

People with a concrete sequential dominant thinking style tend to have a black and white outlook on life.


They dislike open-ended questions, a lack of structure, disorganized people and discussions that seem to have no point. They can be exceptional task-masters if the work outline is clear and they are comfortable with repetitious work. They thrive in a structured environment and work well with clear directions where they are given time to learn a skill through practice and then repeat what they have learned. The sequentials thrive on order and can be upset when interacting with people who take an abstract approach.Ī person with this dominant thinking style likes predictability and dislikes working with teams or abstract ideas. If you find yourself in this situation, you may discover that you have the ability to intentionally switch your approach if you find yourself encountering a challenge associated with a dominant style you are using at the time. If you are low, you will need to be aware that you are weak in this area.ĭon't be surprised if you score over 30 for two thinking styles that may actually be divergent. If you are high in a particular style, you will be strongly inclined to think this way. If you are below 30, then you are less likely to process information using that style.Ībove 40 or below 20 show a strong preference for or dislike of that way or processing information. If you scored 30 or higher, then you are dominant in that thinking style. The baseline of the test results is 30 out of a total possible score of 60 points for each of the four styles. Once you have done the quiz, consider: Where were you dominant and where were you weak? Or were you even across the board? This only takes a few minutes: Test your own thinking style.Įach thinking style is described in more detail below. What thinking style are you?īefore reading further, you can test your own style using an online test. Let's take a look at the four main thinking styles and what they can tell us about a person. This can greatly improve internal communications, customer development and customer relations. Since the thinking styles are literally a reflection of how a person processes information, understanding the impact this has on that person's thought process can help us communicate with them more effectively.

While we all will use different combinations based on the task being done, many people either prefer or strongly prefer one or two thinking styles. For example, while doing the laundry we will use a concrete sequential approach, while during a brainstorming process we will likely use a concrete random or abstract random approach. When the brain processes information it will use one perceptual and one ordering approach. Perception: This is how we perceive information.Ī. Concrete: Using the five senses, perception is rooted in the real world of things that can be tangibly experienced.ī. Abstract: Going beyond the five senses, perception reaches to more intangible things that are not seen, like ideas, concepts and relationships.Ī. Sequential: People with a sequential ordering style like to organize information in a linear, sequential way.ī. Random: People with a random ordering style organize information into chunks that don't necessarily have a particular order.He divides this into two main streams and four thinking styles: Gregorc's model is based on the idea that there are different ways our minds can acquire and process information. Elena Grigorenko and Robert Sternberg explain that a thinking styles is not a personality trait or indicator of your intelligence quotient (IQ), but an interaction of both of these elements.Īnthony Gregorc has worked on a theory of thinking styles since 1969 to provide a coherent framework for how the mind works. Thinking styles are based on the idea that we use our intelligence differently. Yet, while these tests address how people generally approach life, they do not address the idea that we have different thinking styles. As a business owner, having the ability to understand and relate to people is critically important.Ī lot of attention has been paid to the different personalities and motivational styles people have, from Myers-Briggs to the "colours" theory that maps people onto very simple personality quadrants where green means you're intellectual, blue artistic and emotional, gold organized and orange outgoing.
