Kobus Cilliers | On 16, Feb 2020

Darrell Mann

Take a look at the following list of words:

Now imagine someone who knows you really well looking at the same words. Which is the word or phrase they would choose to best describe how they see you?

Now, if you don’t mind, which would be their second choice? Third? And so on. What would be the eighth? Before you read on to the next page, write the ranked list down. Perhaps in a template something like this:

Next, you need to assign a colour to each of the words in your Top Eight ‘Most Like Me’ list. Here’s how each of the words maps to the various different colours:

Write the appropriate colour next to each of your selected words and phrases. Something like this:

Finally, allocate scores to each of the different colours such that the colour associated with your ‘Most Like’ word or phrase receives eight (8) points. The second most-like word or phrase scores seven (7), and so on, down to your eighth word or phrase, which will score one (1) point. Something like this:

If you’ve done it right, the whole lot should add up to around thirty-six. The colour with the highest score is your dominant Thinking Style. If you are familiar with Spiral Dynamics, or the work of Dr Clare Graves, or our TrenDNA book, you already know what all of these Thinking Styles are. And that none of them are any ‘better’ or worse than any other. They’re simply a way of establishing how we (and others if we do the survey with them) see the world. The idea being that if we understand our/their Thinking Style we can better understand how we/they see the world so that we can work better together. Or better serve them as customers.

We mostly do this kind of analysis using our PanSensic tools, because that way we can get an accurate result without the possibility of ‘cheating’ the system to get the answer we might wish to get. But, if we’re looking for a ‘quick and dirty’ way to get an assessment, this survey is now the fastest way we’ve found to do it. No more questionnaires. And lots more flexibility of use. Like, for example, you could also repeat the exercise selecting the eight (or however many) words that people who know you best would say are least like you. Or the Top Eight that would best describe you on a good day. Or a bad day. Or at work. Or, heaven forbid, when you’re having fun.

Have a play. Feedback very welcome.