The core of versatility is being conscious of others’ style-based preferences and making effort to accommodate those preferences. Versatility is perceived and felt by others as the willingness and ability to make them more comfortable—to reduce their tension.

Versatility has four components: Image, Presentation, Competence, and Feedback. Image and Presentation are relatively minor aspects of versatility—each accounts for less than 10% of the total versatility rating.

Image is about appearance; whether others see your dress and grooming as appropriate for a situation. This has some style-based elements (Expressives may tend to favor more flamboyant or casual clothing, for instance), but it’s more a measure of whether others see you as being conscious of and responding to cultural, social, or business norms.

Presentation is about how you communicate in a public setting; whether others see you as “coming across” well. This aspect of versatility focuses on whether others see you as moderating your preferred style to be effective in sharing your point of view with others. For example, a Driver who scored high on Presentation would probably be seen as speaking somewhat more slowly and being more emotionally animated than usual while sharing his or her point of view. An Amiable who scored high on presentation might speak more loudly and use less provisional and more definitive language than usual when presenting.

Competence and Feedback together make up almost 85% of the overall versatility rating. This means that you can most easily improve your versatility by focusing on these areas.