Building a Team - How To Get Different Personalities To Cooperate

[Bill Marlow]

Different personalities are a good thing. Occasionally an extreme personality can be a good thing too. The part of unique individuals that can at times be challenging is also the part that is an asset if you are open to it. In the work environment people will bring their experiences with them. It makes them who they are. They cannot separate themselves from them either. You do not want them to.

In situations that require collaboration the asset side comes into play. Some will make the mistake of assuming that different personalities all trying to get together is chaos. They think that the parties involved will never be on the same page. If you simply put them in a room and say 'figure it out' that will probably be the result. After all if people are thrown into a give and take environment and they do not know what they are giving to they tend to fall back on taking because that is human nature. When people are put in a situation that leaves them unsure they default back to making it about themselves. It is like a defense mechanism. After all if you are less than confident in a situation you can focus on yourself and get a little balance.

How can multiple personalities coming together be a good thing? Well there is one ingredient that I left out of the scenario above. The example would produce poor results because all these people were focused on different things. Here is the secret: give them a target. If you introduce a specific goal to that same group of personalities you will drastically alter the result they produce. If you are wondering why I am going to tell you. When a defined target is put out there for the team they will all be focusing on the same thing. No more of the what is next question. They know why they are there and what needs to be done.

This example should be expanded to fit any situation where the people on your team could collaborate to come up with answers to questions. It does not have to be in a room. It can be on the phone, web conference, or even shift by shift. The point here is to seek the perspective of your people. If you did a great job in the selection process and you have made sure that your training is excellent you should have a team of people that are ready and willing to contribute to any project that is beneficial to the company as a whole. You can access untold amounts of opinion and ideas that you possibly would never have without this collaboration

[Phoenix - Operations Assistant]

I'm still reading your work, Bill :) How's the book?

[Bill Marlow]

Phoenix, Thanks for checking me out. I am still a work in progress on the book. It is out there though. Just need to get it together.

[Bill Marlow]

Thanks for sharing. You are on point - there is nothing quite like a collaborative effort producing great results.

[Bill Marlow]

I appreciate you reading my post. Let me know if I can be of any help.