Who Do You Think You Are? How Social Roles Can Determine Success in Life

We’re constantly interacting with other people.  No matter what the activity, work or play. It’s a part of life, and how well we interact often determines our success in many areas.  

You may have noticed that people interact in very different ways with very different purposes. Some people love to socialize at parties while others will avoid such social situations at any cost.  In contrast, others like to work cooperatively to make things happen but don’t understand how people can enjoy wasting so much time socializing. 

Interaction between people can be broken down simply in three distinct ways:  

·     Transactions, or interactions designed to make agreements and trades

·     Operations, or interactions focused on doing and accomplishing

·     Resources, or interactions focused on facilitating yourself or others.

You do all three on a regular basis, but you have a distinct order in your preference for some types of interactions over others. Your preference strongly influences the kinds of skills and behavioral roles you’ve become good at.  

You demonstrate your preference by naturally gravitating towards activities associated with one category over the other two.  

If Transactions is your favorite, you might be that person who loves social gatherings because they offer so many opportunities for bargaining, convincing, settling arguments, mentoring, selling, networking, and persuading others.  

If Operations is your thing, your interactions probably revolve around getting things accomplished, planning, organizing, delegating,  trouble shooting, and managing/overseeing.  

Finally, if you have a preference for Resource interactions you may find yourself spending a lot of time researching, teaching, counseling, sharing, advising, coaching, defining strategies, and connecting people with each other.  

The degree of preference for each category varies from person to person, but there is always an ordered preference. What’s important to remember is that your natural preference isn’t right or wrong, it’s just yours! 

Take 10 minutes and reflect on the three preferences for interaction categories. Think of some specific examples in your own experience.

·     Which one do you feel most comfortable doing?

·     Which one do you feel least comfortable doing?

·     Can you think of some examples?

Identifying these preferences will help you understand yourself, the things you do, and the things you avoid in a different light. What’s especially important in this process is distinguishing between those skills that fit you naturally versus those where you had to work hard to acquire that drag on your emotional, psychological and physical well-being.  Examining the various interaction categories will also stretch your understanding of other people and their different points of view, which is key to improving communication and building stronger relationships.