Business Development: What is Perceptual Styles Theory? And How Does It Work?

Being a lifelong student of human behavior, I’ve always been interested in understanding the differences between people, including what they value, the way they see the world, the conclusions they draw, and the actions they take.

Psychological style theories offer the explanation that everyone falls into distinct groups with distinctly different worldviews. These theories have always made sense to me because they provide an alternative explanation to the simplistic “I’m right and you’re wrong” attitude that characterizes so much of human interaction.

For a long time, I was puzzled that others weren’t as taken with these theories as I was. Until I realized something important: while people will agree with the description of their own and other’s style, they see no practical application. The comment I often hear is usually something along the lines of “This is all accurate and interesting, but so what? What can I do with this information?”

When we work with an entrepreneur through our ACI for Entrepreneur’s program, the first thing we do is determine their Perceptual Style, via the Perceptual Style Assessment (PSA). This information reveals their natural strengths and abilities and their unique entrepreneurial style. It allows them to understand who they are and where they naturally excel. This is the single most effective way to help them focus in on the exact roles within their business that support their brilliance as an entrepreneur—and which ones they need others to fill.

From here, we move on to the Talent Assessment (TA), which highlights what kinds of skills they’ve acquired over the course of their lives, and how much of their natural talents they’re currently using.

Step two is to provide direct answers regarding what types of products and services that entrepreneur should be marketing, based on their natural talents and abilities, as well as the most effective way to market them and the type of clients they will be most successful in marketing those products to.

The results of the Talent Assessment are also used in this step, in order to show how well what they are currently doing, day in and day out in their business, fits with their natural strengths. Our coaching is focused on bringing these two factors into alignment.

Once an entrepreneur has their daily actions and their business aligned in a way that takes the best advantage of their natural strengths, it’s important to make sure that they have a support team in place that can fill the gaps necessary to make the business successful. This requires knowing exactly what skills are needed, how to find out whether any current team members have them, and, if not, how to find people who do.

This step is all about building a dynamic and effective team that will relieve the entrepreneur of the burden of performing all those tasks and roles in the business that don’t come naturally to them (and hence, don’t tend to enjoy).

Creating an effective team capable of all the skills needed for success necessarily requires people with different Perceptual Styles. This mix increases the chances of conflict and miscommunication within the team, so this step also includes help learning clear and practical ways to mitigate this potential pitfall.

With a few basic communication skills and protocols in place, however, something amazing happens. Teams pull together and become more than the sum of their parts, and entrepreneurs are free to do their “genius work,” making more money in less time, and enjoying it more. This is the core of the ACI for Entrepreneurs system.