1. Professional Communication Styles Maintaining our relationships
D.O.P.E.

2. Have you Ever Thought
How can I improve my professional relationship with a coworker?
Why is it always challenging to interact with someone?
How can we make our meetings more productive?
How can I better communicate with students, parents, and coworkers?
Or, do you think anyone has ever had these questions about you?

4. Agenda Understanding your communication style – personality survey
Understanding others’ communication styles
How communication styles relate

5. About the test
Developed by Richard Stephenson based on four personality types formulated by Dr. Gary Couture
Results of test correspond to a point in time
Guide to how you would react
Insight into coworkers and customers
Think about work behaviors
This test was developed by Richard Step and is based off of the original four personality types test formulated by Dr. Gary Couture.
Based off of research from Dr. William Marstons’ DiSC test that covers similar groupings of 4 personality tests
Derived from medical research of Greek physician Hippocrates BC
Results are for today and can change over time as you experience changes in your life, values, and/or priorities.
Will show possibilities of how you will react to situations and highlight areas for growth and potential improvement in yourself. Short, fun questionnaire not meant to be a deep psychological assessment.
Gain information about the motivations and communication styles of your coworkers and customers and learn how to better interact with different personality types. Learn how to be more productive in a group of similar personality types. Help understand dynamics of office teams composed of different personalities.
As you go through survey, complete with your work behaviors in mind. You may tend toward one communication style at work an another at home, so for purposes of this professional communication styles session, focus on work. It may be fun later to try the test out on family members to see how your communication styles differ and can help improve those relationships also
This test is called the D.O.P.E. test. Has anyone ever taken it before? If you have, your communication style may change. I’ve taken it a few times and while I’m always the same bird, I have different scores. You will always learn something.
The test is a self assessment questionnaire consisting of 30 simple questions and a grid to map your results to determine which type of bird you are.

7. Graph your results

8. Which bird are you? Quadrant shows preferred bird personality type
What is your secondary bird type?
Preferred type: This is you on most days in most situations
Secondary bird type: The next closest bird type. Occasionally you will access these characteristics

9. Main Characteristics Dove – peaceful and friendly
Owl – wise and logical
Peacock – showy and optimistic
Eagle – bold and decisive
Remember you have two main bird types
Can access characteristics of all birds in certain situations

10. Dove Strengths MOTIVATIONS: *RELATIONSHIPS *SHARED GOALS
People
Team Player
Loyal
Tenacious
Supportive
Networking
Dependable
Friendly
MOTIVATIONS:
*RELATIONSHIPS
*SHARED GOALS
*COMMUNITY SERVICE
*COMMON GOOD
People person, loyal, warm, friendly
Networkers
Get fulfillment from satisfying social needs
Team player, supportive, dependable
Happy to follow plans as part of a team but not necessarily on your own
Will to do whatever it takes to get things to work
Motivated by relationships, shared goals, community service and the common good
People person – we meet with all types of people in financial aid (students, parents, professors, other university personnel)
Good networkers – often the key to success (important for sharing ideas in financial aid)
Social needs – like friendship and sense of belonging (important for the team work often needed in financial aid)

11. Owl Strengths MOTIVATIONS: *KNOWLEDGE *EXPERTISE *LOGIC Planning
Meticulous
Thinks Things Through
High Expectations
Logical
Reliable
Accurate
Learning
MOTIVATIONS:
*KNOWLEDGE
*EXPERTISE
*LOGIC
Interested in gaining knowledge and becoming an expert
Thorough, meticulous, accurate, reliable, logical, good with details
Like rules, planning, procedures, and structure
Think things through to minimize risk
Like being prepared and being in control through preparation
Generally get along with others, but have high expectations
Motivated by knowledge, expertise and logic

12. Peacock Strengths MOTIVATIONS: *SOCIAL CONNECTIONS *EXPERIENCES
Optimistic
Influential
People
Big Dreams
Enthusiastic
Flexible
Seize the Day
Enjoys the Journey
MOTIVATIONS:
*SOCIAL CONNECTIONS
*EXPERIENCES
*POSITIVITY

