The Sensing-Perceptive (SP) Realist — physical, spontaneous and game-playing.
As a sensing-perceptive leader, your style is realistic, above all. You are most comfortable in situations which allow you to exercise your skills as a master of the here-and-now: negotiating, trouble-shooting, risk-taking, problem-solving, managing crises, making changes.
Frankly, if you're like many (SP)REALIST managers, you're at your best when things are at their worst!
Compared with the other temperaments, you REALISTS have a number of managerial assets. Unlike the (SJ)LEGALIST manager, you approach problems free from the bonds of tradition, rules, and inflexible tried-and-true procedures.
Compared with the intuitive types [the (NT)ANALYSTs and the (NF)EMPATHISTs], you're a better observer, unlikely to miss critical facts and details in formulating plans.
And, especially if you're an extravert, you're the very embodiment of the word action. When you decide to make a move or initiate change, watch out!
Your temperament, like all others, endows you with both adaptive and maladaptive management characteristics.
For example, what do you do when everything at work is pretty much in order, when there are no nagging problems demanding your well-timed intervention and bold solutions? If you're like many REALIST types, you may deal with that situation in one of two ways—and, in either case—you may set yourself up for criticism.
You may get bored and restless and let the planning and scheduling and reporting and meetings of "business-as-usual" business slide by, unattended. As a thinker, you may let yourself get distracted by other things; as a feeler, you may take off and go socializing.
Alternatively, you may decide to stir things up—make trouble, somehow—and get rid of that "business-as-usual" boredom. As much as you hate the idea of subconscious anything, you'll probably do this subconsciously.
Admit it: you do love it when life is a little crazy! But those who manage you had better bear in mind that you only like changes you start! Most REALIST managers hate the feeling of changes introduced by someone else. That really isn't inconsistent behavior, once you look at it this way: your work is your game, and your want to play it your way!
Maintenance—keeping stable organizations stable—just isn't your forte. An organization is wise to bear this in mind if it's to use people like you intelligently. "Improvise, adapt, overcome!" a motto of the U.S. Marine Corps, is a good credo for the action-oriented SP.
Whenever possible, a REALIST type manager (preferably a thinker) should be "injected" into a crisis situation to analyze and solve the problem by initiating a change, introducing new procedures, and coordinating with some well-chosen feeling-type REALISTs or some (NF)EMPATHIST types to ease the "people problems" that inevitably accompany reorganization. Then, the organization should move that REALIST trouble-shooter on to another spot.
REALISTS really can be "Mission Impossible" managers!
But that scenario is basically unrealistic in most work situations. So, let's offer some recommendations to deal with more likely circumstances: dealing with business-as-usual business.
In an everyday working environment, the REALIST manager needs good lieutenants: a trustworthy thinker-type (SJ)LEGALIST to establish and monitor procedures, an (NT)ANALYST to analyze, theorize, predict long-term outcomes and provide alternative strategies, and an (NF)EMPATHIST to make sure that human factors aren't overlooked along the way—to make sure that gratuitous changes are minimized, or at least cushioned, to maintain morale and harmony.
If you're like most REALIST managers, you won't find this personality mix easy to accept at first. The (SJ)LEGALIST may strike you as too traditional and pessimistic, and you'll always have to resist feeling fenced in, regulated, programmed and parented. On the other hand, you may actually make it to meetings on time and prepared with an (SJ)LEGALIST scheduling your work-life!
Both the (NT)ANALYST and the (NF)EMPATHIST—as intuitive types—will plague you with their ceaseless innovation, vague speculations, "what if?" questions and a bunch of theories you may not always want to hear. Still, you'll benefit by getting new ideas every day.
Especially if you're a thinking-type REALIST (the prominent REALIST manager-type in most organizations, and the one we've focused on here), you may find the "touchy-feelie" (NF)EMPATHIST difficult to tolerate and almost impossible to comprehend, continually assaulting you with what you may regard as empty office gossip and polite suggestions about your insensitivity, unpredictability, and lapses of caring behavior in the work place.
