1. An introduction to a Green persona
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A quick glance at a Green persona
Greens are the most detail-oriented type and often are nothing short of perfectionists. They are driven by accuracy and work well with system oriented concepts. Details are important to them, and so is getting to the bottom of everything.
Greens are very pleasant to have a conversation with as they are polite, well-mannered and sociable. They keep the conversation flowing and will be keen to know your interests. They love small talk, are knowledgeable about a lot of things, and are fun to be around socially. This is truer if they already know you than if you are a stranger, in which case they may keep conversation rather businesslike.
Greens are very organised, sometimes almost to the point of being pedantic. They are structured, diligent and punctual, and would expect everyone else around them to be the same.
Greens can impose such stringent rules and boundaries that their bureaucratic stance can cause conflict with others. However, they make up for their rigidness with an overall caring nature. Greens tend to be very loyal, except when things have been going wrong for them for a while in which case they can become cynical.
Greens come across as very friendly and outgoing; they will happily chat with anyone who would like to strike up a conversation. Don’t be mistaken, however, that their friendly front means that they are an open book. Greens keep their feelings to themselves and it is difficult to break down these barriers. Once they let you in and feel comfortable with you, they will share certain things with you. Just accept it as a given that this person will never want to sit down and talk about feelings.
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2. Managing relationships with Green personas
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How Greens interact
A Green persona makes good long-term friends. The paradox here is that Greens are strongly introverted, but because they are also loyal, they build solid and long-lasting friendships. Although they are likely to socialise fairly often, this will be mainly with their own circle of friends.
At socials or parties, they will be friendly and polite and well behaved but don’t expect them to be the ‘last-person-standing’ as their social batteries will already be expiring towards the middle of the evening, and they will be exuding ‘it’s time to go’ signals. With their own circle of friends, however, they would happily go away for entire weekends and talk until the small hours of the morning.
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Greens and timekeeping
A Green persona will want to plan everything weeks ahead of time and will not want you to impose any last minute changes on them. A person with a Green persona will tend to treat the commodities of time and money in a similar fashion – prudently. They are picky about punctuality and are likely to start and stop working by the clock! If they are not early for an appointment anywhere, they will not be too happy, and if you should be the reason for them arriving late, you will endure a relentless badgering of a lecture as a result.
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What Greens want from others
A Green persona wants to be associated with people who are kind, composed and friendly. They gravitate towards people who have a zest for life but don’t turn their lives into a rat race. They don’t appreciate woolly conversations, void of facts, and they aren’t comfortable with anyone getting too emotional around them. It takes them a while to open up and build up trust, but once they do, they can become rather considerate people to be working with. It is important for them to feel that they are getting the same in return.
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How to communicate with a Green
Green personas can often engage people on a wide range of subjects, Unfortunately, they can’t help but drill right down into every detail. They will take their time explaining something to you and will complete their story with numerous often-uncalled-for details. This type of detail may fascinate another Greens, but other persona types may find this tedious.
Socially and at home, they employ small talk, mostly to avoid awkward silences. In business, however, they may avoid such small talk, and in general fixations on detail can cause them to miss picking up the social nuances that may be going on around them.
Green personas generally write in short sentences, except if they are explaining something, then you may get into all the details. Greens value fairness and correctness, when things are a bit out of kilter for them they will become more verbose in how they talk and write because they want to get their point across. As we notice with Mints, Purples and Blues personas, you may see the occasional written misuse of question-marks and exclamation marks as they try and emphasise their points with ‘???’ or ‘!!!’.
Greens are often the trusted technical or economics advisors in their teams. If you were to overlook servicing their concerns if you are proposing solutions to their team, you may just be rewarded with failure. Greens can skilfully leave you thinking you still have a chance while they are silently shipwrecking any chance you may have had. In short, make sure you satisfy all of their concerns. If possible take along an equally detail-oriented person on your team when you meet with a Green.
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3. Green personas and stress
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Greens and stressors
The polite but firm Green persona will instantly dismiss you if they perceive you as domineering, overbearing or pushy. They might not tell you straight out they don’t like it but you will certainly feel the wall they will build to distance themselves.
Anyone who doesn’t manage their finances in an adequate way (Greens have their own unique perception of what is adequate when it comes to money) won’t get a seal of approval from a Green. They will make sure they voice their opinions and point out that you are not doing things the right way (AND they are fully convinced they know what’s right when it comes to anything to do with organising and discipline).
Greens don’t respond well to clutter and will find it highly irritating.
