As a coach, I have spent many hours studying and using behavioral assessments in my work with clients.
 And, I found that the better I became at understanding the four basic styles of behavior, the more effective I became as a communicator and coach.
 If you can master the skill of recognizing the predominant behavioral style of the person you are communicating with, you have the ability to speak their language.
  You can use this skill to align yourself with the other person, to create rapport and trust.
 It also enables you to see the world through their filter, which can be extremely helpful in relationships of any kind.
So, let's look at the four basic behavioral styles.
 

•  ADominant style is usually recognizable as someone who is face-paced,decisive, focused on a vision, highly goal oriented, driven to win, competitiveand possibly even someone who thrives on conflict.
   Highly Dominant styles will tend tofocus more on tasks and less on people; they will be extroverted andoutward focused.
   They will makedecisions quickly and will not have a high need for detail unless it isdirectly relevant to the goal.
  
•  TheInfluencer style is fun loving, life of the party, gregarious, warm,engaging, charismatic and will probably have many friends.
   High Influcencer styles will be morepeople oriented than task oriented; they will be extroverted.
   They will tend to shy away from highlevels of detail because details just aren't fun! They will tend to be idea people morethan implementers.
   They willembrace change.
  
•  TheSteadiness style is thoughtful, pragmatic, reserved, loyal, deliberate, consistentand stable.
   Their style will bemore people oriented than task oriented, and their general pace will bemore slow and steady.
   They willtend to be slow to develop trust; but extremely loyal once they have doneso.
   They will be slower paced andmore introverted.
  
•  TheCompliance style is tactful, systematic, neat, dependable, conventional,accurate, and diplomatic.
   They willtend to be more focused on tasks than people; and their general pace willbe slow and deliberate.
   HighlyCompliant styles are very concerned with quality and will go to greatlengths to make sure tasks are done properly and accurately.
   They are comfortable with a high levelof detail and tend to be analytical by nature.
  

There are some quick ways to get a general sense of someone's predominant behavioral style.
 These are the questions you can ask yourself about the other person.
 

• Arethey fast paced or slow paced? Fast paced people will tend to be eitherDominant or Influencers.
  
• Arethey introverted or extraverted? Introverted people will tend to be be either predominantly Steadyor Compliant.
  
• Arethey more people-oriented or more task-oriented? People oriented stylesare the Influencers and the Steady styles.
  
• Are theymore detail-oriented or more big-picture oriented? Big-pictureorientation will usually be the Influencers and the Dominants.
  

Once you have determined the predominant style of the person you are talking with, it is an easy matter to shift your own style to match the other person, which will create deeper levels of rapport.