Author: Jordan Malokofsky

One technique to help communicate with your team members is to understand them in more depth. A common tool is using personality types.  There are several methods for this available.

The Myers-Briggs personality test is probably the most used and familiar process.  It outlines four different axis, ranking each on a scale from 1-10. 

The first factor is Intravert (I) vs Extravert (E).  The best way to express the spectrum for this is how much a person escapes from people to recharge (Intravert) vs how often they seek others to relax (Extravert).

Intuition (N) vs Sensing (S) is the second factor.  Intuitive people start with a sense of things (e.g. this is a bad decision) and then use observations to validate their view (e.g. because the risk is too high).  Those who are sensing do the opposite where the observe the details (e.g. the risk is high) and then determine a viewpoint (e.g. therefore this is a bad decision)

The next factor is Feeling (F) vs Thinking (T).  Feeling people give more weight to how they feel about a situation over what logic says they should do.  These are the people who will buy something because they feel good about it or walk away from a deal they are uneasy with, even if the facts dictate the opposite.  Thinking individuals are the opposite.  This does not mean that Feeling people don’t use logic, or that Thinking people are logic robots, just that they put more weight on one over the other.

The last one is Perceptive (P) vs Judgmental (J).  In this case, judgmental does not mean judging people, rather that the person believes the world operates on rules.  By understanding and using the rules, one can impact outcomes.  Perceptive individuals desire flexiblility and like to change things based on circumstances.  For instance, sales people tend to be more perceptive while engineers tend to be more judgmental.

By combining each of these factors for a person, you can get a more firm understanding of your team members.  For instance, one person could be a ESFP while another is an ISTP.  The first might enjoy a small surprise party as a reward, while the second could prefer a mystery novel as a gift.  Some personality combinations are more frequent (ISFJ = 13.8%, ESFJ = 12.3 %, and ISTJ = 11.6%) while others are less common (INFJ = 1.5%, ENTJ = 1.8 % and INTJ = 2.1%).

Personalities can change over time, but generally not significantly over a short period and usually not too far.  For instance, don’t expect on the Extravert (1) to Intravert (10) scale to make someone who is a 9 (highly Intraverted) into a 2 (highly Extraverted).  However, you can work with them to change habits and views over time to shift them down to a 6 after years of effort.  This shift can’t happen without the team member’s buy in though.

If you’re interested in learning your team’s personalities, you can try determining it on your own through observation.  However, I’ve found it a fun team building experience to have everyone do their own personality tests, and then have the team guess each person’s trait for each factor.  For instance, start with I/E and go around and have the team vote on it.  Then see if the team is right or wrong based on the individual’s test results.

If you are looking for some free online resources for testing, look up these sites:

• 16Personalities
• Truity
• Humanmetrics

One challenge to leadership with its focus on people is developing those interpersonal relationships with those who are task oriented. If you are people oriented, networking and relationships building are easier. Taskers on the other hand can struggle with the sense that interactions should always be in the context of work that needs to be done. Time spent “by the water cooler” is viewed as unproductive. Then taskers are surprised when leadership opportunities and promotions pass them by.

Networking in any meaningful way can seem daunting, but look to strengths to overcome this. Taskers are often organized and active accomplishers. They can use skills not normally associated with people skills to help develop those skills. For instance, leverage an electronic calendar system to set regular reminders to visit key people. If a plan of action can be set, such as get the names of everyone’s pets or favorite treat, taskers are more likely than non-taskers to act quickly to execute.

A few concerns with changing tasker behavior are avoidance tactics and follow through. Taskers may start prioritizing other, potentially less important, tasks before those involving developing relationships. They can also start making significant habit changes, then slowly taper off until they are back to square one. This can be especially difficult with busy work environments as distractions can break focus and lack of accountability can be taken as tacit okay to go back to prior patterns.

The military has a great take on rewards and responsibility. Rewards roll down hill, responsibility rolls up.

If a team fails to perform, the leader is the one responsible for the failure. Did a team member not complete their assigned task critical to the team’s success? Then the leader failed to clarify the need for the task, adequately train the team member or manage some other aspect of the team’s overall performance.

If a team succeeds, the awards and honors go to those team members most responsible for the great performance of the team. Maybe that’s as simple as a celebratory lunch and the leader talking about the way each team member contributed their strengths.

When leaders push responsibility down, trust on the team deteriorates. Team members look to be seen as performers and build a case for why failures are not due to their actions. This constant state of protective attention detracts from the focus on the team’s main objective. By taking the responsibility for failure, the leader builds trust on the team and improves their focus and likelyhood of success.

It takes great courage to step up and take responsibility, especially when it’s so tempting to point to someone else to explain a failure. If you find yourself tempted to pass responsibility down, think on whether you are acting for your team or yourself.

The common wisdom is people leave bad leaders or managers, and it’s true to a greater extent. Some people do move on due to lack of opportunity or for external reasons like family, but a good leader can be a huge retention benefit to a company.

Overlooked in this adage is the impact a good team plays as well. Researchers looked into why soldiers were willing to risk their lives in battle, and the number one reason was for their fellow soldier. Not big ideals, threats of court martial or their commanding officer’s orders.

Building a great team is the responsibility of every leader. Even when you can’t choose those on your team, setting the example, encouraging interactions and facilitating conflict resolution skills should be a top priority every day. A team that works great together will become a great team and keep its individual members committed.

Growing either yourself or others is difficult for a many reasons. First, you have to pay attention for opportunities to improve. Second, you have to be willing to acknowledge when something truly needs to change. Third, you must put together a plan which will effectively result in improvement. Fourth, you need to act on the plan. Fifth and finally, you need to evaluate if you’ve succeeded or if a new plan is necessary.

Any and all of these steps can prove fatal to the effort to grow. The biggest and first challenge is developing the courage to change. Change is inherently both a destructive and creative force. An existing state must cease and a new one begin for growth to occur. People naturally fear change, but it is necessary to make better lives for ourselves. Courage is acting on what is right in spite of fear.

Leadership is about people and the daily opportunity to learn and make a difference. This blog will share small tidbits to help anyone interested in leading others. For more in depth information, see the other sections of the site.