Each of our workplaces is a wonderful microcosm of different personalities, personal values systems and communication styles – what could possibly go wrong?
“Hold my beer!!…….” Plenty in actual fact can go wrong and will go wrong from time to time despite best laid plans and intensions.
Fundamentally as humans we are all inherently unique, we all have the ability to try different behaviour to grow, develop and improve or we can choose to be difficult, dig our heels in or simply ignore the situation and shut down. We all make these choices every minute of every day, exhausting right?
This is why our minds and bodies tend to operate on default settings, things such as our preferred personality type and communication style, it reduces sensory overwhelm that has the potential to paralyse us all. These default settings allow us to use our energy for critical thinking, creative pursuits and other important activities.
We all have preferred personality traits, it’s basically the way in which we interact with the world when we’re on ‘auto-pilot’. To over simplify a very complex subject, the development of personality profiling started as a way to “enable individuals to grow through an understanding and appreciation of individual difference in healthy personalities and to enhance harmony and productivity in diverse groups”(Myers Briggs).
Each personality type adds value to our teams in different ways:
- The desire to create frameworks and guidelines so everyone understands their part,
- The desire to make the world and better place for everyone,
- The desire to look beyond the here and now and look at what is possible as well as inspiring others to take that journey too
- The desire to make an impact, jump in, have a go and make it happen.
A team entirely made up of all the same personality type definitely has its limitations- no big sky thinking or no detailed follow through to make anything happen or lots of decisions made on the basis of making people feel good and not necessarily for the good of a businesses’ bottom line or everyone is off having fun doing things their own way until the party is over so to speak.
Often hiring managers tend to recruit like- minded people but a team that is made up of different personality types is a well-rounded team, no particular personality is more or less valuable than the others they all have unique ways of contributing to the success of the team. Shared values are what will make a cohesive team not necessarily the same personality type or skill set. All great teams look to individual strengths to build cohesion, capability and capacity.
What do you bring to the team? What does each of your colleagues bring to the table? You’ll be amazed when you take the time to discover the less obvious answers.
If your team is not as cohesive as it could be there are many ways in which EastCoast Human Resource Group can work with you to facilitate great outcomes such as customised team workshops, individual coaching plans, devising effective strategies and tactics to address your unique needs or attending one of our practical Masterclass workshops
Contact either Michalle Faulkner or Heidi Bishop on 07 5443 6022 to discuss how we can best support you and your team.
