As an HR professional with years of corporate and consulting experience, I’ve had the privilege of working with some very savvy managers and business owners. Interestingly, it always seems that the number one issue they all face is difficulty understanding and connecting with the very people they are closest to, whether it’s personal or professional.  They all ask, “How do I get better at understanding and communicating with these people that I need in my life?”

Just the other day, I had a long-term CEO client call me (we’ll call him Mr. Big), and he was at the end of his rope. He said the key person he’s been working with for years is just “not getting it,” and if things don’t change, he’s going to have to let her go…but he really didn’t want to lose her.

After talking Mr. Big down from the ledge and getting to the heart of the matter, it all boiled down to the perception he had that she just didn’t understand what he was trying to tell her, but she never asked questions until it was too late.

While I tried not to chuckle and maintain my professional demeanor, I asked him if he was willing to give her a little time to learn something new and was he willing to invest a little money in her training?  He said he was, but he didn’t hold out much hope for any changes.

My next step was meeting with the employee and getting her read on the situation. By the end of our conversation, I was certain we’d be looking at a very successful solution in a short matter of time.

For me, a Color Code believer and management trainer since the late 1980’s, the obvious solution was pretty straightforward. IF this employee was willing to learn the magic of the Color Code personality assessment, do her homework, and then have the courage to apply the concepts, then I knew success was within her grasp.   

However, the biggest stumbling block she came up against (and let’s face it, so do most people who come to Color Code for the first time) was getting past the skepticism of, “what’s the big deal about another personality test?” And to be perfectly honest, that’s a valid reaction based on how impractical solving work issues may have been with these kinds of tests in the past. 

After taking her test and spending a little time with her personal assessment report, I asked her what she thought. She said it was very interesting, and she thought it would help her understand herself better, but she wasn’t so sure it was going to do anything about the problems she was having with Mr. Big, because she was pretty sure he wasn’t going to take a personality test, much less read the assessment. 

Well, as we all know, here’s where things began to make a turn for the better. I told her he didn’t have to take a test for her to solve the question of what makes him tick and what she needed to do to make things work out better.

Was she skeptical?  You better believe it.  But she was also curious and courageous enough to give it a try. 

Enter the concept of Quick Decoding.

Using the “quick decoding primer” that Dr. Hartman had the forethought to develop to help anyone who understands the basics of Color Code readily follow, she got busy learning the basics of decoding and experiencing for herself how simple the process really is.

Here are the basic decoding questions we asked her to focus on and use in her first homework assignment – Discovering Mr. Big’s Primary Color.

Decoding Question #1:  Introvert or Extrovert?  Does this person seem to be more introverted or more extroverted? (There’s a lot of definitions and a lot of controversy about introverts and extroverts, but for purposes of this decoding, we define an extrovert as someone who not only enjoys social interactions, but also gets their batteries charged by them.) Or does the person seem genuinely drained after engaging in large social interactions or meetings and just needs to be alone afterwards?  Here’s a perfect example: I’m a Yellow, and I remember doing a speaking engagement to what I considered a small group (less than 100), but for me it was fun and fast and networking with people afterwards left me totally energized and raring for more.  My business partner, who was my co-presenter for the evening, is a warm, organized, and lovely blue.  She did her on-stage part, then engaged in many small conversations after the event, but finally grabbed me and said, “IT’S TIME TO GO.”  As I chattered all the way into the car, she just got in and stared at me. As she looked at me, she put her head down on the steering wheel and said in a world-weary voice, “Please be quiet. I don’t understand how you have any energy left. I’m so tired of talking, I’m not going to speak or even see anyone for at least a week!” There you have it, folks…the perfect example.

So, here’s the bottom-line answer to Question #1: As a general rule, Reds and Yellows display extroverted personalities. Whites and Blues are introverted.  Reds and Yellows get energy from being in the thick of things and taking center stage. Blues and Whites walk away needing quiet and solitude to get their equilibrium back on track.

Decoding Question #2:  Logical or Emotional? How do they process information and what words do they use when they’re responding to statements, questions, or just life in general? Reds and Whites tend to be more logical and want to be sure that their ducks are in a row.  They want the facts and the figures and will generally do a quick analysis to make certain that everything adds up.  They use words like, “I think, I will, wouldn’t it make more sense to, the facts are…”   Blues and Yellows are more emotional when they process information or ideas. They use words like, “I believe, I feel, I sense, My gut is telling me…” These are very common words in their vocabulary. Blues and Yellows sense and feel things and most are true believers in following their instincts. While they do deal in facts and figures just like all of us, you’ll often hear the passion and emotion that lurks just behind what drives their decisions and motivates them to take action. 

