To foster cross-departmental collaboration and teamwork, chief learning officers are well-positioned to build and nurture a safe, transparent culture in which information flows freely across their organization.
In this article, I will focus on conflicting personalities within the workplace. In my last three articles, I have mostly written about creating the right conditions for collaboration to occur. However, in some cases, it’s actually a matter of two different personality types not knowing how to communicate.
Even if there’s not an actual conflict, understanding personality types can help everyone in your organization communicate with their team members more effectively, setting the stage for deeper collaboration.
Your personality type primer
One thing that CLOs need to instill in their teams is that adapting your personality is very hard, but equipping people with tools to work with people who may or may not have the same style as you is critical to breaking down silos, eliminating bottlenecks and fostering a culture of collaboration.
While there are many personality assessments — from Myers-Briggs to Enneagram — below I will share a high-level description of the four primary DISC personality types. When CLOs are designing collaboration or conflict resolution programs focused on working with someone different from you, this kind of knowledge is very valuable
Dominant type
How to spot them
- Self-reliant, result-oriented and competitive
- Makes decisions firmly and quickly
- Comfortable being in charge and delegating
How to work with them
- Be direct and straightforward, getting right to the point
- Give them enough autonomy so they can move at a fast pace
- Communicate in a logical, objective manner
Influential type
How to spot them
- Enthusiastic, positive and social
- Enjoys working in teams
- Encourages and motivates others
How to work with them
- Build rapport and be friendly
- Give them time to talk through their ideas
- Provide detailed, written instructions
Supportive type
How to spot them
- Steady, even-tempered and calm
- Works cooperatively and considerately with others
- Avoids confrontation or aggressive coworkers
How to work with them
- Be considerate of their feelings
- Provide feedback regularly
- Make sure they’re OK with changes
Cautious type
How to spot them
- Reserved, practical and thorough
- Makes decisions only after research and a lot of thought
- Can get bogged down in details
How to work with them
- Be prepared to answer their extensive questions
- Give them opportunities to solve problems
- Allow space for them to think through ideas
Your next executive team discussion points
With your greater awareness of personality types, talk about the dynamics of your organization: Is there a predominant “type” within your company? Does this create unintended pressure to conform to a certain way of communicating or working together? Do certain departments have clusters of people with the same type? And, could this be creating friction between the two departments, or a silo effect?