Nonetheless, that same (NF)EMPATHIST "nuisance" may give you clues to minimize your personnel problems and help you improve your interpersonal skills as a manager—if you're willing to pay attention and learn!
The (NT)ANALYST may annoy you with that ceaseless analysis that earns this type its nickname, but you'll discover these people to be a real asset in preparing complex presentations, forecasts and reports: tasks most REALIST-types absolutely despise. And ANALYSTs love methodical research and technical reading, other activities low on your personal popularity scale.
As a REALIST, you are the consummate negotiator. Your strength comes from your unparalleled here-and-now practicality. Especially if you're a thinking REALIST, you're the natural mediator when Joe and Sam deadlock over a business issue.
Joe claims that some things are non-negotiable, Sam says some issues aren't to be discussed. You say, "@@@!!*. Lay all your assets on the table, guys, and we'll settle the issue! Nothing's non-negotiable!"
The key is that you define their blinding attitudes, beliefs, positions and ideas as fictions. They aren't real. Time is real. Money is real. Property is real. Labor is real.
Ideas are convenient fabrications which cease to be useful when there are deals to be made. As soon as there's more to negotiate with, then negotiation is simplified.
Given the fact that you're probably not a dogmatic individual, a flag-waver, a "true believer", or an idealist, you make a convincing and effective mediator. Is it surprising that thinking-type REALISTS often sit in the corporate law offices?
The laid-back style which comes so naturally to you can be a real advantage in many business arenas: commerce, entrepreneurial enterprise, investment management, and real estate brokerage, to name only a few. As a manager, you like to think of yourself as flexible, open and easy to get along with.
REALISTs thrive in fields where bending the rules or getting around them pays off. "Why not try it?" asks the intrepid REALIST.
In a business environment of doom-crying "Chicken Littles" ("The sky is falling! The sky is falling!") you probably exude a kind of quiet optimism and self-confidence that can lift others' spirits.
You aren't a judge. You don't tend to cast blame on others. You are a risk-taker yourself and you encourage others to do the same. Your accept the fact that occasional failures occur.
Thinking-type REALISTs, particularly, are often bluntly matter-of-fact in their dealings with others. If someone has a bad day, the REALIST manager is likely to pass it off as such.
But, if someone is having a real difficulty that merits further investigation and concern, the typical REALIST is more likely to deal with the behavior as "a lot of bad days," rather than as a problem that merits personal attention and sensitive management.
Frankly, if the situation becomes too burdensome, many managers of this type will just replace the person, rather than try to delve into the uncomfortable realm of personal issues.
Sound familiar?
If you're like most REALIST managers (and that means thinker-types, in most business settings), you really don't look beyond the day-to-day data of mood and behavior. You don't interpret significance in every ripple, and sometimes you can ignore the real meaning of a tidal wave! Especially if your staff involves a number of feeling-type employees, you'll be wise to work on your interpersonal sensitivity. Ask for feedback. Use it!
Needless to say, if you're to be counted among the (relatively rare) feeling-type REALIST managers, you'll tend to be more concerned and more effective in dealing with people problems, more sociable in the working environment, and more consistent with praise for your subordinates.
Many REALISTs are involved in sports—whether as participants or fans. "Just do it!" was surely penned by an SP. Often, REALIST leaders utilize their positions in organizations to foster intramural sports competitions or support amateur athletes. When this tendency translates to hiring or promoting people on other than job-related criteria, the REALIST may be asking for trouble. Using power and authority to bend rules of this kind may lead to poisoning the morale and trust of your workforce.
Your (SP)REALIST employee is a performer, a game-player (easy-going or intense!) who's not weighed down by responsibility to the past or carried off by fantasies of the future! This type is the best team player, an excellent observer, and the ideal person to have in your corner when crisis management is the order of the day!
Thinker-type REALISTS are facts-and-figures people, often with an inclination for negotiation, business, politics, and things mechanical. Feeler-type REALISTS value harmony, and their sensing characteristic may reveal itself through warm interpersonal dealings, sales, arts and crafts, or performance.
