Management built on personality archetype can help ensure workers are good fits
Personalization and customization are the bywords of any modern product or service; more than ever, consumers expect to have things their way.
No one should be surprised, then, that workers want their managers to provide customized supervision. They want training, discipline, tasking, encouragement and recognition to fit their preferences.
I know what you’re thinking, and no, it’s not just millennials.
One of the South by Southwest Conference panels that has stuck with me most since March focused on helping supervisors identify personality archetypes and learn how to deploy those personalities in different combinations to maximize results. The consulting firm Deloitte calls their deep-dive research and theories Business Chemistry.
“We were trying to think of a way to get a sense of who somebody was through observations and a few, key data points,” said Kim Christfort, managing director of the Deloitte Greenhouse, which teaches Business Chemistry to executives. “Instead of starting with a theory about the types and then developing questions to validate that, we said, ‘What are the things we care about in a work environment that we can see?”
Deloitte’s conclusions come from surveying 16,000 professionals in 4,000 organizations around the world across all career stages. Unlike the Myers-Briggs personality test, which was designed for psychological insight, Business Chemistry helps supervisors quickly understand worker strengths and weaknesses.
Researchers fit workers into four broad categories. The pioneer is outgoing, imaginative, risk-seeking and detail-averse. The driver is quantitative, logical, focused and competitive. The integrator is diplomatic, empathetic, traditional and non-confrontational, while the guardian is methodical, reserved, detailoriented and practical.
Each personality requires a different management style. Each type also works differently with other personalities, with potentially synergistic or explosive results. Pioneers and guardians, for example, could temper each other’s more extreme tendencies or fight like cats and dogs.
Guardians crave stability and procedure, while integrators see shades of gray and seek compromise. A pioneer will come up with the next big idea, but the driver will figure out how to make money from it.
Christfort acknowledged that everyone is a blend of all four personality types, but said recognizing tendencies can help supervisors understand group dynamics.
“I’m taking a person who is very unique in many ways, and
I’m saying, which patterns do they have and look the most like?” Christfort said. “This is much more about, ‘how do I understand these other people?’ And then the step beyond that is ‘how do I orchestrate and combine people?’”
Different personality types also want different types of recognition, according to research Deloitte released last month. The most important lesson is the power of a simple thank you.
More than half of workers would like to hear their boss say thank you for their day-to-day accomplishments, according to the survey. About 31 percent would like their routine kudos in writing.
Surprisingly, 47 percent of workers would prefer a new growth opportunity over cash for accomplishing something significant. They want to move up the ladder. Guardians and integrators, though, are more interested in a raise or a bonus.
Drivers and pioneers are more interested in having their big successes widely recognized, while guardians and integrators want bosses to appreciate their effort and expertise.
“For those professionals whose contributions to their teams and organizations are less obviously tied to the successes, validation may be just what they’re craving,” the researchers wrote. “Look out for those colleagues who may be making a quieter impact, and then find ways to validate the value they add to your workplace.”
Only 18 percent of workers want their work recognized far and wide, the survey found. Half prefer recognition limited to a narrow audience of coworkers, and 34 percent prefer private recognition, though again, different personality types value these things differently.
Once I learned to see the different personality types, I began observing them not only in the office but everywhere. Each type represents about a quarter of the population, and the patterns persist outside the office and into politics and culture.
A quarter of all people are guardians, interested in preserving traditions and institutions, no matter their other demographic details. A quarter are pioneers, ready to blow up bridges and experiment. We all know integrators, who encourage us to compromise and see things from the others’ point of view. We also get annoyed with drivers who see everything as a problem to solve.
Smart managers know that every personality type has a vital role to play at work and in society. If all of us can appreciate that everyone has something to contribute, we’d likely find each other a lot less vexatious.