Personality at Work: Use Strengths to Collaborate Better
Personality can help teams talk about preferences: who likes to brainstorm aloud, who wants an agenda, who notices interpersonal tension, and who pushes a decision forward. It becomes unhelpful when it is used as a shortcut for competence, potential, or fairness. A score should not decide who gets hired, promoted, or heard.
Design work for more than one style
The strongest team routines give people multiple ways to contribute. Share a short agenda before a meeting, invite written input, allow a few minutes of quiet thinking, and close with clear owners and dates. This supports people who prefer preparation as well as people who think best in dialogue.
Personality differences can also make roles complementary. A colleague who enjoys novelty may spot new options; another who values order may identify the steps that make an option workable. The aim is not to assign people permanently to a trait-based role. It is to use different perspectives when they add value.
Make feedback specific
Avoid feedback such as “be less emotional” or “be more of a leader.” Describe the observable action, its impact, and the desired change instead: “In the client call, two people were interrupted before they finished. Please pause after each question so everyone can respond.”
Specific feedback is fairer because it gives someone a behaviour they can practise. It also avoids treating a personality preference as a defect.
Useful agreements for teams
- State when a decision needs discussion and when it needs a final owner.
- Clarify whether a message is a brainstorm, a request for feedback, or a decision.
- Offer both synchronous and asynchronous ways to contribute.
- Set norms for disagreement: challenge the idea, name the evidence, and avoid personal labels.
- Revisit workload and meeting design rather than assuming stress is an individual flaw.
Keep privacy and fairness in view
No employee should feel pressured to disclose a personality result. Managers should avoid using informal quizzes as selection tools or interpreting traits as medical information. Workplace decisions should rest on job-relevant skills, demonstrated performance, accessible processes, and fair criteria.
When used voluntarily and lightly, personality language can make preferences easier to discuss. When used to categorize people, it can narrow opportunity and obscure the skills people bring.
Read introversion and extraversion explained and how to interpret personality test results for a grounded starting point.
Keep assessments voluntary
An optional personality result may help an individual reflect on their working preferences. It should not be collected by an employer, attached to a personnel record, or used to make hiring, promotion, performance, or accommodation decisions. Design team processes for a range of working styles instead.
