By KEVIN CHIRI

Editor and Publisher

LAPLACE – Having trouble getting along with your spouse?

Or what about your co-worker?

If you are an employer, do you keep wondering why your hires don’t seem to work out?

Eddie Esposito, a trainer with Referral Institute, had some words of advice to address those questions when he spoke at a special monthly seminar hosted by the River Region Chamber of Commerce recently.

Esposito brought some interesting information showing that all people fall into one of four general behavioral categories.

Those areas are:

—Outgoing, task-oriented.

—Outgoing, people-oriented.

—Reserved, people oriented.

—Reserved, task-oriented.

Of course, Esposito said, many of us are a combination of more than one trait, but understanding the way people are—whether it be your spouse or an employee—can go a long ways towards improving communication.

In the workplace it can mean hiring people who better fit the mold you are looking to fill, and that was what Esposito was helping the businessmen and women in attendance to understand.

“To improve communication, you first need to look at yourself and decide what kind of person you are,” he said. “Then you can better understand what kind of person works well with you.”

The outgoing, task-oriented person is motivated by choices and control, and is very goal oriented, but can be hard to please. Some of the people who fall into this category are coaches, sales people, policemen or builders.

“This kind of person can be good for you in a lot of ways, but if you are hiring them you might not be able to afford them since they are probably very good at what they do,” Esposito remarked.

The outgoing, people-oriented person is friendly, compassionate, talkative, outgoing, and fun, and needs public recognition to keep them going. Politicians, teachers, con artists, public relations directors and wedding consultants are just a few of the people in this category.

The reserved, people-oriented type is calm, dependable, efficient, trustworthy and has good relationships with others. Real estate people, pastors, nurses, artists and teachers also can fall into this category.

“But this kind of person can also be selfish, shy, indecisive or stingy,” Esposito added. “They don’t like a lot of change and they are motivated by helping others.”

The final category, those who are reserved, and task-oriented are recognized as gifted, loyal, analytical and perfectionists, but they can also be self-centered, critical and impractical. Some of those people are accountants, bankers, engineers, photographers, surgeons and lawyers.

Esposito said that the largest category of people are the reserved-people oriented, with about 35 percent of the population, while the outgoing, task-oriented makes up 10 to 15 percent of the population.

The outgoing, people-oriented group is about 20 to 25 percent of the population, with the reserved, task-oriented group about 30 percent of the population.

Esposito is available to speak to groups at referralinstitutenola.com.