My Dog Breed

As a Retriever, you are the golden child at work. Your balance of personable charm and diplomatic problem-solving makes you an asset to any organization. Part of your charisma comes from an irrepressible energy — an energy people draw on for creative solutions and fresh approaches to the company's business.

Part of the reason you're so good at what you do, is you've got innate people skills. Your easy-going nature puts people at ease and your high energy keeps you on the move. You enjoy getting to know others, and it shows. What you get in return, are innumerable in-roads to friends and colleagues at yours and other companies. You get in there with people and make an impression — an impression that can help seal deals when you need it to.

As a Golden Retriever you are a loyal and trusting sort. Although you can sometimes get distracted from finishing the file on your desk if you smell a new project coming down the line, it's not because you're careless. You're just excited to start thinking up ideas for another day.

All in all, Golden Retrievers are highly valued at their companies. Your uncanny ability to work amongst different groups of people while maintaining your positive approach is not always easy to find.

Of these characteristics, what sets you and other Golden Retrievers apart from different breeds is a combination of three factors:

Your level of dominance: Your Alpha/Beta factor.
Your need for affiliation: Your desire to associate with colleagues.
Your temperament: How much you wear your heart on your sleeve.

By looking at your scores on these three dimensions, we determined your dog type.

Marking Terrority:
Are you an Alpha or a Beta?
Climbing over people on your way up the ladder to success — it's just not your style. You and your fellow Golden Retriever are Beta dogs at work — true diplomats who get the job done. What separates you from the Alpha dogs out there? Not ambition. You want to succeed as much as anyone. It's just that you play by different rules — you aren't driven to win at any expense. You also know that sometimes you make a bigger difference and get more done if you're not obsessed by the highest rank, the grandest title, or the greatest responsibility. Although it's unusual for you to be particularly competitive, you have your moments and know when it's time to take on a challenge. You're not aggressive by nature and it takes a lot to get you steamed about things, which helps you pick your battles. Your patient nature is generally an asset in the workplace. People are relaxed around you. Because you are not as visibly competitive as your Alpha colleagues, however, you may mistakenly appear to lack their zeal or drive. But overall, people appreciate your Beta ways. You care about your work, and more importantly, you care about understanding and building workplace relationships — relationships you can benefit from later down the line.

Getting ahead at work (Leading the pack)
Because you are relatively laid back and less aggressive than the Alphas in your midst, people see you as a consoler, or someone to whom they can talk. You inspire their confidence because you are not always hurried and you patiently listen to others. Although there are many upsides to being a Beta in terms of your congeniality, life satisfaction, and health, there are a few downsides as well. Your unhurried style can sometimes make you seem as though you lack ambition. Your bosses may assume that you are satisfied with your lot and may pass you by for a promotion in favor of a colleague who seems hungrier than you. Your challenge is to maintain your Beta style while conveying to your colleagues and bosses that you are a high achiever and that you do compete when it counts.

Job satisfaction (How to wag your tail every day)
If you want to please your inner dog at work, you need to identify an office environment that suits your social needs. When it comes to your job, there are a number of components that make it a good fit for you. Are you doing the work you want to be doing? Are you working for the kind of company you want to work for? Is your personality a good match for your career? (For more on this take Tickle's Right Job, Wrong Job test).

In addition to those aspects of work, there is another factor that directly influences how happy you are at work: How important is it for you to make meaningful relationships with your fellow workers? Some people think this is crucial for their job satisfaction. Others find interacting with co-workers (beyond necessary needs) time-consuming, irrelevant, and disruptive to their productivity. In short, some people want to develop relationships with co-workers beyond the collaborations critical for the company, while others prefer to reduce the social intensity at work without alienating their colleagues.

Your need for affiliation in the workplace
Golden Retrievers like you are especially loyal and social. You do not like being alone and you seek companionship for most activities. Whether you're grabbing a coffee or lunch, you're likely to ask others to accompany you before you leave. You don't feel the need to be surrounded by people all the time, but you do like to have your social calendar booked, and you probably take comfort knowing your Palm Pilot is full of contacts.

