Balancing employee types

When managing a team or building a new team from scratch; knowing the personality types of individuals you’re working with , can help to build an efficient and productive team.

Your employees could have all the business skills and knowledge amongst them in theory but if there are many different personality types and they don’t gel, unless there is a degree of flexibility within the team; you could run the risk of clashes, miscommunication and lack of motivation or even below par productivity.

Understanding the differences within a team and working to the strengths of each team member can be the key to success.

Having a flexible approach and deeper understanding of how your team operates, with regard to their natural preferences for how the take in information, how they make decisions and how they prefer to operate in the outer world, will elevate your business head and shoulders above the competition.

The best teams have a good blend of personality types, big picture and ideas people are great but without the balance of the strategists attending to the finer details, it could be difficult to move beyond the ideas stage.

Similarly it is important to have an understanding of how team members gain their energy, do they prefer to be around other people and are energised by taking action or after a lively meeting do they need time to process and reflect, to recharge their batteries?

For any business to be truly successful, it is important to adopt an emotional intelligence, to help individuals to be self motivated and to understand what makes them and others tick, in order to get the best possible outcome.

Assessing your staff’s personality preferences is a straightforward process that will give you remarkable results. The Myers Briggs Type indicator ® is our tool of choice and is simple to put into operation.

If you have any concerns about the way your team runs, or you’re looking to develop the strengths of your staff and your business, give us a call and we would be happy to advise.

Imelda O'Keeffe
IMS Coaching