But, thinker or feeler, the REALIST is an optimistic, "live and let live" person, a practical and open-minded worker, whose idea of sensibility doesn't rule out competition in all aspects of life and work, having a good time, or being a good friend.
The REALIST is usually an agreeable sort of person, but don't count on compliancy! If you introduce a change in the REALIST's procedures or routine that seems capricious or unnecessary, you may not get a fight or an argument. On the other hand, you also may not get follow-through!
REALISTs tend to ignore tasks, requests, and people they don't like.
If you press on an REALIST employee with an excess of meetings, reports, forms or other chores this type sees as unpleasant, you may witness some foot-dragging, late-arriving and good-natured nonchalance as the only defense. Push long enough and hard enough, and the REALIST may take a few vacation days or "sick out" at the tennis club or the golf course.
If you really bug this type, you may find yourself placing a "Help Wanted" ad. REALISTs have been known to quit without warning or remorse.
So, the moral of the story is this: use this type of employee appropriately. Here are some hints. Don't weigh the REALIST down with reading, analysis, or theorizing.
Don't place this employee in a heavily tradition-oriented position that takes away the freedom to add a personal touch to the way work is done.
Don't expect your REALIST to pen a lot of reports.
Don't expect this employee to take work home—just because you say so. (The REALIST may do so independently, if the assignment is appealing.)
Don't schedule every minute of the REALIST's work day.
Don't expect this most-fraternal of all the types to go through the day without human companionship. The extraverted feeling REALIST needs people most, but even the introverted thinking REALIST enjoys a little friendly conversation on the job.
Don't expect dogmatic, blind obedience from the REALIST. Both open-minded and sensible, the REALIST may do what you want, because that's the practical, pragmatic course of action. Just don't expect the REALIST to be a "true believer" in the causes, principles, or loyalties that underlie your directives or that motivate you as a manager.
Do tell the REALIST what you want in the way of work performance: the over-all goal, the product, the effect you want to create. REALISTS may not like fences, but they do like structure and some element of predictability. Just make certain that you give the REALIST some leeway with how to accomplish the job.
Do appreciate this type for that artful execution, cleverness, craftsmanship, and practiced, easy-going style of working that distinguishes this temperament type.
Do use the REALIST in situations requiring arbitration, negotiation and mediation. This type is a natural at drawing warring factions into truce and accommodation. Basically, it's that characteristic, unflinching sense of reality that endows this personality with such a peace-making advantage.
Feeling-type REALISTs approach negotiation at the people-level as harmonizers and peace-makers.
But, in the business setting, it's the thinking-type REALISTs who score high marks in mediation because they simply ignore the emotional content of the disagreement—who thinks what, or holds which opinion. Thoughts, feelings, opinions, attitudes, emotions: what do they matter? They're not real to this person! What's real is who has what, who wants it, and what each is willing to give up, in turn.
If one side claims that certain issues or commodities are non-negotiable, the thinking REALIST ignores that, too! Everything's negotiable from this person's perspective, and—when there's more to negotiate with—negotiation is easier!
Besides, both sides will quickly recognize that the REALIST arbitrator hasn't an idealistic bone in the body, no axe to grind, no passionately held feelings or beliefs. The REALIST is playing a game. That's why this type is so good at winning and seems to enjoy life so much.
These folks love the physical comforts of life, the gadgets and threads and symbols of success: the toys, the pleasures, the travel, the entertainment. And REALISTS are willing to work for them, too.
REALISTs are good competitors. They like to be first, best, strongest, fastest.
These are life's process people. They "get into" the act of working and playing. They can carry on an activity for hours at a time without seeming to fatigue or face boredom. They reflexively understand the Zen of doing: becoming one with the action, the materials, achieving perfection of movement and creation.
That's why this type includes the unrivalled champions of any craft or art requiring practice. Music, dance, art, sports: the REALIST excels at all of these endeavors because the work gets accomplished without guilt or goals or goads to inspire achievement. The REALIST is a natural competitor, one who works just by doing what needs to be done, moment by moment.