Having those contacts by your side is more important for you than others. You want to feel like you belong — regardless of the environment. Your co-workers are more than just people you see at work, they're often the people you spend time talking with about work and other matters. You value that since meaningful human contact helps fulfill you and drive you through your days. Beyond the work requirements, you see your co-workers as a source of friendship and emotional support, and you take pride in being one of the people who holds the group together.

Increase your job satisfaction
Since maintaining good relationships with co-workers is a priority for you, any sense of isolation can lead to poor work performance or dissatisfaction with your job. Fortunately, there are things you can do to try to prevent this from happening.

• If you are in charge of your group or feel comfortable talking to your managers, you can recommend structuring work responsibilities around the core of cooperation, not competition. Just make sure you don't overstep your bounds.
• If you feel you aren't getting the kind of interaction that makes your job great, try organizing some face-to-face time outside of work projects and meetings. Invite colleagues to share a 15-minute coffee break with you or go for a walk on your lunch hour.
• Sure everyone's busy, but even these small breaks can make a big difference in your job satisfaction and perception. Some people may need a gentle push, so remind them that it's only 15 minutes, that they probably spend at least that much time answering personal emails. Taking non-work-related breaks throughout the day can rejuvenate just about anyone and make them more productive.
• Chances are, there is a good time in the afternoon for everyone to take a brief break. Once you do get people out of the office with you, try to talk about things other than work. Bring up hot topics of the day and get people engaged in juicy and interesting conversations. You may end up discovering that some of your co-workers share your same interests or hobbies.

Temperment:
Whether it's too many deadlines or unreasonable bosses, everyone experiences job-related stress. How you handle stress and anxiety varies from dog to dog. Tickle analyzed your temperament. And now, we can take a look at how you cope with stress and how it impacts others around you.

As a breed, Golden Retrievers are fairly easy-going most of the time. But when you're feeling stressed, you prefer to keep your feelings to yourself instead of letting them rise to the surface. The fact that you suppress your feelings instead of blurting out your opinions when they first occur makes you a "suppressor."

Suppressors feel greater control when they have time to analyze and think about their feelings. While this does have some benefits, it also can get in the way sometimes. It's likely that instead of admitting to work anxiety, you try to bury it so it won't "get in the way" of you doing a good job. While it's good to be focused on your work, don't underestimate the feelings of stress or unease that you might have. You might be so good at suppressing feelings that you don't fully acknowledge that you're feeling uneasy about things.

The problem with that is even if you try to avoid stress, it tends to find ways to leak out. When you become less tolerant of everyday hassles — getting annoyed by friendly co-workers, getting especially tense in meetings, getting overly frustrated by traffic jams, getting flustered when you can't find your favorite pen — know that these are all indicators that there's something else bothering you. Just be aware of these signs so you can take the time to figure out what's causing your stress. Ultimately, not coming to terms with your feelings and letting people know about them reduces your chances of ever feeling completely content at the workplace.

Your impact on others
People in the workplace feel comfortable with you knowing that you'll listen all the way through before judging a situation. This is good. It increases your reliability and adds a sense of calm to the workplace. You are even-keeled and react to events and emotions with deliberation. For your sense of comfort, you need to feel in control, but you also want to project that image to others as well.

Because of this, you weigh the benefits and consequences of voicing you opinion before doing so. Most of the time, you temper your feelings — making an effort to be diplomatic when you can be. As a result, most people see consistency in your behavior and mood.

Your attempts to moderate your feelings however, limit the ability of others to get to know the real, uncensored you. It also makes it more difficult for people to know how they can best fulfill your needs and wishes. co-workers are not mind readers. Bear that in mind and remember to give them positive direction for what you do want, or how you best operate in conjunction with them. Additionally, your bottled up feelings are likely to blow up sometime — even in a meeting unrelated to your initial frustrations. That will confuse colleagues, so make sure you can separate your issues.

