Connect With Clients

How to Read Personality Type
Have you noticed how one client will talk up a storm during an appointment while another will say barely a word? Or how some clients want to know every detail about a pet’s medical condition while others are interested only in long-term implications? Have you noticed that you are more comfortable relating to one style rather than the other? How each of us sees the world is influenced by a myriad of factors, including gender, generation, culture, and each individual’s personality type. One approach to communicating does not fit all.

Depending on your personality type, you have a preferred way of sending and receiving communications—your own “personality language.”^1,2 Being able to recognize and understand a client’s preferred communication style and needs allows you to flex your own style to speak a common language,² which helps you provide clients the information they need to understand—and remember—your message.

Understanding and using a personality type system such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) can help you recognize your clients’ type preferences and flex your communication style accordingly. It is also respectful to clients to try to communicate with them in the way they are most comfortable. For example, a female client who prefers Feeling as a way to make decisions will be more comfortable with a communication style that is personable, friendly, and respectful of her need to consider others in her decisions. An owner who prefers Intuition as a way to take in information will relate better to a health care provider who communicates the big picture rather than all the details.

Of course, there is more to effective communication than reading others' signals, but it it is an important skill to have in your "communications toolbox." Before you can begin to flex your communication, however, you need to be able to recognize clients' MBTI preference behaviors in the exam room (see MBTI Behavioral Cues During Communication).

MBTI Behaviorial Cues During Communication

Extraverts
Rapid speech, loud volume of voice
Easy to engage in conversation
Interrupt, not always able to listen

Sensors
Ask for step-by-step explanation or instruction
Ask practical “what” and “how” questions
Use precise descriptions and terms

Thinkers
Ask logical questions and follow a pattern of checking logic (“if this, then that”)
Appear to be testing your knowledge and competency
More business-like initially rather than friendly

Judgers
Tone is, “Hurry up, I want to make this decision”
May decide prematurely
Need definite answers, timelines, deadlines, organization

Introverts
Quieter voice volume
Pause in answering or giving information (pauses may be several seconds)
Less easy to engage in conversation

Intuitives
Ask long-term speculative questions
Ask for the purpose of an action
Talk in general terms and interested in new possibilities and treatments

Feelers
Strive for harmony in relationship
Appear warm and friendly
Ask how others have acted or resolved situation
May seem subjective rather than objective

Perceivers
Tone is, “Let’s explore, what are some more factors to consider”
Need time to make own decisions
Enjoy processing information
Less emphasis on organization, more on keeping options flexible

Type Biases
Just as understanding personality type can enhance client communication, type biases have a negative effect. Type biases occur when opposites (such as Introverts and Extraverts) see each other in a bad light because, in essence, they don’t understand where the other person is coming from.⁴ Let’s look at some examples of type biases in action between veterinarians and clients. Keep in mind that these paradigms also apply to other member of the practice team who interact with clients.

Introverted Client/Extraverted Veterinarian: The client patiently waits for a pause in the conversation (Introverts hate interrupting) while he processes his thoughts silently. The veterinarian keeps talking at a rapid rate because she processes her thoughts out loud. After awhile, the client may become frustrated with the veterinarian because he feels like he can’t get a word in. The veterinarian may become frustrated because the client is not engaging in conversation with her and seems to be withholding information.

Sensing Client/Intuitive Veterinarian: Frustration can arise when the veterinarian, who is trying to explain the “big picture,” is interrupted multiple times by his client who wants to know about all of the details. It’s not that the client doesn’t want to know about the big picture, but her Sensing way of gathering information dictates her need to have all of the details and facts in order to understand. If the veterinarian does not honor this need, the client can become equally frustrated.

Feeling Client/Thinking Veterinarian: When making a joint decision, the veterinarian may become annoyed with her client who is considering only the subjective “people and emotional” side of the decision while seeming to neglect logical facts and rationalities. The client, however, may become frustrated when she feels the veterinarian is being cold and hard-hearted by concentrating on the logical facts and rationalities.

Perceiving Client/Judging Veterinarian: The veterinarian, who values closure, can become frustrated when the client does not want to make a decision at the end of the appointment because the client needs some time to talk to other people and do a little more research. The client can become frustrated if he perceives the veterinarian is trying to force a decision to be made prematurely.

If the health care provider in each of these situations could recognize the source of their own and the clients’ frustrations, it would be easier to concentrate on flexing their communication style to meet on common ground. Ultimately, this would help the interaction be perceived as positive in the client’s eyes and be a win-win for everyone, especially the patient.

References
1. Personality differences between doctors and their patients: Implications for the teaching of communication skills. Clack G, Allen J, Cooper D, et al. Med Educ 38:177-186, 2004.
2. Health Care Communication Using Personality Type: Patients Are Different! Allen J, Brock S. Taylor & Francis, 2000, pp 1-123.
3. MBTI Manual. Myers I, McCaulley M, Quenk N, et al. CPP, 2003, pp 9-11,41,157-158.
4. The Art of Speed-Reading People. Tieger P, Barron-Tieger B. Little, Brown and Company, 1998, pp 139-143.