Have you ever been working with someone and wondered what makes them tick and how best to handle situation with them? Well I have and I’m sure you have too. I have really enjoyed reading about the new “four personality types relating to the behavior of sea life”. I hope this somewhat new personality evaluation will help be of benefit to you as you deal with all your relationships, as well as perhaps helping you see more about yourself. Each of us has a combination of two of the personality types, according to the finding. Fun activity is to think of some of your co-working and family members and see how you would type them!
There are Four Personality Types: Urchin, Shark, Whale, and the Dolphin.
What’s Personality Have to Do with It?
Everything… Learning personality types helps you to identify with your customers, business partners, family, or co-workers. Understanding the traits, while generalized, helps you improve your communication and relations with others.
Rather than getting frustrated with the quirks of a different personality style – you can at the very least, understand what motivates someone’s actions and respond accordingly.
The 4 Personality Types
1. The Dolphin – Dolphins love to have fun!
Dolphins will push aside responsibility to have a good time. They are the life of the party. When they arrive everyone knows about it because they light up the room. They’re always joking around, and they tend to be very charismatic and charming. It is rare to see a dolphin alone. You also can’t get a word in with a dolphin because they love to talk! If you want to get a dolphin involved in what you’re doing, emphasize how much fun they’ll have and they’ll be in. Of course, if it’s not fun you’re going to struggle to get them engaged.
2. The Urchin – Urchins are extremely detail-oriented individuals.
They want to know all the information. They like to analyze things to death before deciding upon the best course of action. So urchins tend to be perfectionists. They are going to take longer to make a decision, but the good thing is that once they’ve made a decision, they are sure of it because they are invested in it and hence, they own it. Urchins are great planners, and they pride themselves on getting things done right, so it always helps to have one around.
Ask them where you and your friends should go out to dinner on Friday night, and they will ask you, “How many people are coming? Does anyone have any allergies I should know about? Which side of the city are we looking at? Are we driving or taking the train? When was the last time you ate tofu?” After collecting that data, they will get online and Google all suitable restaurants within a 5km radius, and present you with a 10-point report outlining their recommendations and the reasons that justify their selection.
3. The Whale – A whale is a caretaker.
Whales want to save the world! The purpose of a whale’s existence is to help people. You’ll often see whales volunteering to sell raffle tickets, setting up the room at events, and generally making sure everyone gets along because whales are peacemakers. Whales are often involved in charitable causes. Whales are great listeners. Whales will drive you to the airport.
Everybody loves a whale, and with good reason. Whales add tremendous value. If you want to get a whale interested in working with you, demonstrate to them how much they’ll be able to help people by getting involved. (See additional traits of a whale below)
4. The Shark – Sharks are competitive and ambitious.
Often you’ll find professional athletes tend to be like this. They want to know the bottom line, so you need to get straight to the point with them because they don’t want to hear any fluff. What do I have to do, when do I have to do it by, and how much do I get paid when (not if) I get the job done. Sharks are natural leaders. They want to be at the front of the room, they want to be in charge, and they are willing to take responsibility for the victory or defeat of the team who is riding on their shoulders.
So they’re the four personality types – and don’t let anybody tell you any different! (That’s a shark joke). To succeed to your greatest potential in business, you want to be a chameleon. That is, you want to be able to relate to all four personality types with ease. You must be able to quickly assess which is a person’s primary personality type (Dolphin, Urchin, Whale or Shark) and communicate to them in a style that they will connect with. Remember that people are usually have one primary personality type and one secondary. For example, Mark Cuban would be a Shark/Dolphin – he loves to win but he also loves to have fun.
I’m a whale so I’ll share in more detail what they have to say about a whale! There is more information for each individual type on line so check out your type!
The Whale
Can We All Just Get Along?? The Whale personality type are the most likeable people and make the very best friends. They are reliable, honest, and great listeners. They are the most compassionate of the personality types and will seek to comfort others. They seek approval and friendship and just want things to go nicely and calmly. They seek to maintain order and consistency.
The Whale loves to help and serve others. They much prefer to be in the background than the center of attention like the Dolphin. They get all warm and fuzzy about giving gifts and making people smile. They seek appreciation, respect, and acceptance from others.
The Whale is calm, relaxed, patient, predictable, stable, consistent, accurate, and thorough. They are your task masters. They will get the job done. They are the people you have manage committees. They will run through a brick wall to please those they work for as long as there is appreciation and admiration for them in the end.
When going out to eat with a Whale – expect them to ask for opinions of the others at the table and be indecisive until someone else helps them make a decision. Or they may simply just order what someone else that they respect is ordering.
Whales are rarely impulsive and review all situations before they make a decision, valuing other’s opinions in the decision making process. Once they make a decision – they are hard to change or move because they are motivated by security.
Can you identify with the Whale’s traits? Of course these are generalized traits and there are of course many exceptions. The characteristics listed here are intended to be very general to provide a definitive difference between them.