The Extra Dimension
• A Dynamic Dimension
• Tension and Versatility
• How to Recognize Versatility
• Am I Versatile?
• Ranges of Versatility
• Defenses against Tension
• Changing Versatility
• Appearance
• Oral Presentation Skills
• Development of Competence
• Use of Feedback
• Understanding and Strength
• The Four Steps
• Practice Suggestions
5. Putting Versatility into Social Style
• Know Yourself
• Strength and Weaknesses of the Amiable Style
• Strength and Weaknesses of the Expressive Style
• Strength and Weaknesses of the Driver Style
• Strength and Weaknesses of the Analytical Style
• Control Yourself
• Growth Action for the Amiable: Initiative
• Growth Action for the Expressive: Check
• Growth Action for the Driver: Listen
• Growth Action for the Analytical: Declare
• An Adding-on Process
• Doing Something for Others
• Taking the Lead
• Practice Suggestions
6. Style at Work
• Occupation and Style
• Amiable: Relationship Specialist
• Analytical: Technical Specialist
• Driver: Command Specialist
• Expressive: Social Specialist
• Where Does Success Lie?
• Organizational Style
• Teaming Up
• Working Together
• Managerial Style
• Versatility and Managers
• Style and Your Employees
• Practice Suggestions
7. Style in the Community and at Home
• Style and the Family
• Do Opposites Attract?
• Reacting to Tension
• Versatility and Personal Relationships
• Belief and Behavior?
• Practice Suggestions
8. A Perspective on Style

• Appendix: The Social Style Profile
• Factor Analysis and Reliability Measurements
• Comparative Norms
• Social Style Quadrants
• Validity Measurements
• What the Profile Measures
• Social Style in Life Insurance Sales Selection
• EEO Requirements
• Current Research