1. An introduction to a Mint persona

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A quick glance at a Mint Persona

Mint personas are hard-working people with impeccable manners and a creative streak. They are polite, soft-spoken and evenly tempered. As work partners, Mints are very selfless, charitable, nice-to-be-around and easy-going people. They are diplomatic and tactful, so conflicts do not arise easily with these people. They are very thoughtful about the needs of others and may even put some of them on a pedestal.

Mints are quite conservative and have strong family values. They are very loyal and stay closely connected to their friends and family. They are traditional in their ways and would want a family that has an environment of respect and of people getting on with one another.

If Mints are asked to do something that goes against their values or principles, they will struggle with that and won’t do so easily. They would also struggle in an environment where things are unruly, contentious, loud and backbiting. They have strong intuition and can sense undercurrents and vibes.

They put thoughts into things they do and like things to be organised. They are not impulsive or likely to do things on the spur of the moment. It’s not that they don’t go and do new things, but they will explore when the time is right for them, rather than throwing everything out of the window and diving head first into the unknown.

Mints are very detail oriented, like Greens, but also solution-focused, like Whites. Those two qualities combine together to make them very practical people. They might not be the most creative persona but they are very good at taking other people’s ideas and putting legs on them. They like to see projects completed and do that quite effectively through their tendency to document everything, follow up, and follow through.

While Mints might appear like steady and predictable people, they will surprise you with a wild streak that comes out once in a while when the circumstances are right. In general, these people are well-rounded and value maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

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2. Managing relationships with Mint personas

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How Mints interact

A Mint persona loves making good long-term friends, so they will be growing a solid number of friends who have similar interests to themselves. They will often mention their circle of friends in conversations. They enjoy spending time with their friends and make it a regular part of their routine.

Mint personas may not be the central life and soul of every party, but they are interested in people and will want to talk about what others are interested in too, and that includes you. They seem to be an open book, but in reality, they are the dark horses of the pack, and every once in a while, they will let loose, quite probably surprising those people who don’t know them that well.

Occasionally the emotionally contained Mint persona may break out and do a few wild things on nights out. They also often have the technical discipline to play musical instruments. They may, for example, for those Mints that have musical skills, be able to light a whole stage with an amazing performance, but straight afterwards when there is some mingling going on, they will be their normal, composed selves again.

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Mints and timekeeping

A Mint persona will have the intention of planning everything weeks ahead of time and will not want any last minute changes imposed on them. However, if you watch closely, you will notice that while they will impose a need for good timekeeping on everyone around them, they themselves also have a tendency of occasionally missing the mark and being a bit late here and there.

This is because they tend to experience a kind of tug of war between getting things done properly and sticking to what they themselves might have scoped out as a schedule. In the end, the quest for getting things done properly will trump the need for sticking to the clock.

Generally speaking, Mints have the attention to detail of a Green, the intuition and creativity of a White, and the heart of a Blue persona, albeit in slightly milder doses. Mints should find it easy to move between using the resources of those personas, depending on what they need in any particular context. 

So, to use a domestic example, their partners may have to wait for them while they finish some all-essential task like hanging out the washing as it can’t stay in the washer. In all, however, with their immovable sense of loyalty and duty, they are the best-placed personas on the chart to be able to plan intricate schedules that can be applied and be flexible and adaptable.

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What Mints want from others

A Mint persona appreciates people who are considerate, composed and sensible. They gravitate to people who add to and complement their own traits and interests. They are truly likeable people with a high threshold of patience. They enjoy just about anyone’s company, except when they think someone is disingenuous, overly opinionated, or loud.

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How to communicate with Mints

Mint personas often have some unusual skill tucked away outside of the limelight, like playing music, for example, so they are entertaining and interesting to talk to. They will always be interested in other people so you will get the feeling that they are really interested in what you have to say. Mints are typically very work oriented and you may get stuck on the subject and set a pattern that is difficult to change.

Mint personas are likely to write in fairly long sentences and, depending on how frustrated they are with an issue, they may start getting rather verbose. They are likely to try and emphasise points in their writing by using multiple question marks or exclamation marks – like ‘???’ Or ‘!!!’.

