“Treat others as you would like to be treated”
This is what we are taught from a young age.
To think about what we like and appreciate, and then treat others accordingly. It’s a lovely sentiment but I call bulls#it.
We experience daily reminders that everyone thinks differently to us. Conflicting opinions on social media, enjoying different tv shows and music, even liking different people – ever met someone’s partner and thought “seriously?!”
Everyone thinks differently, so how does it make sense to assume others want to be treated how we want to be treated?
What if we flipped it to “treat others as they want to be treated”?
Instead of assuming someone learns the same as us, what if we asked them how they like to learn and then adapted our teaching.
Instead of giving someone public recognition because that’s what we like, what if we considered their personality and tailored the praise accordingly?
Instead of assuming someone is motivated by the same things we are, what if we took the time to actually understand their motivations?
The key here is to consider the other person – something we often forget to do.
We don’t mean to do the “wrong” thing, but we just don’t think.
Imagine the difference it would make if everyone stopped and thought how they could tailor their interactions to each individual.
Do you understand the people around you enough to treat them as they want to be treated?
We use Everything DiSC profiles to help managers understand themselves and those around them better. By learning how to read different personalities you can then understand how to interact with them better.
This is the starting point to building an understanding of how others want to be treated.
How do you adapt to the people around you to treat them as they want to be treated?