If you have led project team meetings, you may have noticed that each person on the team has their own personality. Organizational Psychology has different theories that provide insight into those personalities so you understand them better. On the practical side, those theories help a leader grab the value behind them. All of them are important and bring unique value to the team.
We can look at the value from different perspectives; let’s start with one that will surely help you to grasp the unique value in your team members: How the team members provide feedback.
PRESENTING THIS IN A VERY SIMPLE MODEL, WE CAN SAY THAT IN YOUR TEAM MEETINGS YOU HAVE 2 PERSONALITIES, LET’S CALL THEM
OUTSPOKEN
QUIET
There are different degrees inside each one, for instance, in the Outspoken personality there are some team members that really do express what they feel very often. However, there are different degrees in how often they do it.
On the other hand, the Quiet team members may share a few comments or nothing at all.
How do you grasp the value from both personalities?
It is a little easier from the Outspoken one because they will express their ideas during the team meeting, so your job here is to be sure to make sure that they don’t take over the meeting, and that they allow others to participate too. Be quick to grasp the ideas they will share during the meeting.
As for the second group, “the Quiet,” they also have a lot of value, but they may not share it during the meeting. If you don’t take action, you will lose that value and, in some cases, their support.
These team members need time to understand what was presented during the meeting, digest the information and then make an opinion on it. That process can’t be broken. The approach to follow here is to allow them to take that time and approach them individually after the team meeting to gather their input. It does not need to be a formal meeting. You can start the conversation if you meet in the break room, an alley, etc. Of course, depending on the subject, you may need to do it formally, but be open to an informal meeting. In my experience, that helps team members be more open.
As a leader, you need to consider both groups’ opinions to be sure that you really capture the big picture and not only one part of it.
REMEMBER, ALL TEAM MEMBERS HAVE A UNIQUE SET OF SKILLS AND VALUES THAT WILL HELP YOU SUCCEED IN YOUR PROJECT.
Now, that you know both personalities, how would you use it to capture the value from both personalities?
#leadership #innovation #teamwork #continuousimprovement