Rhonda Morton is a writer, artist, entrepreneur, and innovator who uses improvisation as a common thread throughout her life's work. For about a year, she's been using a tool to provide a quantitative way of understanding ourselves and how we work. FEBI, or the Focus Energy Balance Indicator, assesses our patterns as they fall into the styles of a driver, organizer, collaborator, and visionary.

Below are short, generic descriptions of each work style. I want to share them because I think there are parallels between the way we work and the way we market ourselves and our businesses. None of the styles are more important or significant than the others, and they all have advantages and disadvantages. But it's important to identify what our strengths are and where we have opportunities to grow.

Driver - Direct, challenging, loves to win, stays on point
Marketing 'drivers' have messages that are consistent and relentless. They use all of the platforms they can get their hands on and they won't sugar-coat what they want from their customers. However, drivers have to be careful that they aren't too pushy and that they are willing to break from the plan occasionally for the sake of their customers. If you are a marketing driver, especially on social media, make sure that you listen to the responses in addition to creating the messages.

Organizer - steady, disciplined, does the right thing, one step at a time
Organizing your messages and delivery is extremely important, especially when considering the possible interactions or responses that come with social media. Marketing 'organizers' will follow a plan very closely and strategically, but can sometimes come across as being rigid or predictable. If you're an organizer, schedule in some room for random or unscripted posts; comment on the day or talk about something that recently inspired you. Your customers will appreciate the change of pace.

Collaborator - engaging, enthusiastic, people-person, fun-loving
Collaborators like to have fun and see the intrinsic value in truly "social" media. Marketing like a collaborator means having real conversations with your customers, connecting with other bloggers, and using feedback as an integral part of moving the business forward. However, too much collaboration makes it look like you don't have your own strategy; that you're just doing whatever your customers say you should do. Marketing 'collaborators' can take a cue from the 'drivers' and be sure to have a clear plan so they don't get bounced around by outside influences.

Visionary - big thinker, outside the box, open to new ideas, able to let go
Marketing 'visionaries' have big ideas and are often inspirational in their tactics and messages. They're willing to take risks by trying new mediums and deviating from traditional marketing plans and approaches. Being too much of a visionary, though, can cause a business to appear unpredictable or unreliable, sometimes lacking the immediate follow-through that's required to implement their big ideas. Try to inspire your customers with a combination of imagination and pragmatism.

These are very basic descriptions; the full FEBI assessment is fun, interesting, and can be a way to become more balanced in our work life (and marketing). Contact Rhonda Morton if you're intrigued and you want to find out where you fall and how to develop your weaker energies. And have a great Tuesday!