Why are other people in my team not like me?

When you find someone irritating it’s tempting to imagine that it’s their fault. Especially if they don’t seem to have much concern for other people or their feelings. But blame and resentment aren’t helpful in a team environment. And sometimes the things we find annoying in others can give us a clue about ourselves.

So – for example – I find myself getting annoyed when people keep changing the time of a meeting. But it’s something I do myself, without even thinking about it.
It’s so easy to see the impact other people’s choices have on us, without seeing the impact of our own actions. And – perhaps more importantly – understanding why people choose to do what they do. And that’s where personality profiling can make a vital contribution to teambuilding.

Teambuilding with Myers-Briggs

Using a personality profile system like Myers-Briggs helps people understand themselves better. To see what makes them tick. What motivates them – and what doesn’t. And what their individual strengths and weaknesses are.
Of course, those things aren’t fixed. In fact personality profiling is a great way to find out what people can do to help themselves. But in a team environment it can give vital insights into how people think, how they are motivated, and how they relate to their team-mates.

Consider, for example, the data lover. She’s the one who needs every scrap of information to make a decision – and loves nothing more than collecting it, analysing it, checking it and collating it. For others, that’s simply too much effort for too little return. They’d rather read the executive summary, and then make their decision based on a mixture of key facts, consultation with others, and gut instinct.

Then there’s the writer – the person who sees a blank sheet of paper or an empty screen as a space brimming with possibilities. To the non-writer (like me), who sees this as a yawning void, but is more than happy to talk her way through a seminar.

And what about Mr (or Ms) Lastminute.com? The one who waits to do something right up to the day before the deadline. Who thinks. Thinks again. Plays computer games to take a break from thinking. And then, somehow, manages to finish a week’s work in a matter of hours. On the other hand, you have Ms (or Mr) Organised who has every single action meticulously timetabled into their diary to avoid the (otherwise inevitable) last-minute panic.

How personality profiling can deliver peak performance

The point is that everyone is different. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses – and their own way of doing things. And each of us has particular gifts: ideas, skills, and ways of thinking that can benefit the team as a whole. Personality profiling can help us to understand ourselves – and each other – much better. To respect difference and diversity. To be who we want to be as individuals – and then make our unique contribution to the team in a way that works both for us and for the team. There’s no point in asking someone to do a task they’re not equipped for. Or to do what they can do in a way that doesn’t work for them. But it’s also about recognising that people don’t have to stick to their preferences – that they have the freedom to choose how they work with other people so the team as a whole will benefit.

Because that’s the way you’ll shift a team from high performance to peak performance. And I speak from experience. So why not give us a call on +44 (0)7764 574 700 or send us an email?