Whether you are looking to understand your own communication style, or you are looking to get insight into how your team performs together, the Myers-Briggs FIRO tool is an excellent starting point.
The Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation – Behaviour (FIRO-B) originated from the need to understand and predict how high-performance military teams would work together during World War II.
From its initial use in the military, FIRO was further enhanced by William Shutz in the 1950s. Shutz, an American psychologist, summed it up nicely when he said: “People need people, and people’s interpersonal needs motivate behaviour.”
When we meet our teams individual needs, they become self-sufficient, motivated and enthusiastic. However, if those needs are not met, their behaviour becomes negative.
The FIRO-B tool provides a score that is used to estimate how comfortable an individual is with a specific behaviour. When we start to see how individuals perceive their work environment, we can start to modify relationships so that all team players achieve their personal ‘needs’ and therefore work as a single motivated unit.
The FIRO analysis can be used as a tool in helping predict how comfortable each individual will be when interacting with other ‘behaviour types’. Results can:
- Identify patterns in interpersonal behaviour
- Self-discovery of interpersonal behaviours
- Foster alternative behaviour patterns that can increase efficiency and productivity
- Build stronger, well-rounded communication-forward teams
- Develop personal relationships
- Develop leadership qualities
- Augment career development strategies
Is your team well-balanced, working together effectively with perfect relationships? Or do you have too many similar and conflicting personalities? FIRO-B can help identify ‘characteristics’ and, more importantly, can help develop strategies for individuals and for the team as a whole.
How it works
In order to work effectively, people have three important needs that must be met. The level to which those needs are met will ultimately drive the individual’s behaviour. The three needs are:
The need for Inclusion, the need for Control, and the need for Affection.
In a business and team working sense, three additional needs are important: the need for Involvement, the need for being able to Influence, and the need for Connection.
The FIRO business tool assesses the behaviours that individuals express and the behaviours they ‘want’ from others, across the three areas. By exploring these dynamics, assessments describe how each individual tends to behave towards others and how they want others to behave towards them. From these insights, improvements can be made in communications, collaborations, and working relationships.
With FIRO-B, business leaders are able to get a straightforward perspective on how their interpersonal preferences influence their leadership style. For example, a leader with high expressed ‘inclusion’ would seek to engage team members in the decision-making process, creating a more inclusive and collaborative team.
However, a leader with low wanted ‘control’ might lean into delegating work and trusting the team’s autonomy.
I worked with a small team a few months ago, and the leader of the team came out as having low expressed inclusion and high expressed control. I was brought into the company because they had an issue around trust and dominance from the leader. Well, it is little wonder that this was the case, considering the expressed and wanted characteristics of the leader. Of course, he was oblivious to all of this, and when we went through his score, he immediately set about adapting his leadership style.
When used intentionally, FIRO-B can be an extremely useful resource in our pursuit of stronger, more motivated and more effective teams. Being aware of the interpersonal needs of each team member, leaders can develop approaches that support both personal development and the team’s evolution.
If you would like to find out more about FIRO-B and how it might help your personal development or the development of your team, please get in contact.
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