School of PE Blog

The earth just hit a really exciting milestone in the last year; we passed 8 billion people in our global population. There are so many of us that it makes sense that sometimes we don’t get along. It makes sense that there are areas that can cause distress in work settings and team dynamics. That’s because we all have different personalities that clash with each other. For every early bird, there’s a night owl. For every creative person, there’s a logician. People are sensitive, bold, ruthless, and a million other things, and it’s hard to see how we can work together.

A lot of these traits can be seen as weaknesses in a team setting, but that’s not a beneficial way to look at them. When brought together with a leader who understands personality dynamics and collaboration, they can take those perceived weaknesses and turn them into strengths. This post will discuss the key to effective teamwork, understanding different personality types, and using personality tests to create a productive team.

Collaboration is a difficult concept to grasp, and that’s not to say that we don’t know what it means. However, the road to effective collaboration can be riddled with bumps and potholes to an undefined destination. It’s a concept that, when you see it, you know it, but it’s hard to get there without actually knowing what you’re looking for.

Collaboration doesn’t look like a well-oiled machine. Instead, it looks like clashing personalities and brutal conversations, backtracking and sidestepping, before ultimately reaching a final result. A major factor in fractured teams is not knowing how you and your teammates work solo and as part of a team dynamic. It’s the reason that most school groups fall apart in presentations and most corporate teams separate: the unwillingness to learn about themselves and others and delegation based on strengths.

Understanding different personality types at work facilitates effective teamwork by:

There are plenty of ideas and opinions surrounding personality dynamics and tests. There are also dozens of tests that you can use to help your team work better together. For the sake of ease, we’ll look at the most popular personality test and figure out how to use it to your advantage.

The Myers-Briggs personality test has been used by many people, not only in the corporate world, to learn more about themselves and how they work in order to better understand their individual traits. If you want to take this test yourself, here’s a link to the test that will give your results for free.

This official MBTI website states that “By developing a clearer sense of self-awareness and awareness of others, you’re able to better frame decisions, reduce miscommunication, and understand personal needs more effectively.”

Understanding the test and how to balance personality traits in order to determine a person’s strengths and weaknesses begins with personality preferences.

How do you get your energy? Are you introverted or extroverted? Do you feel more yourself in large crowds or in solitude? Do you feel energized by connecting with other people? Or do you find that your battery is recharged when you’re able to sit with yourself and readjust to what you need that way?

How do you take in information? Are you sensitive or intuitive? Sensers like to know facts and statistics, while intuitive learners prefer to understand the possibilities and causal relationships. Do you like to know everything before beginning a project, or do you prefer to go with the flow and see where it takes you?

How do you make your decisions? Do you focus more on how you feel? Or do you have to think through everything thoroughly? Do you struggle to finalize decisions but stick to the decision once it’s made? Or do you decide quickly, test it out, and adjust as you need to?

How do you organize your time and environment? Do you like things to be level and constant? Or are you spontaneous and adaptable? Judgers, according to MBTI, are those who make a plan and stick to it, while perceivers are comfortable with ambiguity and adapt to change easily.

These four questions have two answers each and make up a combination of 16 different personality types. Of course, there are even more variables that go into a team than just their personality. Things like their background, culture, and lifestyle all play a part in creating who they are and how they perceive the world. It’s what makes teamwork such a valuable part of the corporate environment.

For a long time, the world was of the opinion that different traits were weaknesses. However, thinking of the traits as an advantage instead of a weakness enables the team leader to divide responsibilities in a way that each person is able to fulfill their responsibilities to the best of their ability. By playing to a person’s traits, rather than thinking of them as either strengths or weaknesses, you’ll enable more effective collaboration across the team.

Personality types play a huge role in how effectively a team can collaborate. With that in mind, here are some collaboration tips.

It’s not hard to learn more about the different personalities that people have, nor is it difficult to cater to people’s strengths rather than their weaknesses. It takes time and intention to build a team that works well together. Learning the strengths of diverging personalities takes a lot of research and a lot of trial and error. However, taking your team and learning how to play to their strengths or building a team right out the gate that was created for a specific purpose with their individual personalities in mind can help build a high-achieving team that collaborates well to reach the overall goals.