There are different types of personality. Personality affects how people think, feel and act in every situation, especially in the workplace. So does a personality type determine your effectiveness as a leader? Is there one best personality type that makes a good leader?
The answer is: It depends on the job. Just like every personality is different, every position and every organisation’s culture and its demand from its leaders are different.
The required tasks, chain of command, hours and atmosphere affect which personality types are going to be most successful in a position.
While personality shouldn’t be a make or break factor in the workplace, it can be useful knowing your personality type as it can tell your SWOT- strengths, weaknesses, and give you areas to focus on to be the best version of yourself.
We may have come across different tools to determine the personality type, such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the Jung Typology Theory or the Keirsey Temperament Sorter.
While these tests contain some differences– and may not be completely accurate– the fundamentals for the different personality types are very similar. Each of these tests determine a four-letter code that relates to four different two-factor categories.
These categories can be broken down into:
~ Introvert/Extrovert,
~ Intuitive/Sensing,
~Thinking/Feeling
~Judging/Perceiving.
Therefore someone with an INFJ personality type would be an Introvert/Intuitive/Feeling/Judging combination.
So what how do these personality types affect career growth?
• Extroverts can be very effective leaders. They are naturally charismatic and can command a room. However, sometimes an overpowering personality doesn’t allow others to voice their differing ideas or opinions. In order to be effective, extroverted leaders need to tune/ dial down their intensity and make sure there is room for others to give input and feel valued.
• On the other hand, introverts may struggle being the center of attention and directing others, however they are often good at stepping back to let others shine. This can improve employee morale and lead to loyal and motivated workers as they turn out to be great team players.
• A person with the sensing personality type relies on past experiences and his or her senses to make decisions. While they often have experiences to back up their decisions, they might miss opportunities by failing to think things through. They tend to be very detail oriented and analytical, but they may miss the bigger picture by focusing on what is in front of them.
• On the other hand, intuitive people focus mostly on the meanings and patterns in the information they receive. They tend to think about all the possibilities and theories before making a decision. However, because of this they tend to focus on the future and may have trouble finalizing decisions and seeing what needs to be done in the present.
• Someone with a thinking personality tends to be rational and reasonable, making the most logical choice in a decision regardless of personal consequences. This is a beneficial leadership trait while making hard decisions, however it might not be the most tactful where other peoples’ feelings are involved. A feeling personality considers how others will feel and react to decisions, but they need to be careful not to act too leniently in certain situations just because they are afraid of hurting feelings.
• The leader with a judging personality is most likely very organized and structured. They schedule meticulously and keep order in their work lives. This can be an effective way of getting tasks done with most efficiency, however their rigid procedures could prevent them from being open to other opportunities.
• The perceiving personality tends to be more open to new ideas and opinions because they keep a more flexible and open schedule. They act more spontaneously and can implement ideas on the fly. However, they tend to be less organized and employees may struggle with their lack of planning.
Any personality type can be successful in a leadership role. The most important thing to keep in mind is that everyone has some strengths and some weaknesses, and maintaining the optimum balance as per the situation or as per “Ken Blanchard, Situational Leadership”, is the key to success.
Realizing your personality type and the personality type of those you work with will help strengthen work relationships and create new opportunities.
How personality affects team management. Better ways to manage the team and organization.
- Leading with Vision, Inspiration & Integrity:
Leaders of excellent organization are capable of shaping the future of the organization. Leaders are visionary. They have the power of thinking intuitively and are able to foresee the future, thus can make contribution in shaping the future. They have the quality of always behaving according to the moral principles so that they can earn people’s respect and trust. Leaders should be able to establish their image in such as way that they become the role model of values and ethics.
- Succeeding through People: Leaders cannot bring the organizational success only by themselves. They need to involve people in the course of their journey towards achieving organizational success. Without the contribution of each and every person of the organization, it is quite impossible to achieve success. Therefore, leaders of excellent organizations know how to position their organization as a succeeding one through the people of the organization. An excellent leader makes other employees feel that they are important for the organization and is willing to empower the subordinates to boost up the work performance. A good leader appreciates his or her subordinates and gives proper recognition when required. Leaders create a worker-friendly work environment in which they can create exciting opportunities to provide rewards and recognition to the workers.
- Nurturing Creativity & Innovation:
Excellent organizations have leaders who know how to promote a culture of creativity and innovation within the organization’s environmental structure. Excellent leaders encourage people to be creative and innovative. To encourage creativity, many leaders focus on constructing a work environment where it is completely “fine” to make mistakes. Great leaders are seen to have greater tolerance towards failure. They not only appreciate contributions, but also mistakes and any sorts of effort taken by their subordinates.
By: Akash Rajan, iTrain Plus
http://www.itrainplus.co.in; http://www.pritisharma.in