Dealing with different personalities at your workplace

People differ qualitatively and quantitatively; and can be catalogued based on their conduct and disposition. Knowledge of their personality traits can help you in acquitting yourself well at your workplace.

Different types of personalities that you could encounter at your workplace can be classified as under; the list is not all-inclusive and could well include a combination of two or more types:

·   Players:  Frank and appealing, this lot is skilled at connecting with others. Performers have excellent PR skills and are capable of inviting acclaim even when their contributions are ordinary. In superior appointments, they have a proclivity to not acknowledge good performance by their juniors and instead point out at their negative points. Therefore, if you have such a boss, you need to carefully catalogue all directions given and results achieved, If you have any player under you, you should not get carried away by their self-endorsements.

·   Evaders:  They are reluctant to shoulder additional duties and refrain from taking initiatives. By temperament they are reserved, comply with orders and prefer to work in isolation. If such a person happens to be your boss, he is unlikely to be amenable to new proposals; accordingly you should try to flock with birds of your feathers. But if you have juniors of this category, you could end up being driven round the bend and hence need to give them comprehensive directions.

·   Appeasers:  This category is amiable and never decline appeals because of their inclination to regard everybody as their kith and kin. Resolution of crisis situations apart, they have apprehensions facing them. Appeasers in senior positions rarely offer positive censure and hence you have to rely on others to get advice. Junior appeasers place immense stress on personal ties and tend to disregard organizational interests; they thus are unable to point out mistakes and hence call for regular exhortation.

·   Invaders: They are generally scornful and contribute to low workplace confidence. Invaders suffer from a superiority complex and are highly critical of others in all forums. In most instances, they lead juniors to the verge of collapse. While dealing with invader bosses, you should try to not have frequent interface with them. Junior invaders can discourage others and hence the latter should be periodically counseled on methods of dealing with them. They should be considered for their ability to assume disliked assignments and make impassive resolutions.

·   Browbeaters:  They are more often than not brusque and generally refrain from frittering away their time on small points. Without intending to affront anyone, they invariably give up on diplomacy to assert their viewpoint. There is also a marked tendency amongst them to retain control and not entrust responsibilities. While dealing with senior browbeaters, you should endeavour to build confidence with them and exhibit your intentions to accord precedence to arrangements and outcomes. In junior appointments, they could be excessively forceful and antagonistic; you should leave the implementation part of assignments to them but make clear the end-result that you want achieved.

·   Rolling stones:  Rolling stones are indisposed to fixed arrangements and do not go well with regulations. They generally miss out on finer points and have problems in meeting deadlines. Their relative ineptitude can be disturbing. If they happen to be your seniors, you should not expect provisioning of requisite infrastructure and hence the responsibility to formulate operating procedures and targets has to be yours. Rolling stones holding junior appointments can render their bosses unproductive and therefore, you should refrain from assigning them long-term responsibilities.

·   Explorers: This category is painstakingly scrupulous and has a tendency to get involved in minutiae. If any new proposal is given to them, they get into the negative aspects of it and may even recommend its rejection. Extremely guarded in their approach, checks and verifications run in their blood. Explorer bosses will always be critical of ingenuity; while dealing with them, you should be prepared to have a zero-error bent of mind to earn their confidence. If such category happens to be under you, you should be prepared to be flooded with data and hence should confine yourself to larger issues.

In which category do you fall? Your assessment will help you to explain your behaviour and understand that of others at your workplace.