The bottom-line answer to Question #2 is pay close attention to what people say and what words most frequently enter their vocabulary. Listen to whether they are emotional or passionate about things they have strong opinions about. Are they more comfortable with facts and figures and want to leave the “touchy-feely stuff” to someone else?

Decoding Question #3: Communication Style  Is their normal way of speaking rapid-fire or is it more deliberate and thoughtful? As you’ve probably figured out by now, Reds and Yellows can be very rapid-fire communicators, especially when they are in a hurry. They speak quickly. They make decisions quickly. And they move on quickly.  The downside of that is that they can be in a hurry, so they speak before they hear the whole story. Typically, Whites and Blues are very deliberate speakers and want to have their responses well-prepared. They put a lot of thought into how and what they are going to say and do before taking action. And when they’re put on the spot for an immediate reply or reaction, paralysis of the brain can appear to set in. In more common vernacular, Whites and Blues are the people who will aim very, very carefully before firing.  Sort of like “ready, aim, aim, aim, aim, and then let’s aim again.”  Reds and Yellows have already fired the gun…and maybe several times.

Here’s the bottom-line answer to Question #3:  Listen and watch how people respond to situations and how they go about taking action. Watch how they move and charge through life and the effect this “charge through life” has on other people. Pay attention to how they make decisions and what they need before they are willing to make a final commitment.

So fast-forward a couple of weeks to my follow-up meetings with the employee and discussions about her second homework assignment…Putting her Decoding lesson into action.

Here’s what she had to say: 

“I think that he’s a Red and very, very comfortable being a Red. The reasons for saying that is because he’s very straightforward, he makes so many decisions so fast, he has a vision of where the company is going, and he’s not afraid. But most of all, he doesn’t have a clue about the effect his actions have on those of us trying our best to keep up with him. Now please understand, it’s not because he’s mean or bad or anything like that, but just because he’s so focused on what needs to get done next, and his goal is getting it done. And then once he is ‘finished’ (in his mind anyway), it’s on to the next thing. If you don’t have your running shoes on, he’ll leave you in the dust without ever meaning to.

“Now that I know I’m a Blue and that telling the whole story is part of who I am,  I feel better knowing about how he reacts when I get put on the spot. I think I understand why he seemed to tune me out or appear not to care about what I had to say. I understand I’m responsible for me, and I just didn’t understand what I was giving him isn’t what he needed from me. He just wanted to hear the bullet points, and I wanted him to read the novel.”

She went on to tell me that she put her theory to the test during a recent meeting she had with him and the other directors. She said he asked her to give him a quick rundown of some of the things that were happening in her department.  She said she looked him straight in the eye, gave him a quick synopsis of the major issues, and then handed him a written report containing some additional data he might need …and then she sat down.

In her words, “He was floored. He asked me if I was ok and did I want to add anything else.” When I said, no I was done unless he had questions, he turned to the remainder of the directors and said, “Now that’s the way an update should be given.”

In looking back at this one event, it really personifies the impact Color Code has on people’s lives – both at work and in their personal lives. Of all the classes we teach about the Color Code concepts, I believe that decoding is the one that brings the most value to our students and has the largest impact on how people navigate their world. 

While other classes like Why You Do What You Do may have the more “AHA moments,” learning and practicing the concept of Decoding brings us the ability to really understand and to connect with people in all aspects of our lives and can benefit all of us for our entire lifetime.

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Carol Westberry was introduced to Color Code in 1994 and certified as a Color Code Trainer in 2011. Carol has made Color Code and the principles outlined by Dr. Hartman an integral part of her human resources professional services and client trainings. A fun-motivated (flaming) YELLOW, Carol uses her natural talents of enthusiasm and optimism to guide her clients through all the serious facets of human resources. Her career includes being a certified Human Resources professional in the corporate as well as the consulting worlds, a management and leadership trainer, an international best-selling author and an accomplished workshop and seminar presenter. As a featured speaker at numerous annual conferences and conventions, Carol has designed and delivered HR Compliance Color Code-focused workshops to thousands of people. Carol is married to her high school sweetheart, has traveled extensively, and admits that she plays “at” playing golf. She also enjoys reminding her Red husband that she is the only one in the family who has ever made a hole-in-one.