The REALIST learns the same way. On the job, you'll be smart to give this type of employee as much hands-on learning as possible. Don't expect the best performance if your training program is an intellectually-oriented one, with volumes of reading, sit-down lectures, quizzes and exams and such. That just isn't the way REALISTs learn best.
They learn best by hearing, watching and doing rather than by reading, studying, or any other "vicarious learning" method. The apprenticeship method is the best way to train your REALIST employees.
And don't try to get this employee excited about taking a management sensitivity training course. Even some feeling REALISTs may find that to be irrelevant to work, impractical, BORING, an invasion of privacy and a waste of time (especially if the training is indoors and the sun is shining outside!)
REALISTs have an inherent impulsive streak, and they need to feel free to do what they want to do, moment by moment. They don't always keep commitments. They may take three-day weekends without warning. They may try to work their exercise and recreation schedules into or around the work routine, and they see that as perfectly reasonable behavior! You may do well to try to accommodate them, too, for they work best when their drive for action is satisfied.
Although these folks, basically, are fraternal, they do have their own unique style of dealing with the interpersonal connection. Thinking-type REALISTs, in particular, impress many people as a bit superficial, even with their closest friends, relatives and lovers.
They may seem like "now you see him, now you don't" friends who drift into and out of affiliations with the wind and the weather. And, even a broken-hearted REALIST rarely lets the disappointment of a lost love hang around too long. This type just moves on to greener pastures!
In these times of ceaseless organizational change (almost always initiated by the intuitive sorts!), understanding temperament is an essential piece of homework for the manager intent on success and continuing improvement in the workplace. Your REALIST employees may be the secret weapon in your management arsenal!
REALISTs are, well, realistic. They are keen observers of the details of life, and they tend to be more optimistic than their LEGALIST cousins who share their preference for sensing-based perception.
REALISTs can be used as change facilitators—both the coolly analytical thinking ones and the warm fuzzy feeling ones. Inject your REALISTs into the arenas where change is to occur and let them function as troubleshooters. Especially the extraverted ones will quickly have a finger on the pulse of the organisation. They will rapidly discover where the kinks and problems lie, and they will devise artfully clever ways of solving them.
Just don't be surprised if your thinker-type REALISTs decree that firing a few people may be the fastest remedy for stodgy change-resisters! (They may, in fact, be right, but the EMPATHISTs are likely to be shocked if that solution is used on a wholesale basis.)
Inject the REALISTs into one environment after another, and—just like the old-fashioned western marshall who sallies into town and cleans up the outlaws—let your REALIST get back on his or her horse and ride out again after order is restored. This temperament functions best when things are chaotic. When things settle down, these cowboys get restless, and who knows what trouble they may stir up!
From her Connections series. Read her introduction first if you want the frame.
"Life is for living," must be the motto of the (SP)REALIST. Whichever temperament the REALIST chooses for any long-term relationship, that person had better be prepared for a life of activity—or, at least, a life which permits the REALIST partner's activity to continue without interruption. Whether action takes the form of work, play, arts and crafts, hobbies, or sports, REALISTs need to feel active and involved with life, if they're to feel alive at all.
What's your personal pleasure: swimming, skin-diving, sailing, dancing, hiking, flying, driving, jogging, bicycling, football, basketball, softball, volleyball, tennis, racquetball? Or maybe you're a vicarious player in life: avidly following your favorite pro or college team in person or on TV?
Perhaps you satisfy your activity hunger through the work you've chosen. Find a profession with a strong tactile or hands-on component, and chances are good that REALISTs like yourself dominate the field.
The life-size games of business and the military also attract their shares of REALISTs.
You're probably wondering: "Why focus so much attention on the REALIST's activity needs? Isn't this a profile on mating?"
It's hard to believe, I know, but not all personality types share your affection for such pursuits, nor your intensity in pursuing them. And, if you're like most REALIST types, your involvement in "doing your thing" may be baffling, frustrating, and, eventually, enraging to the people closest to you.
Many a well-meaning mate of a REALIST type has invested years thinking (and hoping) that the REALIST would eventually outgrow that characteristic, unquenchable thirst for activity.
