Personality Type in the Workplace Blog

The powers-that-be have announced it, the managers are fired up to implement it .... and the employees just aren't ready for it. So, they resist.

What are we talking about?

One old adage of management theory is whether you motivate someone by dangling a juicy carrot in front of his nose (money, promotion or vacation time) or beating him with a stick (pay cuts, firing or being publicly lambasted for failing to hit sales targets).

Retaining your top managers should be an ongoing priority - not only are they expensive to replace, your employees will feel the loss of a supportive manager like a wound. Yet many companies don't have the first idea why their long-serving, long-suffering managers are leaving. If you think it's about money, then you couldn't be more wrong.

In fact, it's a company's fierce urge to fit every manager into the same box that's driving the best managers away. Here are the five main reasons why good managers may be quitting your company, and what you can do to buck the trend.

Meetings are mind-numbingly dull and boring.

Most of us have experienced this at some time or another but when you're an Artisan, the problems are multiplied tenfold.

Artisans or "SP" personalities are the temperament with a natural desire for freedom, a need for action, and a hedonistic drive to enjoy life. They're at home with the concrete tangibles, not the ideas, concepts and long-range focus required for strategy planning. They want to go for it now, not think about some ill-defined future.

How then, do you involve them in strategy meetings?

You’re telling the room: any type can do anything. Personality theory is about understanding yourself better, playing to your strengths and broadening your horizons. It was never intended to pigeonhole anyone.

On the inside, you’re thinking. How can I, someone with a preference for Introversion, train groups of people as my job? My energy comes from in-depth, one-on-one conversations, not noise-filled, overstimulating group work. I’m much happier working and spending time alone.

Maybe you have to inform your star performer that she won’t be getting a well-deserved raise. Or perhaps you have to tell your team that projects are cancelled and people are being laid off. How do break news like that? What do you say?

One thing is for sure: you cannot not communicate. Ignoring the problem won’t make it go away and leaving things to the rumor mill won’t win respect for your leadership skills. Here’s how to make a bad news experience more positive, both for you and for the employees you’re addressing.

Like him or tolerate him, your boss plays a big part in your life. He is single-handedly responsible for your day-to-day happiness at work, and he could also influence your job opportunities throughout the rest of your career. Obviously, there’s a far greater chance that your boss will open rather than close doors for you if you make the effort to get along.

That’s harder to practice than it is to preach.

There is an increasing body of evidence showing that diversity matters, especially when it comes from the top. Leadership teams of varying gender, ethnic and racial makeup perform better financially, experience less employee turnover, and have better customer orientation than their less diverse counterparts. They are also better at recruiting top talent, which leads to a cycle of increasing returns.

Collaboration is no longer a nice-to-have, it's an organizational structure that defines our work environments. Whether we're talking about cross-functional teams, silos breaking down, virtual meeting rooms, huddles, stand-ups, or the myriad technologies that boost teamwork, collaboration has never been more essential to operations. The team - not the individual - is the secret to business success.