Antrea Fotiou
HR Advisor
K.Treppides & Co Ltd
It is easy to assume that hiring based on similar personalities is the most effective route to follow when building a team. If everyone is the same, we will all get along well and, be highly productive, right? However, there are many reasons why, we need a variation of different personalities in the workplace. Outstanding teams are more than just their hard skills; Outstanding teams are about their different personalities as well.
Teams with a good balance of different personalities, can help create a stronger work atmosphere, increase team production and efficiency as, such a team, might include people that are creative, people that are organised and people that have a bit of both (somewhat creative, somewhat organised). It can also improve decision making as having such a team increases the likelihood to bring a unique approach and perspective to problem solving and decision making. Furthermore, a team with a mix of different personalities that can co-exist, can also boost workplace morale.
Get the right balance and combination of personalities right and all strengths and weaknesses can be more balanced within, leading to a better quality of decision – making ability. On the contrary, get the blend of personalities wrong and this can lead to catastrophic consequences as too dissimilar values can be challenging. Teams, for example, with too many competitive personalities can lead to issues when they need to work as a team. When teams have the wrong combination of personalities, morale can decrease as employees will be often in conflict. It is therefore very important to recognize the different aspects of everyone’s personality, both negatives and positives, and meet somewhere in between. Another factor to be considered is that it is the responsibility of the employee/individual to understand their personality and traits in order to modify behaviour, play on strength, work on their weaknesses and improve interaction with colleagues.
In contrast, when the right mixture of personalities is found in a team, each employee has something different to contribute, a different point of view and, when managed correctly, can lead to a cooperative environment and thus, a morale that is being boosted in the process.
This is a Challenge for Managers especially, as they are asked to work with different personalities and demonstrate people skills to successfully manage their teams. This can become especially difficult at times as humans tend to favour people that share similar interests/backgrounds/personality characteristics with us. Why do we, unconsciously even, gravitate towards similar people? This is referred to as the Unconscious Bias, and it influences different processes and decision making, to a larger extend than we may think. It is in our human nature to, subconsciously, look for points of similarity in people we meet, as these similarities can make us feel safe and assured that we have chosen right. How often is though, that our unconscious biases lead us to the wrong decision? As long as humans are decision makers, there will be human errors.
As long as we are willing to learn, grow, and progress that’s fine. Taking responsibility of our behavior is the key to be able to interact with all different personalities efficiently and effectively. When everything is considered, we should always remember that we everyone is acting towards a common goal and vision.
Contact Details:
[email protected]
www.treppides.com
Nicosia: Treppides Tower, Kafkasou 9, Aglantzia, CY 2112, Nicosia, Cyprus
Limassol: Andrea Kariolou 38, Ayios Athanasios, CY 4102, Limassol, Cyprus
London:7 Milner Street, London SW3 2QA
Malta: Level 1, Somnium, Tower Road, Swatar, Birkirkara BKR 4012