Hartman Personality Profile and Conflict Management: Part — 2
The two lightweight personalities
Blue and red personalities dominate the population but there are two more important colors, according to the Hartman Personality Profile. In continuation of the previous article, this is an attempt to give an overview of the next two personality colors, White and Yellow.
I personally like these two colors because they help to keep the world sane! They are considered lightweight because of their calm and happy nature. I think everyone has a bit of these traits and we tend to display them in different scenarios.
Positive attributes of a WHITE color personality
Are driven by peace and logic versus emotion
Key traits: Kind, Considerate, Patient and Accepting, Lack Ego, Meticulous Thinkers, and Careful Listeners
· They seek and exhibit clarity
· Are not egocentric
· They generally remain calm most of the time
· Do not personalize everything that happens to them
· Are extremely gifted listeners and inquisitive without being judgemental or critical
· Are very gentle and not ruthless or unkind
· Are very humble
Limitations of a WHITE color personality
· Can be very stubborn no matter what, even if it harms them in the ling run
· May not have a natural motivation and it is challenging to externally motivate them
· They will let go of opportunities to someone else instead of taking it themselves
· Can be very doubtful about their capabilities
· They may be very critical of their own work and always find scope for making it better
· Because of their calm nature, they seldom celebrate their qualities and stay independent when they’re working, group work may not be for them
· They may want to work at their own pace, not being driven to do things
Positive attributes of a YELLOW color personality
Are driven by Fun
Key traits: Enthusiastic, Trusting, Very Persuasive, Forgiving, Spontaneous, Positive, Appreciative
· They live in the moment
· Do not do what they truly are comfortable
· Tend to stay happy
· Can be very engaging
· Tend to have a natural innocence and belief in humanity
· Can easily trust others and don’t typically believe that people are there to hurt them
· Love to volunteer for opportunities
· Promotes intimacy with creative flare
Limitations of a YELLOW color personality
· Can be very self-centered
· Can be irresponsible and do not really think about the outcome or the consequences
· Do not tend to commit very well long-term
· They enjoy the experience but not necessarily the outcome
· Do not often want to look at reality
· Do not care about what others feel
Dr. Hartman’s color code system has found its place at the University of Phoenix in evaluating which new hires will prosper based on their color types. The Hartman Personality Profile can be assessed through a questionnaire, and based on past analysis, it is estimated that:
30% of the population are The Reds — The Power-Wielders. Another 30% are The Blues — The Do-Gooders, while The Whites — The Peacemakers and Yellows — The Fun-Lovers make up 20% each.
Humans are complicated and cannot be characterized by just one trait, which makes the workplace an even more complex environment. This makes it challenging to portray a person with only one color code system. While Hartman’s color code is useful, other psychometric tests can help organizations improve the performance of individuals by playing on their strengths. This assessment will help draw insights on what role within the organization works best for them rather than pushing them to do tasks that will not yield optimal results.
Other personality tests available are CliftonStrengths, Insights Discovery, The DiSC model, Dr. Helen Fisher’s Temperament Inventory, Verbal Reasoning Assessment, and the most popular Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.
Using these tools one can help manage conflicts with teams or, for that matter, with clients or customers. The important thing is to understand the personality traits, learn to recognize these through conversation, behavior, and basically have an unbiased observation about the individual.
Since a person’s personality color has been identified, here are few pointers on what one should do and not do with them to avoid conflicts and live in harmony. This list is not exhaustive, and further reading may be required as we will focus on some positive and negative attributes that govern the color personalities.
Dealing with the Red personality color
· Be direct, brief, and specific in conversations
· Not to always use an authoritarian approach, it may rub them on the wrong side
· Are excellent in leadership positions so provide them such opportunities
Dealing with the Blue personality color
· Provide them with sufficient time to gather their thoughts before expressing themselves
· One should not demand immediate action from them
· They embrace perfection and expect that people are sensitive and soft-spoken to them
Dealing with the White personality color
· Can be very stubborn, and trying to force something down them is futile
· Avoid assigning work that involves large teams as they tend to stay in their own world
· They are the best in terms of listening, so assigning them tasks that involve other people’s problems
Dealing with the Yellow personality color
· Don’t attempt to break their trust or cheat them, else one may lose them for good
· Don’t demand perfection or try to control their schedules
· Praise them as they hold feelings deeply
· Allow them to verbally express themselves
There is a lot to discover about personalities and understanding people, what makes them tick and puts them off can help get the best out of them. There are many more attributes to these personalities and plenty of resources are available online to help understand these principles.
Based on the description above, can you relate to someone in your workplace or group who has one of these as their primary color? Having known these traits, can you deal with them?
