Are you more frustrated than usual with your boss during these days of Zoom and working from home? Recently Gallup polls and Pricewaterhouse Coopers revealed that problems with supervisors (e.g., no support, no respect, and favoritism) are ranked one or two as the main reasons given by employees for quitting.

Your ability to figure out how your supervisors, managers and other bosses operate is crucial to your personal success. Frustration comes in many forms. Clients have reported: “My boss doesn’t understand me.” “My supervisor just doesn’t get it.” “I just can’t get through to my manager.”

I believe that a better understanding of personal temperament is a strategy for improving your working relationships (personal ones too!). Temperament is that part of our personality concerned with emotions and the speed and intensity of our reactions to them. There are many temperament models you can use to learn more about the topic. It is a self-awareness tool that everyone needs to have in their toolbox. The study of temperament goes back thousands of years. My late partner, Jim Harden, and I developed what we believe is a handy and practical model for quickly understanding and applying the principles of temperament, on-the-job.

The Basic Elements of Temperament model views temperament in four distinct behavioral groups that shed light on how people approach their work and how they interact with others. We used Earth, Air, Fire, and Water to describe these groups since without any one of them our lives would cease to exist. All of us are born with all four elements but they are not evenly represented. You might think of them like plates stacked on a restaurant shelf (remember when we could go to restaurants?). The top plate represents our Dominant temperament, the one that influences us the most and the one we most want others to associate with us. The second plate, or temperament, is called the Secondary and we strongly support its behaviors. For many of us, the Dominant and Secondary temperaments are often confused for each other since we are so influenced by them. The third temperament is called the Tertiary and we are typically neutral about behaviors of this element. The final temperament is called the Shadow, some call it the Inferior, and this is the one that often gets us in hot water with our boss.

A critical difference between our model and others is our emphasis on the study of the Shadow temperament. It is the one that influences us the least and the one we least want others to associate with us. Let’s take a look at each temperament. Remember that we are all unique and the “stacking” of our four basic temperament elements will differ.

Earth – The “Earth” boss is often characterized by such terms as traditional, organized, sensible, and trustworthy.

Air – The “Air” boss is often characterized by such terms as intelligent, analytical, curious, and logical.

Fire – The “Fire” boss is often characterized as spontaneous, playful, uninhibited, innovative, and fearless.

Water – The “Water” boss is characterized by such terms as compassionate, friendly, and personable.

On any given day you may see behaviors emerge in the workplace that confuse and drive you absolutely crazy. Careful observation of the behaviors and decisions your boss makes over a long period of time will reveal both dominant and shadow temperaments. You will then be able to employ strategies resulting in a much more positive working relationships and attain an enhanced professional connection.

In this series of articles we will examine the behaviors that are typically associated with bosses holding each Dominant temperament and strategize how we can work with them more effectively. I’ve written a number of books on the subject of temperament. Please check out: www.braddude.com.