Try this next time
Next time you have a difference of opinion with a colleague at work, write down your feelings in a notebook as well as potential solutions to the problem at hand. Put the book away for a day, then look at it again. If you still agree with the sentiment you scribbled down in your notes, explain the situation to a friend (or an impartial and non-political colleague) and see if they understand your point and where you're coming from. Use your friend to practice approaching the subject with your colleagues, and once you've done so, broach the subject with this colleague again. If necessary, state your opinions in a firmer manner than before.

You may be surprised at how an honest dialogue between two adults can vastly improve the working situation for everyone. Sharing your feelings is not only good for your mental well-being, but it also makes you more human to others.

How Trainable are U?
When it comes right down to it, every dog has it's own quirks. To get a more complete profile of you at work, we went beyond your breed to find out how you learn and adapt to change. Those factors combined with the other personality characteristics we've discussed will paint a full picture of your breed of dog at work.

To proceed up the career ladder, you've got to understand the way you learn. If you don't know that, you can miss opportunities along the way, and lose valuable time and energy trying to understand concepts and positions critical to your job.

You are an introspective learner, a ponderer. You learn best when you have the time to think about things on your own, before you have to act on them. You'd rather act more slowly, but consider all the possibilities and options than act quickly and make adjustments later. And beyond that, once you learn something, you can be counted on to be thorough and reliable. You are confident of your abilities and are not afraid to admit you need to learn more. In work situations, people probably think of you as the follow-through person.

So learn how to use your introspective learning style to your advantage. Take the time to understand the types of environments in which you learn most effectively. If you follow these rules, you will become a faster and more successful learner.

Use your learning style to your advantage
Because you are an introspective learner, you have a careful and methodical style. Since you prefer to pore over material before acting on it, try to find extra time to study up before you hit meetings. That will help you appear prepared to colleagues if you are called on to offer your opinion because you have already had the time you like to mull things over. It is difficult for you to learn in a group format when everyone has his or her own pace. When you are reflecting on the material, you will learn it faster if you think about the "what ifs" and anticipate objections or troubles. Jot down your thoughts on paper so that you can share them with others in a meeting.

Still, meetings and seminars can be difficult for you, sometimes. To keep yourself engaged, ask questions often and request that there be a short break every hour to give you a chance to absorb the material.

How do you respond to the new and the different?
How you react to new situations or adapt to change gives you insight into your personality. While you were taking the test, Tickle examined your tendency to seek new situations and your ability to cope with change.

You like to know your job and be the expert at it. While others are racing around scoping out new roles, you prefer to become an instrumental player at work, one people come to for answers and expertise. You know what your role within the workplace is, and don't feel compelled to explore new and different directions all that often. That's in part because you prefer predictable situations over surprises.

You find routines comforting. With all the chaos of the office, they provide you a sense of stability and control to serve as a good base for you. When those stars are lined up right, it sets you up to enjoy being in charge. While everyone is leaping to the new idea or trend, you wisely remember where your responsibilities lie. It is not that you dislike change, it's just that part of you worries that you won't like your new routine as much as your old ones. But when duty calls, you're just fine at adjusting once you have a chance to get accustomed to your new surroundings. Once you do that, you're back to your comfortable self again.

Now that you know more about your exploratory nature, read on to see ways that you can adapt better to your work environment.

Ways to adapt to your work environment
Most jobs require workers to establish a routine and stick to it. This skill is easier for you than others. Don't underestimate your consistency; it is a strong asset. At the same time, it wouldn't hurt to spend a bit of time developing a higher tolerance to change. Flexibility and the ability and willingness to make changes to improve existing routines are highly valued at most companies. Practice not rigidly scheduling your day and see if you can get the same amount of work done without as much stress. This new way of doing things will take time but it is important that you realize that the more you expose yourself to novel situations, the easier it becomes.

If you feel at loose ends and your responsibilities seem too varied, try sitting down with your superiors to discuss ways of making your calendar more stable. For example, you might be able to figure out ways to devote one day each week to specific responsibilities that you can focus your energies on for that whole day. That will make you feel you have more control over your days.