You'll be wise to make sure that any potential mate understands how much space, time, and independence you need in order to be happy. There'll be fewer hard feelings and misunderstandings, if nothing more.
Let's take a look now at the REALIST and sex and the REALIST and committed relationships. You'll probably be the first to point out that commitment doesn't necessarily, or even ideally, precede or follow passion for the sensuous REALIST type.
Consider the typical TV detective series hero, sallying forth weekly to tackle adversaries and adventures with REALIST-style present-tense thinking: countering new threats and adversaries with appropriate skills and tactics, supported by well-selected tools.
Appropriately, these portrayals of the REALIST-ideal never exclude the passionate angle! If love poems and roses figure into the plot at all, they're usually introduced as well-selected props in just another well-practiced ploy to win the sexual game.
If you have that picture well in mind, just remember that the object of the REALIST's attention rarely shows up in next week's episode.
Love 'em and leave 'em. That's the way the REALIST is often portrayed. And, admittedly, there's often a strong stripe of that spirit in most REALISTs—male and female alike.
The REALIST may impulsively rush into an affair, but not into a commitment. The REALIST enjoys relationships that don't press with too many demands, "shoulds," "shouldn'ts," expectations, needs, and schedules.
"Keep it light," is a familiar REALIST motto, when it comes to passionate interactions.
Many REALISTs don't understand that other types may not be so handy or comfortable dealing with sex and love as two different things.
When it comes to sex, the REALIST is typically an unabashed "me-first" lover, a gleefully child-like sensation seeker, an impulsive and dramatic sexual performer who enjoys love-making to the fullest, more free from conventionality and guilt tripping than any other lover type.
"Let's go for it!" says the enthusiastic REALIST. If the other temperamental types were capable of the REALIST's uncomplicated sensuality, there would be no problem. Unfortunately for the REALIST, few share that ability to live and let live and be in the present moment.
The REALIST is an engaging character. Other types may be swept away by the REALIST's sheer energy and passion.
The more serious ANALYST and LEGALIST personality types may find the REALIST's light-hearted approach to relationships to be captivating at first; and the EMPATHIST may happily misread the REALIST's message of "Let's have fun!" for "I love you madly!"
Perhaps more importantly, the EMPATHIST may interpret the REALIST's "I love you (today)" as "I love you (forever)."
Sex and love mean different things to the different temperaments, and when sensing and perception join forces in the REALIST personality, the result is sometimes a physical, sensuous person who thinks like a kid in a candy store. Why not taste it all?
The majority of REALISTs do settle down, eventually. And, once the REALIST is well mated, this type may be remarkably stable. So long as the REALIST's activity needs are met, and so long as some of the fire and spontaneity can be preserved in the relationship, the REALIST is likely to be an agreeable, dependable mate. Oh, the REALIST may stray now and then, usually on impulse, but—unlike the intuitive types—this character doesn't believe that the grass is necessarily greener elsewhere. That's the REALIST's reality factor shining through: living life as it is, not searching for the ideal.
When REALISTs do give up on a relationship—when it finally crosses that unmarked threshold from tolerable to troublesome—this sort classically just disappears.
Dealing with prolonged unhappiness and confrontation just isn't the REALIST style. Sticking around in an uncomfortable situation isn't either. Relationship counseling is too theoretical, too abstract, to be appealing to the average REALIST. So, when the heat's too great, the REALIST just gets out of the kitchen.
With the exception of some introverted and feeling REALISTS I've known, most mates of this temperament tend to heal quickly from the hurts of mismatched relationships. The here and now is more compelling to most of these folks than the fading memory traces of bad times and hurt feelings.
Watch the fireworks when REALISTS mate. Double the dose of that here-and-now reality, the spontaneity, activity and independence, and spread it out over two people's interests, skills, sports, hobbies, and occupations, and just see if you can fit it all into one relationship.
These two freedom-lovers are sure to give each other the space and time that's needed to pursue hobbies, athletics, and other action-filled pastimes.
Competition is the stuff of life for the REALIST, and, if a REALIST couple plays the same games or sports together, you can count on some amount of good-natured one-upsmanship being part of the agenda.
