Explanation of styles

Pscyhological tests measure different levels of your personality. Some tests look at what you value—what is important to you. Some tests look solely at your behaviour—how you act when interacting with other people. The Octogram® looks at your style, how you view the world, and how you tend to approach situations in the workplace (The Octogram and its results are worded so that they relate to a work environment, but these traits blend into your personal life as well).

Style, in this context, means how you tend to act. Of course, you do not act the same way all of the time; your behavioiur changes to reflect the situations you are in and The Octogram will help you identify where your natural style is, where you are the most comfortable. The results of this test do not say, "you are a networker-strategist" and then go on for 10 pages talking about what a networker-strategist is. That is not reality. Reality is that you have different roles to play in your life and in the workplace, some of these roles are easy for you, some of them are hard for you. If you are in a job that requires you to act consistently outside your style, you will find the work stressful and tiring. If you spend your time working within your style, or in an environment that plays to your strengths, you will find the work interesting and engaging.

As an example, let's say that you are strong in the upper left quadrant (“Team Player” and “Helper” scores). This is also called the “Human Relations” quadrant. This means that you tend to like working with people, and find pleasure in helping others. You do not like to take control of a situation, preferring instead to reach decisions by consensus.

Now imagine that your job is geared to strict deadlines and individual achievement. The job requires you to focus on “the bottom line” at all times and to be forceful in your attitude. You might be flexible enough to do this job, but you would probably not enjoy the work. Such a job might, over time, lead to high levels of stress and possibly burnout.