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Writer's picturefinchanddaisy

Share Your Shape!


No, this post isn’t about your curves and it’s not a love language thing either (although we love that philosophy, too!) it’s more about how you come to the world as described by a shape. In the simplest form, it’s you, your personality traits, and how you show up and communicate with those around you.  


We love sharing this exercise with teams because it’s short and sweet and really gets to the guts of how to best communicate with those around you – your team, boss, friends, and even spouses – especially, spouses!  


With this exercise comes a lot of ‘ah-ha’ moments and lightbulbs. There’s also a lot of giggles from those diamonds and arm crossing from the squares. But, when you start to understand why Peggy in Accounting replies with one-word answers in her emails, or why John sends those lengthy emails going on and on until your eyeballs and brain completely shut off, only then will you begin to better understand yourself and those around you and communicate effectively in a way that fosters connection, openness, and trust. So, let’s dive in and figure out what shape you lean towards …  

General Characteristics of a SQUARE:  

  • Detail-oriented 

  • Dependable and responsible 

  • Work hard 

  • Organized–hate clutter 

  • Love data, numbers, policies and procedures 

  • Analytical 

  • Can be stubborn 

  • Hesitant to change 

  • Logical 

  • Expressing emotion may be difficult 

  • Best when working alone rather than on a team 

  • Frugal 

  • See fun as a luxury 

General Characteristics of a TRIANGLE:  

  • Bottom line 

  • Hate to lose even more than they love to win 

  • Extremely confident 

  • Love to debate and argue 

  • Outspoken 

  • Can be sarcastic 

  • Smart–know a little about everything 

  • Like to be in charge 

  • Love to multi-task 

  • Rarely apologize 

  • Successful 

  • Impatient 

  • Self-motivated 

General Characteristics of a CIRCLE:  

  • Love to have fun and laugh 

  • Thrive on teams 

  • Take things personally 

  • Empathetic and compassionate 

  • Great storytellers (often exaggerates the story to make it sound better) 

  • Want to “fix” everyone else 

  • May give silent treatment when they feel hurt or angry 

  • Struggle setting boundaries 

  • Talk too much 

  • Hate conflict and confrontation 

  • Often feel guilty and responsible for others 

  • Overcommit–can’t say no 

General Characteristics of a DIAMOND:

  • Like to be around fun people 

  • Adapt easily to change 

  • Super energetic 

  • Love to try new things 

  • Get bored easily 

  • Shoot from the hip—don’t always research first 

  • Idea generators 

  • Not as organized as they should be 

  • Speak before they think 

  • Don’t like to be told what to do 

  • Counterintuitive 

  • Like attention 

So, which are you? What newfound insights do you have? Does it make more sense when you diamonds word-vomit all over the room and square Shauna begins a lengthy interrogation with 10 reasons why that won’t work right out the gate? I hope so. I also hope you now know, it’s not an attack, there’s nothing personal about the one-word emails or the 10,000 ideas, it’s just what makes us each unique – and we need all shapes in an organization to be successful. Next time you feel prickly about a communication, get curious with yourself and refer to this exercise – they're probably just a different shape – and that’s A-Okay! 

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