Mints are logical and pragmatic, they are risk-averse and they don’t much like conflict either, but that does not mean they won’t say something when they aren’t happy about the progress that isn’t taking place. If the tone is relaxed you can afford to commence conversations with some small talk about common interests, but remember that a Mint at work is a fairly focused individual, so do get to the point at hand quickly. When talking about projects, be clear, be correct, be consistent.

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3. Mint personas and stress

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Mints and stressors

The polite, firm and sometimes soft-spoken Mint persona does not appreciate anyone who is domineering, overbearing, loud or pushy. They have intuitive sensors that pinpoint such people in an instant.

They are closer to the introvert side of the scale and will internalise and file these offences without necessarily causing a fuss. If you were one of those who crossed them, you’d discover their dislike for you by them withholding from you some service or information that they are normally free and open with. In other words, they subtly get even. They are also likely to tell those close to them of their misgivings with you.

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Mints and confrontation

Mint personas can often have a very rational and calming way of managing confrontation. They are experts at cooling things down into a rational discussion that will lead to some resolution. They will try to resolve any friction in a relationship by being diplomatic. By the time they feel they have exhausted all options in resolving things with you, they may start resorting to polite sarcasm, constantly reminding you of what is out of place, or of resorting to insidious remarks when they still don’t get their way. When a Mint Persona eventually loses his or her temper, they are likely to already be severely stressed and upset and near their breaking point.

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Mints' irritating habits

To be clear, items listed here may be irritating to some people and quite acceptable for others, depending on their own persona colour.

Mint personas are likely to consider themselves to be rather organised and orderly, and in the main, they are. After a while around them, you may notice that they can be similarly haphazard as the rest of us mortals when it comes to their own stuff or environments. Yet, they will always be ready to be organising you to the hilt or holding you to a high standard. They may slow the pace of anything down to something that they can control or be comfortable with. To the untrained eye, these personas may seem like something of a paradox, or they may, over time, be perceived as people who practice double standards. For example, they will refute and resist any unproven concept you might want to introduce, but then every now and again, they will throw in something rather random themselves.

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How to support a Mint

Mints are very contained in their emotions. They would consider it a failure if they were to lose their composure. This can be different in different contexts though. For example, they could be composed while at work but quite vocal amongst friends. Under pressure, they may have the unhealthy habit of offloading on someone who is not involved, rather than confronting the person they have the problem with. This can border on gossip and cause even more issues.

Mint personas are not easily going to express their feelings, whether they be positive or negative emotions. They tend to mentally nurse issues until they grow larger than life in their minds, and then it surfaces at inappropriate times as wry sarcasm. This will be frustrating to someone who would rather just get issues out in the open and settled there and then.

4. Managing expectations with Mint personas

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How Mints make decisions

Mint personas will normally make very sensible decisions. They seek stability. They are good at spotting what will or won’t work practically and will be convincing in persuading or dissuading someone from doing the wrong thing.

Other people’s feelings are likely to play some role in their decision-making.

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Mints and budgets

Mint personas are likely to want to be responsible with how they treat money. They are most likely to try and only spend what is within their means, and to save up for the things that they want. They plan things and they budget accordingly. They are likely to question and argue against unscheduled or impulsive purchases of anything. When this type of persona starts emitting signals that they are becoming financially embarrassed, it most likely that they are being forced to access their impressive long-term savings.

Mints form part of the bean-counting team when you are selling into a team. And don’t be tempted to think that this isn’t mostly the case. There are always influencers in even slightly complex projects. Mints will poke holes in your schedule and also in your technical solution. These people invariably have a lot of experience and they will know very well how your over-eager projects pitch might impact their projects. Reds, Oranges Yellows and Whites, who can all cope with a calculated risk here or there, will value the insights that a Mint will bring in to a conversation.

If you ignore identifying and satisfying the concerns of a Mint, don’t be surprised when there is a late swing to another option that you weren’t even aware of. Mints don’t like conflict and they are very loyal to their teams and organisations. They may not confront you if they have concerns, they will just inform the key decision makers.

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