How to Manage a Team of Strong Personalities - Without Losing Your Best Performers

Most people don’t really leave a job; they leave the people they had to work with.?

Research shows that a negative work culture is the number one reason why people leave. The second? Difficult colleagues.?

No one likes working with supervisors or colleagues who micromanage or overstep boundaries. They’re also tired of show-offs, especially those who like to take credit for someone else’s work.?

In a perfect world, no one would hire - or have to work with people like that. Yet the reality is often very different.

So, how can you spot people like this? More importantly, how can you manage a team with so many strong personalities that might clash on occasion - so that you don’t end up losing your best performers?

Let’s take a look at the most common personalities we encounter in the workplace, what they look like, and why they behave the way they do.

The Most Common People You’ll Meet at Work?

Throughout your professional or entrepreneurial career, you’re likely to encounter the following types:?

1. The Leader?

These personality types are not necessarily the smartest or the most talented. However, they excel at organising, particularly overseeing projects and making sure everything goes as planned.?

However, they tend to focus on long-term goals and may lose sight of the critical process or methods needed to reach these goals. They may also show a preference for more assertive colleagues, unintentionally neglecting introverted team members in the process.?

2. The Debater?

They make it their mission to argue with people - either to push for their beliefs and agenda or sometimes, for fun.??

This tendency often puts other personality types on guard, especially those who prefer to steer clear of confrontation.?

3. The Silent Creatives

They are often creative thinkers who prefer to spend a lot of time with their thoughts.?

This makes them a great fit for jobs that require creative output such as design or product innovation. However, you may need to make them understand why a specific project is worth their time and effort.?

4. The Campaigner?

The campaigner is a high-energy person with a lot of charisma, making them extremely hard to ignore in the workplace.?

However, they can often be talkative and even distracting. This can frustrate certain team members who need to keep their focus and would rather not engage while on the job.?

5. The Executive?

No workplace is complete without this personality type who believes in following the rules and doing things by the book.?

While this can be laudable in some jobs (such as for certain virtual assistants), it can make them inflexible and stubborn when it comes to doing things their way, leading to conflicts or misunderstandings within and across teams.?

Why It’s Important to Understand Different Personalities??

It’s not enough to just assume or second-guess what your team’s personalities are.

Taking time to really get to know and observe key members through self-assessments, team-building exercises, and other methods makes you better equipped to place them in roles where they can thrive - so they have everything they need to succeed at their jobs and by extension, help your department or company accomplish its goals faster.

Understanding how different personalities interact can also provide great insight for choosing the right communication styles and conflict resolution methods should the need arise.?

Creating an Inclusive Workplace?

Gone are the days when people tolerated toxic work environments and colleagues for the sake of a paycheck.?

According to studies, toxic culture drives even the most dedicated employees to resign. This means employees would rather look for another job instead of staying in a toxic one, no matter how good the pay is. That holds true for many employees across the board: whether they’re in-house admin assistant or a top IT outsourcing hire (and others in between).

So, it pays to implement practical steps and policies for inclusivity. These may include:?

• Inclusive meetings wherein team members can contribute openly or anonymously through digital tools;

• Personality type assessments where colleagues share their personality types, preferred working styles, and approaches to problem-solving;

• Flexible task structures which offer room for experimentations, provided that there are clear roadmaps for completing tasks and evaluating results;?

• Communication skills training that helps everyone fine-tune their approach based on others’ personality types; and

• Emotional intelligence workshops where team members learn self-regulation, social skills, and empathy.?

Moving Forward?

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to dealing with different workplace personalities. It always requires observation, openness, and empathy.?

However, with enough training and adequate support, team members are more likely to respect (and perhaps even appreciate) each other’s differences and find common ground, regardless of their personality types.?

Would you like to learn about the other personality types in the workplace? Click here.?

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