Five Things You Should Know About Personality In The Workplace
#1 Taking personality tests like the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) can be a helpful in discovering how to get along with people at work. Conflicts may arise due to a lack of understanding of personality preferences. When people understand why others act the way they do, they are more likely to accept one another.
#2 Learn the differences between how people process information. If you take the MBTI, you will learn that there is a big difference between introverts and extroverts. An introvert tends to think before they speak. An extrovert tends think as they speak. Frustrations often occur when an extrovert thinks an introvert responds too slowly or when an introvert thinks an extrovert never stops talking. By understanding personality preferences, these conflicts can be avoided. If you are an extrovert, try to give introverts time to answer questions. Don’t answer for them, assuming they didn’t understand the question or didn’t hear you. If you are an introvert, try to realize that an extrovert expects you to answer quickly. Give them something to tide them over until you have an answer. Say something like, “that is interesting . . . let me think about that for a moment.”
#3 Your emotional intelligence quotient or EQ can sometimes be more important than IQ. Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand your own emotions as well as those in others. Many organizations are looking for emotionally intelligent leaders. There are tests like the EQ-i that can measure your emotional intelligence quotient.
#4 It is important to consider your “concern for impact”. This basically means how much you care about what others think of you. Some companies even rate people on this as part of the annual performance review. If you aren’t paying attention to people’s reactions to what you say and do, you need to start noticing.
#5 Know when to keep your mouth shut. Many office conflicts come from people not knowing when to shut up. People know it isn’t a good idea to talk about others behind their back but it still happens all of the time. If you do this . . . it WILL come back to bite you later.
0 Comments