In any organization, there needs to be a mix of personality types. The importance of personality types is decried by some as a kind of fad science, but it is difficult to run an office or any other workplace when everyone has the same “soft skills”. The reason for this is perhaps best explained by the old saying “too many cooks spoil the broth”. When everyone has the same personality type and a problem arises, there is likely to be conflict as everyone tries to take the same role in solving it. The different personality types are not explicitly defined, and therefore there is no hard-and-fast list, but there is a set of soft skills which all workplaces require, and these are best met by different types of people.
Identifying Your Personality Type
You probably have an idea of your own personality type. A personality type is defined by the aspects of your character that emerge when around others or when doing important work. These character aspects are, as often as not, described as “soft skills”. You may have been described as “maternal”, “skeptical”, “humorous”, or any number of other things. These are issues which do not relate directly to your work but can aid or restrict your ability to do it, and can aid or restrict others. It is considered beneficial to have as many different types of personality in a workplace as possible.
There are countless tests that can be done to detect a personality type, and many different ways the results can be expressed, but there are certain things which hold true in all personality tests. Perhaps the best way in the workplace to detect a personality type is to judge your reaction to a problem which affects a whole team, or a group within it. Are you immediately looking for a way of overcoming the problem? Are you instinctively worried by what happens, and do you look to other people to help out? Do you comfort people who are stressed out by the problem? Or do you perhaps sit on the fringes, making comments and playing for laughs? Strange as it may sound, all of these elements are worthwhile in a team. The person who immediately looks for the solution is a “problem solver”; the second type is a “consensus seeker”. The third is considered a “nurturer” while the last listed is a “humorist”. All of these are classic personality types.
Identifying Others’ Personality Type
Most people know, or have an idea of, what personality type they conform to most. When meeting new people – and the workplace is one arena where this happens perhaps more than any other – it can be difficult to get a handle on what other people’s personality types are. The only way to really get a firm sight of what kind of personality you are dealing with is to speak to people and to monitor how they conduct themselves. One way of doing the latter is to hold “ice-breaking” or “getting to know you” games and sessions. By playing certain games and by monitoring people, you can find out a lot about what kind of person they are.
There are countless games designed to find out about people, one of which is the “stranded on a desert island” game. This basically takes the shape of a hypothetical shipwreck where the team is stranded on a desert island after their ship has run aground. There is a list of things which have been left on the ship, and limited time before the tide comes in and takes it away, so you have to prioritize what you will rescue, from the small, seemingly insignificant things, to the larger items which may seem to have more practical use. Different people will wish to rescue different things, and will make their reasoning known. This game is beneficial because it defines what people’s priorities are, and shows a lot about their personality when you step “outside the game”.
There will initially be a team of people with lists that differ hugely. The whole team willneed to decide what they, as a team, rescue from the ship. In doing this, team members will make their points and some ground will be given to certain items. From this you will be able to work out who is a dominant character, who is pragmatic, who is light-hearted, and so on. Some people will concede points quickly whereas others will try to make their point – whether they do so in a bullish way, a more structured way, or however else. You will also find that in many situations two or more people will vie for the “Alpha” role, while others will value their less confrontational part. From games such as this you can learn a lot about someone else’s personality type.
Motivators by Personality Type
The different personality types have different ways of motivating the people around them, as well as themselves. Someone who emerges as a conciliatory person is likely to motivate others by speaking to them one-on-one and allowing them to see where they excel, as well as where they can improve. Being able to put bad news in a good way, as well as being able to share good news discreetly, can be very valuable.
Other people, who may have a more dominant personality, will have a different way of motivating positively or negatively. They will generally tend to prefer delivering criticism one-on-one, as doing it in the open will de-motivate others, but good news will be delivered loudly and shared throughout the team, as a way of spreading the joy and motivating other people to try to achieve the same, and gain the same kind of acclaim.
Depending on someone’s personality type, they will have vastly different ways in which they can contribute to the team’s motivation. Indeed, it is becoming common practice in many workplaces to have what are known as “champions” to take control of certain aspects of the team. This empowers people in non-management roles to play a significant part without pressuring them with the responsibility of the concrete performance of the team. By assigning people the correct champion’s role, you can enable them to get the best out of themselves and others, and not let a talent go to waste.
This post is from June’s topic on Employee Motivation, which is also a course on our Mini-MBA program online from Harvard Square.