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Greens and confrontation
The thinking process of the Green persona is governed by rules and details, as well as a deep-rooted sense of values. They will get agitated with you or in any context where they feel things are not fair, or if you want to persist doing something they think is not right. They are not normally argumentative people and are likely to pride themselves on how composed they can be.
In truth, given too much pressure, they can be rather volatile. When they reach the point where their pent-up patience snaps, they will dig their heels in and become entirely obstructive, argumentative and sarcastic with you, if not even hurtful. It is not uncommon for them in those particular moments to bring up every wrong move you made in the past, regardless of how long ago.
They tend to bottle things up and internalise their feelings, so resolving issues with you will not come easily for them. The best strategy is not to allow the issues to spiral out of control, but rather to clear the air often by talking things through.
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Greens' irritating habits
To be clear, items listed may be irritating to some people and quite acceptable for others, depending on their own persona.
A Green persona can often be overheard bickering about the correct way to do some everyday tasks like cooking or doing dishes. These people are sticklers for detail and for doing things perfectly. They want to plan and pay for things months ahead of time and cannot easily be swayed from plans already decided on. The upside of this, if you are living with them, is that all the bills will be accounted for and every appliance or door or tap will be functioning flawlessly. These people are not particularly intuitive in picking up any atmospheric changes in your mood, and they will not be particularly socially adept to pick up nuances amongst other groups of people etc.
They tend to do a lot of soul-searching about their own abilities. If you are friends or a close colleague with this person, you will have to develop strategies to rescue them from their ironclad tendencies to spiral into self-doubt. They have an uncanny knack of turning any encouraging conversation that you may have with them right on its nose to justify their despair. Most times, the truth is that they are extremely highly skilled and competent, but that is not how they would choose to see it.
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How to support a Green
A Green persona is not prone to talking about their feelings or to show their feelings. This in no way implies that they don’t have those feelings. They might have a hurricane of emotions inside of them but will have a trouble voicing them or talking about them.
Because they tend to bottle up their misgivings, frustration and hurt, it is not uncommon for them to have outbursts when things come to a boiling point, which often happens when you are least expecting it.
If your conversation with a Green should take on a too personal or emotional quality, the Green will be inclined to change the conversation to more topical subjects.
4. Managing expectations with Red personas
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How Greens make decisions
Green personas seek perfection. They apply logic, methods and rules to any decision that they make. A Green persona will want to be thorough when they consider anything that you are proposing. They will be checking what they see in front of them against their mental list of ‘must-haves’ for their idea of a perfect solution, and they are not too likely to steer too far away from that list.
When it comes to general decisions, Greens don’t take the decision-making process lightly. They will be unlikely to commit to any specific decision until they feel they have enough information and they’ve evaluated the issue from every angle. When they make a wrong decision, they will be very reluctant to admit it and will stubbornly insist on their initial point of view.
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Greens and budgets
Green personas can have a very private and personal relationship with their money. They have a knack for growing money bit by bit. It doesn’t mean they never spend any of it – they do. And when they do spend money, they spend it on quality items, on something that they have researched to the hilt.
They are good planners when it comes to budgeting, and anything to do with arranging finances in day to day life seems to flow like clockwork. Saving is an important part of their money-handling routine and, thanks to being wonderfully disciplined, they always have a fund reserved for a rainy day.
It is not uncommon for them to be driving nice cars and live in nice surroundings. They rarely have financial troubles as they plan ahead and account for a variety of circumstances. Their buying habits are very sensible, frugal and calculated. A Green persona has a cunning way of saving up and buying the best quality and the highest spec merchandise they are interested in, even if they might not come across as having a lot of disposable income.
Both in business and at home they are likely to question and argue against unscheduled or impulsive purchases you want to make.
They plan their finances meticulously, their bills always get paid on time, and their cheques never bounce. They will probably start saving for their children’s college fund before they even start in the nursery! When this type of persona says they are flat out broke, it in no way implies that they have depleted their bank balance. It more likely than not suggests they now have to dip into their savings, which in most cases are quite impressive, regardless of their income.
An influential Green in a buying team will regard their business’s expenditure for your solution as if it is their own. Unless they are of the accountant type of Green they are rarely the financial decision maker. They may, however, have you believe that they hold sway even over the cost of your service. If they are employees to the client organisation they will compare this expenditure to their own package and to that of their colleagues. Unless Greens have a direct bearing on what you charge, it is best to keep your pricing from them and to focus conversations on their technical questions.
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