Some thoughts on personality (and the effect it has on teams)

The term personality can be a difficult idea to pin down. What is it? Is personality a culturally led behaviour or is it a biological, and therefore innate, psychological process that is fixed? An educated guess would be that it is a mixture of many different processes that overlap to form the basis of personality.

The study of personality started in three separate but related strands; clinical, psychometric, and experimental psychology. The aim was to highlight individual differences in behaviour. Interestingly most theories emerged from clinical practice – from a ‘real world’ setting involving people’s emotions and feelings but the need for quantitative scientific answers brought about the use of psychometric testing which became widely used to infer the social norm that one and all are compelled to work from. Scales of individual difference were created to satisfy the lust for quantitative measurements.

Sound familiar? Numbers over feelings and coal-face realities? Categorising into personality trait and type groupings is also highly subjective - people have different frameworks of meaning, and therefore always leaves the topic open to much debate.

Personality trait/type theories do receive considerable backing however because they are used so commonly in everyday life and therefore have some utility and credibility (how much is up for debate). And as an aside probably because of the obsession within scientific circles for the need to categorise and label everything into quantifiable figures to give ‘real’ answers. This is not to say that traits do not exist of course but merely that they are not as confined or fixed as some believe. It could be argued that traits are not consistent but that they are situation-specific and fluid.

Humans still tend to attribute the cause of other people’s behaviour more to personal characteristics and less to the situation. (This is a western cultural idea and is not as prominent in non-western cultures). It is not the case that people alone are responsible for their behaviours and you should bear this in mind when tackling personality, behaviour, and individual difference within your team.

It may be worth forgetting the complexity and ambiguity of the science (and faux science) and simply consider that any psychometric tool is simply a conversation starter – it allows individuals and teams to have conversations about how and why they operate the way that they do. They are not the be all and end all and do not define you as people but it is always worth remembering that who we are shapes how we behave, which in turn affects the culture/environment we operate/live in.

It is a combination of many things that make a culture (environment, history, processes, policies, structure). People are the most important and influential aspect of a culture so with that in mind, here are some useful questions to ask regarding people:

1.?? How will the team need to be set up to best deliver the purpose? What does that structure look like? Remember that too many levels equate to confusion and too many mixed agendas.

2.???? What are the roles and responsibilities? What do you need each person to be accountable for?

3.???? What skills, traits, attributes do you already have that you may just need to juggle around?

4.???? Do you really know who you are, how you like to operate in a team and how you come across to others?

5.???? What does each person need to be operating at their best? (Not just physical things like laptops/tablets, desks etc., but also consider the wider psychological things that people need – time and support for families, hobbies development opportunities etc.) What motivates them (and you)?

6.???? If you are considering using a psychometric tool then seek proper advice and don't just go with the 'shiny option' - there are many people out there who can steer you in the right direction to the tools that have more credibility/validity.

Understanding self and others’ strengths and allowable weaknesses, through open awareness is a hallmark of a high performing team.

Cheers

Dave