13. Eagle strengths MOTIVATIONS: *CHALLENGES *POWER *RESULTS *ACHIEVEMENT
Motivated
Leadership
Risk Taker
Highly Focused
Tenacious
Independent
Goal Setter
Productivity
MOTIVATIONS:
*CHALLENGES
*POWER
*RESULTS
*ACHIEVEMENT
Highly focused, driven and motivated
Result focused, natural goal setters
See failure as chance for improvement, risk taker
Persistent in achieving goals
Likes being productive
Independent and likes to do things in own way - natural leader
Motivated by power, challenge, results and achievement

14. Find your flock!!

15. With your flock…
How do your strengths as a dove/owl/peacock/eagle help you in financial aid?
Dove – people person.
Helpful because we get to work with all types of people
Owl – enjoy learning.
Helpful because financial aid regulations are constantly changing
Peacock – optimistic.
Helpful because parents may have negative outlook on paying for college
Eagle – highly focused, driven.
Helpful because financial aid can be complicated and you won’t give up

16. Dove Challenges
Not natural goal setters and if goals are set they are usually based on what other people think you should do rather than what you really want
Focus on needs of others before your own
Have difficulty confronting problems and asserting yourself
Tend to avoid conflict and risk taking, resist change can result in missed opportunities
Not a good planner, doesn’t like detail

17. Owl Challenges
Tend to focus too much on details and lose sight of the big picture
Plan everything to the extreme
Spend too much time planning and not enough time acting
Perfectionist – focus on doing the job right, rather than doing the right job
Don’t like taking risks because you don’t feel in control or prepared

18. Peacock Challenges
Tend to value fulfillment over achievement, so often don’t achieve specific goals
Like to focus on the big picture, get lost in details due to lack of plans
Not good at being thorough or sticking to details
Don’t like structure, easily bored or distracted
When going gets tough, likely to give up and move on to something else

19. Eagle Challenge May lose sight of the big picture
May not pay enough attention to detail, leading to lack of adequate planning
May choose goals for the thrill of the chase
Can be inflexible, impatient and take needless risks
Can be stubborn and sometimes too confident for your own good
May value results over people

20. With your flock…
How might the challenges of your bird impact your work in financial aid? What can you do to overcome these challenges?

21. How the birds fit together
Note possible variations within each bird type.

22. Doves vs. others DOVES OWLS PEACOCKS
Avoid excessive emotion and questions in decision making. Focus on facts of the task at hand.
OWLS
Focus conversations on the reasoning behind a decision and be sure it makes sense logically.
PEACOCKS
Conversations should focus on actions that will be needed. Be more direct.
EAGLES
Communicate the reasoning behind your decision, develop plan of action, and act on it.

23. Owls vs. others OWLS DOVES PEACOCKS EAGLES
Avoid excessive questions and don’t overthink the details of the process.
DOVES
Remember to consider the feelings of others and the social implications of decisions.
PEACOCKS
Conversations should focus on actions that will be needed and their emotional impact.
EAGLES
Focus on actions and results of those actions when communicating. What have you done or will you do to solve the problem?

24. Peacocks vs. others PEACOCKS DOVES OWLS EAGLES
Avoid too much consideration of emotions and remember to think before acting.
DOVES
Remember to ask for input and include others’ opinions in the decision making process.
OWLS
Communicate desire for collaboration by asking questions and let logic guide decisions.
EAGLES
Potential to share strong personality. Focus on goal and communicate logical reasoning behind decisions.

25. Eagles vs. others EAGLES
Remember to think things through before acting and listen to each other.
DOVES
Remember to ask for input and consider the person and feelings that the decision will affect.
OWLS
Allow for questions about the process and communicate the steps of the plan to achieve goals.
PEACOCKS
Potential to share strong personality. Remember to consider feelings and social implications of decisions.

26. Migrate with your flock…
How might you constructively respond to a…
Student who is frustrated with the verification process
Parent who is upset that their student did not get more scholarships
Supervisor with whom you would like a better working relationship
Coworker who you will be working with on a project
What characteristics might these people be exhibiting and how will your characteristics interact with them?

27. Individual activity
Review end of workbook for individual wrap up activities.