Mike Clark's Business Bites: We all need each other whatever our personality

You can only know others as well as you know yourself. Photo / Unsplash

Have you done personality profiling in your team?

Do you focus on your team's strengths or weaknesses? Do you know what your team members are good at?

You can only know others as well as you know yourself. As humans we do not see people as they are but rather as we are – through our filters, life experiences and prejudices.

Travel is a great way to open our eyes. Obviously with Covid this luxury has been hampered but have you considered eating out as a way of experiencing other cultures?

Palmy is well known for World Fair Day, part of the Festival of Cultures, as The Square transforms into a smorgasbord of food and smells, an array of colour and a whirlwind of performances. If you missed this event a trip down George St or Broadway Ave, or around The Square, offers a tantalising taster of our cosmopolitan city.

Much like the array of offerings that makes Palmy a delight to eat out in, so an array of people bring multiple skills, perspectives and personalities to teams. The better you understand yourself and others the easier it is to understand your team members and work together more effectively.

The options for profiling are huge. In New Zealand, Myers-Briggs (MBTI), DiSC, and DOPE (Dove, Owl, Peacock and Eagle) are the most common tests. I like the free MBTI offered at 16personalities.com as it explains the tools from several aspects, from strengths and weaknesses to work tendencies/preferences, to relationships and more.

If someone has a dominant or commanding personality (sometimes portrayed as an eagle or lion) the way they ask for things to be done and give instructions can be misinterpreted as shouting or even angry to a quieter, more-peace focused individual (dove or lamb).

It is important to understand there is no right or wrong personality. We all need each other. A key element to getting the best from a team is to look for the best in people – "what we seek we find". Most people come to work wanting to enjoy their job and make a positive contribution. People need to know they matter on their team and that what they do makes a positive difference.

When we understand how our team members naturally operate it allows everyone to be more understanding and considerate. It is a great show of character when people will adjust their style and preference to help another feel more comfortable and more heard and seen. A great tool to help team members see each other's strengths is Gallup Strengths Finder. I like this tool's focus on what is right with a person and have spent the past couple of years qualifying in and using this tool.

When we focus on people's strengths and aim to catch people doing things right we create a stronger culture within which people are more engaged, productive and have great enjoyment. Could your team benefit from understanding themselves and others more?

+ Mike Clark is director and lead trainer and facilitator at Think Right business training company.