Remember how EQ is the new IQ? It is becoming increasingly more acceptable to think, and thrive, outside the box. Gone are the days where productivity was ranked only by earnings spreadsheets or boxes checked...or at least those days are becoming fewer and further between.
Objective measures of success are important for businesses, but honoring the diverse and unique work styles of workers often means looking beyond the usual standards. In most cases, allowing individuals’ unique business talents to thrive actually creates more success for everyone in the end.
Some companies are blasting the cubicle idea wide open: Adobe’s headquarters has a rock-climbing wall to boost endorphins and relieve tension; General Mills has a tree-laden atrium for lunch breaks; Intuit has hopscotch; Quicken Loans has a pool hall; Twitter’s San Francisco HQ has an entire retro game room.
People—employees are after all, human—thrive in a huge spectrum of collaborative work environments. Short of building an indoor bouldering wall in your office, how do you honor individual work habits in a teamwork setting?
It comes down to understanding different work styles and using those to bolster company success. Rather than constantly fight or try to change the natural tendencies of workers, you can use these tools to make those tendencies work for you.
Related reading: "Successful Businesses Are Led by Solid Empathetic Culture."
First, Understand Employee Work Styles.
Personalized tests are becoming increasingly widespread in the corporate world. Whether it’s the Myers & Briggs Personality Test, the more business-oriented DISC Test, or your own standardized test, it’s important to take time to understand each individual’s working style. Tests like these provide insight into strengths, challenge areas, and ideal working conditions.
The more you understand about how employees function, the more you can ensure the overall functionality of the business. Myers & Briggs makes the distinction between sixteen different personality types using measures of introversion/extroversion, sensing/intuition, thinking/feeling and perceiving/judging. The DISC standards are dominance/compliance, influence/steadiness, introvert/extrovert, people/task-oriented. Both tests measure personality traits, work habits, interpersonal communication and interactions with the environment to give insight into the best practices for each individual.
Self-awareness is powerful. On the personal level, taking the time to reflect on work styles gives employees an invaluable resource for themselves. It can inspire workers to self-evaluate, play to their strengths and strengthen their weaknesses, and increase their overall EQ. On the business level, if each individual worker is more self-aware and able to self-regulate, the company overall can benefit exponentially.
The first step is simply understanding. Whether through a standardized test or some other measure, empower yourself with knowledge by taking the time to evaluate each individual's personal strengths and work style.
Next, Set Employees and Workers Up for Success.
The next step is using knowledge of work habits, whether it’s from a test or your own observations, to build a successful work environment. This could mean setting deadlines, or removing them. In some cases it will be stepping back, and in others “getting your hands dirty.”
There are as many ways to work as there are workers, so it would be impossible to prescribe a perfect set-up for each style of worker. Instead, take what you do know about an individual and flip it into a solid, actionable and sustainable plan for their everyday work. Knowledge is only power when it is utilized and put into practice.
Take strengths and struggles and look at them as tools—how can you make each aspect work for the overall goal. For example, a dominant worker who is a strong decision-maker but needs to work on patience and sensitivity will likely thrive when given deadlines and leadership roles. To balance those natural strengths, you might explain the “why” behind teamwork and encourage in-depth analysis over quick decisions. Another example is a creative but disorganized individual. Solid deadlines and measurable goals could help with organization. At the same time, encouraging an ever-changing and dynamic work schedule or out-of-the-box work environment will play to that individual’s strengths.
In every interaction, assignment, meeting or even e-mail, there is an opportunity to honor individual strengths. It does take time, personal attention and effort. With the Heartmanity blog, we do our best to give you emotional intelligence tools to respond intelligently, interact mindfully and excel at business while honoring individuality. You can also look at this breakdown of DISC personality types and business advice from sources like The Muse.
Everyone works differently, and that’s a huge asset if you know how to use it. Once you are informed, you are better equipped to be agile, interact strategically and create business success.
Modernist French author Paul Morand famously wrote:
"Speed kills colour...the gyroscope, when turning at full speed, shows up gray."
Take the time to see the individual colors in each team member and the entire team will be more vibrant for it.
Contact us today to hear more about our business development programs. Or check out Heartmanity for Business and our services.
