Dear Jeremy,

I have a Yellow staff member who is great when dealing with clients. People love him, and he brings a lot of business to the company. However, he does not do well with turning in paperwork, expense reports, etc., on time. I have had to come down on him time and time again, but he just gets flippant and tells me to relax. What can I do?

Daphne

Dear Daphne,

Thanks for writing. I appreciate your question, and as a Yellow myself, I may have some insights that will help improve your situation.

The key to dealing with this staff member effectively is to understand how Yellows think. You see, people are generally confident in areas where they feel secure, and not-so-confident in those where they don’t. For example, Reds are very logical. When people become emotional in front of them, Reds typically feel uncomfortable. Their response is often, “Take some time to get yourself together and come back once you’ve had time to think things over.” They don’t feel as secure in dealing with someone emotionally as they do logically.

Your Yellow staff member probably feels very confident when interfacing with clients. That part of your business involves his social skills, spontaneity, and charisma. He feels valued and knows that he is contributing something of value to the company.

Now, let’s take a look at the behavior that needs changing—the tardy paperwork. Yellows are notorious for struggling with follow-through and organization. We often joke that a Yellow’s idea of organization is “labeling the piles.” Your Yellow employee most likely feels less confident in dealing with detail-oriented tasks than he does with people.

Since he believes that paperwork is no fun, he will put off doing it. Then, once his procrastination lands him in trouble (again), and he’s confronted for his lack of cooperation, he probably becomes flippant and verbally manipulative, like the problem is yours and not his. He may justify his lack of follow-through by believing that the work he does with clients is more important than paperwork. Of course this notion is not true, but you’ll need to retrain his thinking in general to convince him otherwise. Let’s talk about how to do that.

If you have read The Color Code (republished as The People Code), or own a set of Code Cards, it will be helpful to review some of Dr. Hartman’s tips for effective interaction with Yellows. I’ll summarize two of the most applicable tips for your situation here:

1.   Offer praise and adoration for his positive behavior

2.   Don’t be too negative when providing criticism or feedback

The bottom line in working with Yellows is that they need to feel like you like them. They seek general approval, and want to know that they have a rapport with those they work with. So you have to begin by praising them for their high-level performance with the client work that they do. Show them that you genuinely appreciate the gifts and talents that they bring to the table. That will open the door for you to begin the process of creating change in other areas of their work that are a little less praiseworthy.

Something you may not know about Yellows is that they actually CRAVE structure. Yellows generally know that they lack organization and time management skills, and would love to have someone help get them up to speed. That said, you have to approach it in a way that doesn’t feel negative. You are more likely to elicit the desired result by approaching him teasingly or playfully, than by a way he will perceive as negative. The hard part for Blues and Reds alike in this type of situation is that they typically want to address this in a hard-hitting way, or they don’t feel that they’ve communicated their point adequately.

You almost have to take a step back and remember what you are trying to accomplish—correcting the behavior. To do that, you have to appeal to the other person’s driving core motive (in this case, Fun). Always look at the motive. If you care enough about the result to let your own reactions be placed to the side, you will likely be more successful in creating the outcome that you desire.

Continued Success!

Jeremy

Jeremy Daniel (Core Color: Yellow) has been working with the Color Code since 1998 in various capacities from training in the field personally with Dr. Taylor Hartman to designing customized corporate solutions and new training programs for various industries.  To ask about Jeremy’s training or speaking services, please email and inquiry to jeremy@colorcodetraining.com.