how to understand your team at a deeper level?
One of my favorite pieces of wisdom comes from the behavioral analyst Steven Sisler:
We do not see people as they are, we see them as we are.
Working in groups and with other team members is motivating when everyone knows each other well and does their part. I like working with others because I can get the job done in a timely manner but working alone also has its advantages.
In my previous blog I was talking about how we can reduce conflict within the workplace and here I am going to explain how understanding our personality contradictions can reduce conflict.
When we chose to work for a company, we do not choose who we work with it. At work we meet people from different personalities, we usually assume that if we speak the same language we can communicate. But the ability to communicate goes further than nonverbal and writing. I remember working with people with who I did not get along with, but it was mainly because I misinterpreted their actions and non-verbal behavior.
We tend to interpret other people’s actions under the umbrella of our own perceptions or temperament. Externally we all look similar, but our psyche is shaped differently, every personality reacts differently to the same situations and reason their concerns in a different way.
Knowing our differences increases emotional intelligence, productivity and job satisfaction
Understanding our personality type can help with communications because we know our preferences and how they might affect other people. According to Lao Tzu, all mighty things are weak and strong. If you are a leader or an aspiring leader you need to understand your own strengths and weaknesses from an unbiased perspective so that you can be fair and understand other people’s strengths and weakness as well as you understand yours so that you can help them to succeed.
People approach decision making in different ways. For instance, I prefer to prioritize connections and talking 1 on 1 with others than spending so much time with small talk. In the past, I even used to consider small talk as a waste of time, but now I am more open to other people’s preferences and if they need to start conversation or discuss projects with a previous small talk, now I can actually enjoy it because I chose to learn from them.
Knowing our personalities can give us many advantages and help us to collaborate better with others because we can appreciate different communication styles and understand better why people value different things and need different rewards.
How to build a stronger team?
Sometimes we think that we know ourselves better than anyone else, but we’re often wrong. For instance, I am the kind of person that can accumulate general knowledge quickly, but if you ask me for a lot of detail it will be hard for me to remember the details of what I learned. Another contradictory characteristic in me is that I can be quick at finding solutions, however I can be forgetful. People have also opposite patterns, for instance I can be very consistent despite the inconsistency of my memory.
By recognizing the temperament in us we will be able to recognize the temperament in others, which is key to success in leadership. We are all contradictory fascinating beings. From the way we stick to a task to what we consider most important before making decisions. Some people prefer to take things slowly because they are more cautious and prefer having more data before making decisions while others prefer to make decisions faster because they follow their intuition and feel is a waste of time.
We react differently to the same situation, for instance some people can struggle to work with people that are dominant, while others feel more comfortable because they don’t need to do the hard work and prefer to let others lead so that they feel less stress.
According to ancient Greeks there are 4 temperaments that are innate. This concept has been around already for more than 2000 years. It says that all people possess the 4 temperaments in some way. These are divided in 4 categories, and we all have a stronger combination of two of them:
Phlegmatic
Sanguine
Choleric
Melancholic
Each one has different patterns in their way of thinking and feeling, and no one is better than the other. Below there is a link where you can take the test.
https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/O4TS
After reflecting on your test you will have an insight about who you are and how other person may feel and see things in a different light than yours. Knowing these insights can effectively help you to connect with others and reduce lots of arguments.
We now can see people through their lenses not ours – Jacqueline Blas
However, it is important to know that basic personality traits do not disappear otherwise it would not be you anymore, but we can do small changes and have more self-control. After knowing ourselves better we can be more forgiving of our own shortcomings and of others. You will feel like you have more clarity, and you can predict other people’s reactions.
With proper work and spiritual training, you will learn to achieve a more balance personality and you will discover how your weaknesses can be your strengths and how your strengths can be your weaknesses (I will explain more in my next blog). Both of them as part of the same coin-soul, we must love them both because we cannot divide them. When you understand this, you have achieved real self-awareness.
How important is to you to know your temperament?
Doing self-study pays off in different ways. We just need to spare some time daily and it will boost our happiness, health, and all relationships. In addition, companies always appreciate candidates that know themselves better because they are better able to understand their colleagues in a deeper way. This knowledge is powerful because not knowing ourselves is the root of unnecessary suffering and conflict. If you still struggle with teamwork you may want to contact a professional.
