Cats & Dogs

  Why is it that some people are easy to form relationships with and to work with and influence, while others are not?  We are all affected by our own and others' style of leadership and relationships and it is often the person with 'power' who is the key player when it comes to team collaboration and co-operation.   

The Cats and Dogs behavioural model created by Michael Grinder offers a non judgmental way to understand these 'power' people and provides strategies to bring them on board.  If you've ever owned a cat or a dog, you will instinctively know the differences in their personalities.  By looking at people in a similar way, we can transfer this knowledge and take off some of the pressure. 

Think about it, when you call your cat, it takes a message and gets back to you later.  When you call your dog, it comes.  Its all about the degree of independence or accommodation.

And one of the benefits of applying this understanding  of cats and dogs to people is that we can become more realistic about our expectations of ourselves and other people including our work colleagues.

You wouldn't expect a 'dog' kind of person to be particularly assertive, nor a 'cat' person to be easy to manage or influence.  And yet it's not quite as straightforward as that. Cat and dog behaviours are at opposite ends of a continuum - we all have both cat and dog behaviour in us.  The power of influence is that we are able to recognise which part  is required at any given moment.  There are times when part of us wants to be creative and break the rules, there are others when we want to follow them. 

So which do you recognise most in yourself? Are you more cat or more dog?  Do you behave differently at work than when you are at home?  

Comments

[Sue Trinder]

Dear Sue, You mean nobody is a "perfect dog" or "perfect cat" depending on the situation we convert ourdelves from cat to dog or vise-versa. Right? "dog health"

Yes, thats exactly right "dog health"– it depends on the situation. We may behave as a cat at work and as a dog at home, or vice versa - it will depend on the people or culture we are in. Or, you may be a cat at work and share your home with an even bigger cat! The secret is to develop mastery in being flexible – knowing when to display which behaviour in order to influence most effectively. Thanks for the great question!