| EDITOR’S NOTE
“We’ll figure it out.” Why some of the smartest businesses consider hiring for a diversity of personalities a very good thing.
I
t’s finally happened. My stresscatchphrase has been outed. I’ve been with the Journal for two issues now, and I knew it was inevitable that my new team would start picking up on the never-ending list of quirks that constitute my personality. They zeroed in immediately on what I call my stress-catchphrase— it’s how I end conversations about anything that seems too big or too distracting to handle at the moment. “We’ll figure it out.” Pretty soon, I noticed that I was hearing “We’ll figure it out” at least once a day. I was busted. I’m a new personality to this group. Organizationally challenged and ridiculously optimistic, my personality is the opposite of some members, and the perfect complement to others. But it works—we actually need different personalities to succeed. When you hire people who bring unique physical, mental, and emotional characteristics to work, you’re bound to reap a bumper crop of interesting—even exciting—ideas about what to do and how to get it done. That’s why different is a very good
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PROFILES IN DIVERSITY JOURNAL
thing—it means you can choose from several possible solutions for every problem that arises. And each idea—each perspective— helps motivate and energize the whole group. The added energy feeds creativity and innovation. According to author Mary Ylisela, teams often comprise six personality types—stabilizer, adventurer, driver, cheerleader, perfectionist, and energizer. “The… characteristics of these personalities combine to create a diverse team that provides different traits that work together successfully,” explains Ylisela, in a recent piece for Fox Business Network. “When you have this diverse team, each individual feels able to adjust to readily different conditions due to the support of their coworkers. Employees from diverse backgrounds bring individual talents and experiences in suggesting ideas that are flexible in adapting to fluctuating markets and customer demands.” Studies also show that too many team members with similar personalities may actually be detrimental to the team dynamic. For instance, too many adventurers may result in too many risks. March/April 2014
No stabilizers and cheerleaders, may result in infighting or a lack of motivation. For managers, it seems the job is to understand these different personalities, and how to motivate them and keep them happily working together. I know there’s a lot still to learn about the different personalities on my team. We each have our own style of thinking, processing information, problem solving, and communicating. And it can get awkward when a project stalls or takes a wrong turn because information relayed by one person isn’t clearly understood by another. Managing for diversity of personality here at PDJ will increase productivity and create a more harmonious work environment. But it’s a work in progress. And I’m sure... we’ll figure it out. PDJ
Kathie Sandlin, Editor in Chief ksandlin@diversityjournal.com