The Value of Coaching: Understanding your Personality

“You’re definitely a lion”. These were of the first words to be said to me on my first day at Legendary Coaching. “I’m not quite sure what being a lion means, so I’ll let you know if I agree when I find out”, to which Ryan and Ken looked at each other in agreement and said, “yup, definitely a lion”.

To first introduce myself: my name is Sierra, and I am lucky enough to be Legendary Coaching’s intern for this upcoming semester. I am currently attending Humber College’s Wellness Coaching post-graduate program.

To preface this odd conversation: I walked in on my first day of my internship at Legendary Coaching, and through the little small talk and administrative conversations, the veteran coaches were immediately able to profile my personality as according to the Four Animals Personality Assessment Model by Gary Smalley. Now, I’m not sure if a lot of other people have ever experienced this, but it was definitely very interesting and a little surprising to know that every word I’ve ever said to the coaches has been used to analyze and understand my personality. With this said, after my own research (at my own leisure) I have come to agree with the coaches initial evaluation of my personality as being a lion.

The Four Animals Personality Assessment Model by Gary Smalley categorizes personality types into 4 categories (animals): the lion, otter, beaver and golden retriever. The lion, described as powerful and a driver, is what I was immediately categorized as, with the otter, described as popular and expressive second. The other two categories are the golden retriever, which is peaceful and amiable, and the beaver, described as perfect and analytical. It turns out that my quick, witty, strong and playful personality immediately plasters ‘lion’ across my forehead like a billboard. Interestingly enough, I started to make my own analysis of the veteran coaches by labelling their personalities as according to the four animals model as well.

You might be wondering why knowing which animal your personality aligns with is relevant. Well from only one day, I was able to learn a lot about myself, as well as the personalities of those around me. Knowing that I am a lion tells me that I excel at getting things done and leading, but struggle with being too direct or impatient. This information reveals that when I interact with a golden retriever, my personality may come off as insensitive, so I would need to tailor my phrasing and actions so that the message is received without conflict. During the workshops hosted by Legendary Coaching, you delve deep into the world of personality and discover more about your own personality type as well as the personality type of your colleagues. Having a deeper understanding about the different personality types of your colleagues can facilitate better interactions, collaboration and conflict resolutions management.

I’ll give a quick story that illustrates this pretty well. In any professional setting, you are going to have people that you don’t seem to work well with. Imagine you are working on a big research project with 3 other people and before you know it, the four of you are butting heads, and have completely separate ideas for how to go about completing the task. If you are familiar with your colleagues’ personality types, you’ll know that the lion in the group will need action and excitement, so giving the lion the task of going around and gathering participants, or helping in the creation process will bring out their best traits. The golden retriever of the group is likely the best listener, so having them record and takes notes during the study will facilitate better performance on their part. If you have a colleague that tends to be more analytical, and favours order and precision, then they are a beaver, and would likely perform best if they are put into a more organizational and planning role. Lastly, if there’s an otter on your team, they are probably very relational and outgoing, so performing and facilitating the study with the participants will key into their social skills. In this situation, knowing your colleagues personality can set the stage for an excitingly collaborative and positive work environment.

Now, to touch back on who I am and why I’m here — I know a lot of you are wondering, “why coaching specifically?”, and “what exactly is coaching and why do we need coaches?”. These are all valid questions, that I, as a coaching student, am also exploring as well. Over the course of the semester, I will be writing about the values in coaching that I discover as I go through my journey of finding out for myself. So, to conclude my very first blog post, the first value of coaching that I have come across is gaining a better understanding of the different types of personalities, and how you can use that understanding to facilitate better and more meaningful interactions with your colleagues.

Sierra Archee

Sierra is a post-graduate student in health and wellness coaching at Humber College. She’s passionate about working with others to become better versions of themselves and feels strongly about facilitating change. Her Bachelor’s degree in Applied Science in psychology opened her eyes to the world of self-actualization and the potential that is inherently within ourselves. She hopes to one day merge her passion for psychology and wellness with the world of business.