Understanding Preferences and Personalities

 

Understanding Preferences and Personalities

 

Most people when they meet me think I am quiet, however, when they are entrusted into my circle, they realize I am not quiet. I am someone who quietly observes, processes and is constantly focused to perform at my highest within a calm environment (16 personalities). This is when I become more interactive with my environment and those around me, when I have clear direction, it is organized, and it is realistic. When I took the personality test, I was not surprised by the results, however, my mother and daughter were shocked. They were for sure I would be an extrovert. After explaining to them my personality test results, they understood. Practical minded, dedicated and known for my reliability and hard work lends itself to be very introspective but once I have my mission, I am laser focused and will speak up to lead the project or change. This was so true this past year as I navigated stepping into a new leadership position then within six months COVID hit and I found myself the manager of the COVID unit as well starting the Health Care Administration program.

                                               

 

Understanding who I am helps me to better lead a team through this new era of health care we are seeing. The status quo is being challenged. The focus is outcomes, evidence-based process, autonomy is encouraged, management supports the front line staff, patient-centered, with a focus on value and a continuum of care (Albert et al., 2022, p. 141). Knowing one’s self and recognizing other’s preference of communication, how they want to be appreciated as well as the environment they best work in is the responsibility of the leader to find out. Reading people is part of the job, a psychologist, if you will. With the current situation of wearing masks, it does present struggles of being in tune with staff. I have made it a point to sit with all of them individually to see how they are doing this time where all feel so isolated, even at work.  

                                             

Susan Cain touches on how to deal with different personalities. No matter your personality of being an introvert or an extrovert, no two people are the same and you have to, adapt and adjust. Susan Cain (TED 2012), illustrates it so well with knowing what is in your suitcase, knowing why you put it there and be willing and open to filling your suitcase up with other books. Leadership is a learning journey and a continuous one as your staff moves on and you hire new people. It really comes down to knowing yourself and knowing the people you have been charged to care for. I have always said that as a manager, it is my responsibility to take care of the employees so they can take care of our patients.

                                 

 

My current team has seen many challenges over the last several years. There has been a lot of change in leadership and then when I came onto the scene, it was not shortly after that that our worlds were turned inside out. Team building has been something that was needed. They needed to feel like a team. For this to happen I had to become a part of their team first. The only way to become a team member was to get to know them and build upon those relationships. Leaders need to be seen a people not someone of a position that is superior to them. Leaders need to be relatable but held to a higher standard. One of my many mottos has been, the successes are the teams’, but the failures are mine as the leader to own.

 

Not only learning the personalities of each team member as well their communication style but also how they resolve issues. As a leader I knew I could not solve all of their issues and conflicts but would encourage and empower them to learn to have professional relationships where they could confront an issue, discuss it. Only when it became a bigger issue would I then mediate.

 

“Each person is a unique blend of differences, and these differences are what make people exciting and intriguing to each other” (Albert et al., 2022).    

                                                                                                       

It is these differences that also make working together a challenge at times. In the resolution of conflict webcast it discusses how the cost of conflict resolution is high. People avoid conflict and will call in due to stress, anxiety or fear to avoid the issue or the person.

                       

There are three takeaways that are simple and helpful to managing conflict that comes with working in a team. First, there is a need that is not being met. Albert et al., (2022, p. 235) states that you must first figure out what the cause of the conflict is. Makes sense, but then comes the tricky part. Second, can this need be met or not? “People in conflict generally know what it is they believe they want” (Albert et al., 2022, p. 236). This is where a lot of impasses enter the situation. People tend to become very black-and-white, not willing to see the situation from the other persons perspective or willing to change something to meet the need. This is where the last takeaway comes in, conflict management or avoidance. This is when leadership may need to get involved. As a leader you don’t want to always step in and solve all of the issues for each team member then they will never develop the skills to move forward and solve them on their own. It is at the point of no resolution that leadership will need to mediate. This is also where knowing and understanding yourself and the team members personality and preferences will come in very useful to navigate a negotiation/mediation to not manage the conflict but come to a resolution.

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References:

16personalities.  (2021).  NERIS Analytics Limited https://www.16personalities.com/personality-types

Albert, N., Pappas, S., Porter-O’Grady, T., & Malloch, K. (2022). Quantum leadership: Creating sustainable value in health care (6^th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC.

Heathfield, S. (2021, February 24). Workplace conflict resolution: Steps in mediating workplace conflict for effective resolution. The Balance Careers. https://www.thebalancecareers.com/workplace-conflict-resolution-1918675

TED. (2012, March 2). The power of introverts [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0KYU2j0TM4

Thats Easy Learning. (2013, July 12). Conflict Resolution [Video]. YouTube.