Discover your work personality!

Sometimes in our careers we may feel out of place, perhaps a fish out of water? Or maybe we start questioning if we are in the wrong field or working for the wrong organisation… Is it time for us to leave and look elsewhere for fulfilling work? These are the type of questions they may be buzzing in the head of a dissatisfied worker perhaps if you took the time to gain more clarity about what you represent as a professional by being more specific and asking yourself these questions. What type of work environment would I want to work in, is it a big or small team/business? high pressure work environment or relaxed environment, formal and rigid or flexible and creative. I fortunately had always been able to exercise some level of awareness to my work personality as well as my work preferences. But how many of us take the time to analyse our work personality in detail and use the new-found awareness in bettering the way we communicate, lead and make decisions?

So, during my induction week I completed a personality assessment that would assist me in better understanding my work personalities in terms of how I approach relations at work, my preferred way of working and the ideal work environment that could cater to my needs. So, I thought I would share with you guys today how my work personality results came out. As displayed in the picture there is a definite hierarchy with my earthy green side appearing to be my most dominant work personality followed by yellow then blue and finally red. Which means I am mostly identify as introverted feeler and I strive in an informal setting, I am the colleague who makes sure relationships between team members are ok. My motto is: Let’s do it with care, and on a good day, I am patient, relaxed, encouraging and like to share information. My second most dominant personality trait is sunshine yellow, I can be a little extraverted at times and feel the importance to be involved in the decisions that are made and great at motivating others. My second motto is: Let’s do it together, and on a good day I know how to motivate others with their enthusiasm.

My two least strongest personality traits were cool blue and fiery red being overly analytical with following processes and standards is not something that comes natural to me as I am someone who doesn’t want to feel constrained or want to work in stiff and rigid environment that would completely suffocate me1 I prefer flexibility and a lot of creativity in the way I execute my work tasks which does not come as a I surprise on why I changed my prospective science career and I am also not a fiery red  as I don’t find it easy to separate tasks from the person as I am always considering how each of my work decisions will affect  and impact the next person which is a great trait for someone who is an aspiring Industrial psychologist. But I don’t have a strong personality like a fiery red or have a deep desire to always want some level of control or be in charge but rather believe in collaboration and that everyone should have a fair chance in contributing to the bigger picture which makes me more diplomatic.

Everyone is different and unique and there isn’t a right or wrong personality trait we are all born differently with each personality profile offering strengths and development areas for example I tend to over tolerant of other’s inability to perform that is something I need to work on. Just for fun look the blocks in the picture and see if you can arrange your personality profile, how would it look like? which colour would be your most dominant? which colour would be at the bottom?

Ambitious professionals once I had an idea of my personality colours I had more clarity in terms of how I should approach people at work and if I came across a different colour personality I was able to regulate and adapt my entire approach as I was more aware of their needs and personality. I will be doing a video soon so stay tuned where I will be discussing work personalities separately and how to approach a co-worker who is a different colour, exercise control and EQ when dealing with a colleague in a stressful situation, identify your personal style, interaction style and decision-making habits. How your work personality can be an asset for your work team or a weakness and most importantly how you can implement steps to develop yourself today. There is so much to explore with this topic so do stay tuned!