By MARYBETH
NIEDERKORN
SEMO News Service
After 35 years in the banking industry, former Poplar Bluff resident Matt Henson has taken on a new challenge.
He is now president of a professional development firm offering consulting services in Southeast Missouri.
Henson spoke recently on social style during an event at the Regional Development Center in Cape Girardeau, where he is currently based.
Intellectual properties such as Myers-Briggs (MBTI) or DiSC will confirm personality type, but, said Henson, that's about as far as it goes with them.
That's why Henson says he teaches Social Style by TRACOM, a program that first observes behavior, then divides personality types into four categories: people who are driving, expressive, amiable or analytical.
Then, the program identifies ways people in each category prefer to be approached and treated.
"It's not about traits and judgments," Henson said, but is about how people interact and how to improve responses between coworkers.
Henson, who worked in banking in Poplar Bluff from 1981 to 2003, said it wasn't until he found this program about two years ago he realized everything he'd done wrong in dealing with his colleagues.
People who were more amiable or analytical tended to ask rather than tell, he said, while he tends to tell rather than ask.
Since he didn't know that, he said, when an amiable colleague might ask whether he wanted to take a moment and get some coffee, Henson answered the question they were asking rather than the meaning behind it -- no, he didn't want coffee -- not realizing the colleague wanted a minute of his time.
Now, Henson said, he understands that, and the program laid out a method for him to control his responses in order to "speak the language" of different personality types.
Another advantage of this program over others, Henson said, is it eliminates the "self-rater bias." People might not know themselves as well as they think they do, Henson said, so this program uses multi-rater data, or information from other people who know the person well.
This is a business-related program, Henson said: "Domestic relationships are a different animal."
But the program can help people learn more about themselves, and how to better interact with others, Henson said.
"The beginning step is knowing," Henson said. "The next step: versatility."
Programs like this can help individuals, teams or entire companies adapt to change, according to Henson.
Henson is the son of the late Rex Henson, a Poplar Bluff prosecuting attorney and judge, and Myra Lee Henson of Poplar Bluff.
He is a 1975 graduate of Poplar Bluff High School.