You Just Don’t Get Along, And That’s Okay. But What Should You Do About It?

What do you do when you find someone that you just can’t quite mix with? How do you continue a meaningful working relationship?

Listen to this lesson I learned about how sometimes it’s okay to not see so eye-to-eye.

Have you ever come across someone that just rubs you the wrong way?

They might be perfectly fine, friendly even – but they drive you crazy. You just don’t ‘like’ them.

You’ve tried, but you just can’t find a way to connect.

I feel like most people can relate to this. I have even experienced it myself.

At one of my jobs, I was working cross-functionally in almost everything I did. This was everyone from IT to Legal to Designers, and onto R&D, and even out in the field with customers.

To be successful, I needed to get along with everyone. And everyone was so very different.

But at the end of the day, no matter what I tried or what approach I took, I just couldn’t connect with some of them.

It was like there was a little sandpaper between us.

But I later learned that it wasn’t me…

Well, it was me.

But it was also them.

It was ALL of us, but not for the reasons I initially thought.

While I was there, the company did the Meyers-Briggs personality assessment for the entire leadership team. (One of the many helpful personality assessments out there)

The results were then published to us on a spreadsheet.

I immediately began sorting by personality types. (ENFP for me!)

I found that the people that I struggled to connect with had the same two personality types.

And, that was an eye-opener.

I was so relieved to see that it wasn’t a failure on my part. Some personality types just don’t gel.

And that’s OKAY!

Once I had all the information, I was able to approach those relationships with more ease. I was never going to be able to make it something it wasn’t.

I stopped trying to force a relationship based on my needs and tried to put myself in their ‘personality’ position.

I was able to see the people I wasn’t so in-tuned to with a little more compassion. Ultimately, they were probably feeling the same way about me.

Working closely with people is a great way to form meaningful and bonded relationships.

But you’re not going to like everyone. (And the hard truth is, not everyone is going to like you.)

When you sign up for our free 20-minute Leadership Assessment, we can discuss why personality type matters in leadership roles and some tricks you can use to narrow the gap.

?Let's talk! ?

P.S. What is the most helpful thing you do when dealing with those personality types that feel like sandpaper? Put a comment on this post and let me know!