Challenges like: "I'm signing up for sky-diving lessons!" are likely to be met by a reply of "Me too!"
A low-key weekend of hiking in the country can turn into a fast-paced jog up a mountain. ("He's not going to beat me!")
If one takes hang-gliding, bungee-jumping or sailing lessons, you can count on the other to be next in line at the training center.
Usually, this couple will play with others and play together when that's convenient. They'll sign up for tennis matches and golf tournaments and 10-K road-running races. They'll belong to the country club and the body-building gym. They'll drive in sports car rallies.
They'll have one closet filled with camping equipment, and another packed with sports gear. There'll be an old surfboard under the bed and a boat in the garage. The skis and poles are in the laundry room, and the ski rack stays attached to the sports van even in the summer months. (Who in the world can find time to take it down?)
Jogging suits and wet suits and gym clothes are in the bottom drawer of the dresser, and there's usually a racquet or a couple of golf clubs in the back seat of the sports car.
They'll spontaneously take off for a weekend or a week, and they'll both try to adjust work schedules to allow for recreation and unplanned get-aways to fun places.
This is the fun couple. Free time is important. They work for money and then they spend it on good times and toys. To the extent that work is fun and challenging (and, consequently, another all-absorbing game), these folks will work and work hard. To the extent that work is a boring, 40-hour a week obligation, these guys will do everything they can to wangle some freedom and time off.
Vacations are important to these folks, and recreation has to be scheduled in on a daily basis to keep them functioning at their optimal level.
Gizmos, gadgets, tools and toys are absolutely necessary to support the REALIST life style. Mechanical things, from video recorders to cappuccino makers, are high on their list of wanted items. Cars and recreational vehicles assume a position of prominence on this "wish list," too. Is a Lear jet one of life's possibilities? How about a yacht? Then, this is the couple that will buy it!
Long-range planning? Saving for the future? Taking care of bill-paying and checkbook balancing? Handling routine household responsibilities? These chores typically get neglected or delegated by REALIST-types. But in a relationship of two of these folks, somebody has to give in and take care of business—or business just won't be handled at all.
If one partner's a thinker, chances are good these "reality" tasks may end up in his or her lap. But, whoever gets the assignment and adjusts to the duties involved, an amazing thing happens! That partner appears to change type, right before the other's eyes.
In particular, the one who has to exercise judgment will typically begin showing more of those (SJ)LEGALIST traits in other domains of the relationship as well! Don't be surprised if the other begins to complain that there's suddenly a "stick in the mud" in the relationship!
It isn't uncommon for this kind of mistaken identity to occur, or even to be fostered by a relationship involving two similar personality types. When people are alike in terms of their central temperament (either SP, SJ, NF, or NT), they typically focus on their areas of difference, rather than on their areas of similarity. It's the "glass half empty, not half full" phenomenon.
First of all, the partner whose preference for sensing is stronger may see the other as an intuitive! And the partner who's most comfortable with the perceptive attitude may regard the other as a rigid judging type.
In other words, REALIST couples who differ markedly in the strength of their preferences for sensing and perception may actually regard each other as "foreign" types!
Other important conflicts and misunderstandings may revolve around the dimensions of thinking-feeling and introversion-extraversion.
For example, a REALIST who prefers thinking may consider a feeling-type partner to be soft-headed and emotional. The REALIST who prefers feeling, in turn, may call the thinker hard-hearted and uncaring. In either case, they may minimize their areas of compatibility and focus on their differences.
By the same token, introverted REALISTS may find their need for peace, privacy, and personal territory continually violated by extraverted REALISTS, whose requests for socializing, contact, conversation, and feedback are frustrated by introverted partners. Neither may recognize the other as a kindred soul because their needs for interaction are so different.
The significance of differences along the introversion-extraversion dimension cannot be overstated. An ESTP and an ISTP represent vastly different personality styles in a close relationship. And an ESFP and an ISFP may have to work very hard at understanding each other's needs—even though they have three out of four of the personality factors in common.