Process Communication Model® (PCM): the right person for the right job in the right team?

In order for a company to grow, its employees must first do so. That's why many companies choose personality over competence when hiring (or promoting from within)! The reason is simple: a skill can be acquired more easily than changing a personality. It is therefore essential to ensure that a personality is well suited to a position, because if it is not, dissatisfaction is generated, productivity decreases and turnover increases. No one wins.

This is why companies are looking for employees less and less based on their know-how (their operational expertise), but also taking into account their interpersonal skills, in particular their commitment, their loyalty, the sharing of common values...

It is in this context that the Process Communication Model® (PCM) takes on its full meaning. The strength of PCM lies in its ability to develop team dynamics and to offer predictive stress management.

PCM is a universal method for better communication, collaboration and conflict reduction. It is based on the premise that "the way things are said is more important than the content". This is for a simple reason: we are constantly communicating and the tone, the meaning, the nature of the communication can change (be interpreted) according to the personality of the sender and the receiver.

How does PCM help in business?

The right fit

To ensure that everyone is in the right place according to their personality and able to communicate adequately with others by taking into account their own personality. This is all the more important today as the organization of companies is changing to be more transverse, when strategic projects are set up for example, where work groups are made and broken up according to the challenges to be met.

PCM provides keys and tools to respond to the various problems encountered in interpersonal communication.

Even under stress

PCM allows us to predict behaviors in stressful situations! And therefore how to better manage oneself and others in difficult situations. Based on a personality grid, PCM is able to predict who will react how. Users of the model can thus maintain fluid relationships or adapt more easily in the event of tension with colleagues, partners or clients.

In teams

Based on individual profiles, it allows companies to draw a team portrait: its strengths, behaviors, etc. And therefore to identify possible frictions, anticipate issues, plan resolutions... and work on team cohesion accordingly.

Applications

• Team management, to become a better leader
• Commercial: for more efficient sales or customer service teams
• Internal: to foster team cohesion and collaboration
• Anticipate conflicts (internal and external)
• Talents: facilitate recruitment and promotion, transfer skills

PCM: how does it work?

The particularity of this model is that we are not ONE personality, but a combination of SIX personality types, one of which dominates (more or less) the other five. Each of the personality types has distinct characteristics.

Identifiable characteristics

• Specific abilities
• Strengths
• Observable behaviors (choice of words, body attitudes...)
• A specific perception of the environment
• A privileged communication channel
• Psychological needs that impact motivation, decisions, etc.
• Observable behaviors in stressful situations

The six personality types of the PCM

• The "Persevering" type: dedicated and attentive. This type needs to be respected for its convictions.
• The "Analyzer" type: responsible and logical. They seek facts and data.
• The Empathetic type is warm and compassionate. They want you to feel good and need to be appreciated for who they are.
• The "Promoter" type: Direct and charming. This type always finds a way to make things happen.
• The "Imagineer" type: calm and imaginative. They need to take their time to think and weigh concepts.
• The "Energizer" type: spontaneous and creative. He brings energy and likes to try something new.

No one is 100% one of the personalities described, but a combination of all of them, with a stronger personality type. This combination changes from one individual to another. These nuances are important because they differentiate us and also avoid pigeonholing us, putting us in boxes.

Thus the model can help a person who would not have the ideal profile for the job, to develop or acquire the necessary know-how to adapt to others.

How was PCM born?

NASA contributed to the development of this approach at the end of the 1970s: the recruitment of astronauts was demanding, but above all, the needs went beyond the "simple" scientific profile. Once sent into space, the crew must not only be confident and expert in their field. They must also be able to have a good emotional intelligence, to keep calm in a stressful situation, to collaborate, etc. The process of finding the right candidates is therefore delicate because, given the context, the risk of error must be minimized. A bad recruitment can put lives at risk. It is therefore understandable that the interviews conducted by NASA's chief psychiatrist last several hours.

Until the arrival of a psychologist, Taibi Kahler (adept at transactional analysis), who works on a different evaluation grid... and is able to obtain results similar to those of the psychiatrist in 10 minutes. This was the beginning of the success of the Process Communication Model, which the two men used and refined from then on.

PCM was later used by many psychologists, as well as in the White House and in Fortune 500 companies...

Conclusion

PCM is both a personality and communication model, which aims to develop knowledge of oneself and others and, by doing so, to improve relationships with others and collaboration. It is based on six major personality types, each of which has its own behavioral characteristics, particularly in the way they interpret reality, communicate and react to stress. PCM therefore helps to build homogeneous teams by predicting the reactions of each other in case of conflict. It allows to better connect with others and reduce conflicts, by implementing effective communication strategies.

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