Personality Styles At Work

A company called me last year for help with a regional manager. Seems he was "too hard on his people" and retention was a problem. After a brief talk with the Director of Employee Developement about coaching this manager, he said, "We've done everything we can to turn this guy around. He's very valuable to us, but we might have to fire him if he doesn't learn how to lead his people differently."

Then,he said something very interesting:  "This has been going on for three and a half years. I'm assuming it could take quite a while to get our guy turned around. And maybe it's just not going to work."

I thought for a few seconds and said, "Well, a couple of things to keep in mind. I have very little information here and I haven't talked to your guy. For now, lets assume he wants to change and that the solutions are going to be simple, not complicated."

The bottom line is that the Regional Manager treated everybody the same, regardless of their different personality styles. He talked to them and interacted with them according to his personality style, not theirs.

Long story short, in three short months, he turned his team around.

How was that possible? Here are two reasons:

• He really wanted to change both his mindset and his behavior
• He learned about different personality styles and how to adjust his behavior and communication to fit the person he was with at any given time.

We can change quicker than what most people realize. But, we have to really want to, and we have to know how.

If you are interested in learning more about personality styles and how to be more effective with those around you, at home and at work, here's a suggestion.

Read Personality Styles At Work by by Bolton and Bolton. They are a husband and wife team and have written a superb book on the subject.

If you read it, stop by and let us know what you think.

Alan Allard, http://www.alanallard.com