RELATIONSHIPS WERE TESTED LAST YEAR. KNOWING YOUR BIRD TYPE COULD HAVE HELPED.

We were at home more than ever the past year. This put our relationships to the test. Tick’s profiling tools were designed to help you understand why people act the way they do, yourself included.

While we’re all different and shoe-boxing us into categories doesn’t always work, Tick’s system does give us a bird’s eye view of why we do what we do. Now we're in the new year, with its shifts and changes, there’s no better time than now to dive into your psyche.

Know your Tick bird type  

Let’s look at four different personalities:

1. The Eagle is motivated by power and authority
2. The Peacock loves to be popular and praised
3. The Owl feels secure with facts, numbers, and systems
4. The Dove is driven by the security of belonging.

For example, let’s say you’ve got two Eagles in a relationship. Being driven by control and wanting to be ‘boss’, these two might create conflict as they compete for notoriety.

Maybe you’re interviewing potential new employees and an Owl walks into the room. They’re going to be wanting concrete information about job facts and figures. A Dove, however, will want to know about the team culture and if they feel a sense of community.

Owls are fixated on the numbers while Doves are more interested in the way those numbers feel and the story it tells.

Once you know your bird type, you’ll start to see why people react the way they do (as well as you, too). You can see past someone being stubborn and recognise it’s their Eagle coming out. Or why your Peacock partner refuses to book that holiday because they’re worried about how much it’ll cost.

How Tick’s online personality profiling tools can help

There’s no denying, all relationships take work. But if you know yourself first, you can understand the people who energise and fuel you, and those who don’t – to avoid conflicts, communication issues, and have better relationships.

Understanding not only your personality type (by determining your bird type) but also the other person is critical. And it comes back to two critical ingredients for successful relationships – expectations and communication.

Talk about what you expect from the other person (and notice how you’re communicating). Get in the habit of saying, ‘that’s my Dove or Peacock at play.’ Make sure those expectations are communicated, so there are no guessing games.

Start the new year by understanding how your mind works. Take the Tick personality profiling test.