When I first stepped into significant leadership roles a common sarcastic question asked of me was “how many people did I make cry today?” It was not unusual for me to have members of my team shed tears as a result of my pushing them to accomplish goals and perform tasks. Some of this was because of my own personal issues that resulted in my being plainly and simply inconsiderate. The problem was compounded by my personality type and leadership style, both of which lend themselves very poorly to my being aware of how others are feeling. Counseling was helpful in my becoming more considerate of others but it was learning about my personality type and leadership style that has allowed me to adjust my leadership in such a way that I am more aware of how those around me are responding to my direction.
My personality type is such that I am a thinker. I interact with the world primarily on a plane of thoughts, ideas and logical processes. When I sit in a meeting I am constantly taking in information that helps me to systematically categorize every thought, action, statement, idea, suggestion and question that occurs. When I get accused of putting someone in a box it is a partially true accusation. The truth is that I am putting them in a number of boxes. When I am interacting with someone I am continually placing information I gain from observing them into one of many boxes in order for me to understand them better. I am not limiting who they are by this process but rather I am seeking to take the multiple boxes that they fit into and assess how they interact so I can best support and encourage them. This sounds very cold and impersonal but it is actually a very effective way for me to use my personality type to my advantage in order to be caring and considerate.
I lead primarily in a systematic and directive way. Not only do I have all my bases covered but I am also very straightforward in conveying my expectations. In other words being a football coach comes naturally to me while I have to work a bit harder to lead an emotionally vulnerable discussion group. My past staffs have laughed at me for the note cards I pass out in order to lead an emotional processing time. I’ll ask them to take the time to write down how they are feeling about a certain situation. Then I’ll collect them and read them (anonymously) out loud to the group asking for no comments to be made but rather for people to listen and seek to understand. This process all occurs with a pre-determined timeline that I follow fairly closely. Again, it appears to be very cold but for me it is a process I have learned to use, which allows me to understand where others are coming from, and direct them through a process of interacting with each other that capitalizes on my natural leadership style.
These two examples only touch on a couple of aspects of my personality type and leadership style. The purpose in sharing them is to give a small picture of how understanding yourself can help in your leadership. By knowing that I am a thinker I am able to find logical processes that will help me to be aware of the feelings of those around me. Through understanding that I am systematic I can put systems into place that allow for those around me to be spontaneous (in other words I have several levels of backup plans). Being aware that I have a tendency to be directive helps me to focus some of my attention on motivating others to be more honest, open and vulnerable with each other. What is even more helpful in knowing my personality type and leadership style is I am able to know what my opposite is and I can seek out others that are naturally strong in areas I am not.
I know I am not naturally adept at assessing how those around me are feeling at any given time. Because of this I not only seek to work with someone who is naturally aware of the feelings of others but I also try my best to encourage that person in their development and usage of that ability. I can lead much more effectively if I have someone giving me feedback about how those I am leading are feeling at any given time. Not only will I know that the information I am gaining is reliable but I will also be saving a lot of energy that I would otherwise have expended on trying to assess the team’s feelings on my own.
Which brings us to the topic of understanding the personality types and leadership styles of those you are leading. Only by understanding your people can you capitalize on their strengths in order to make up for your weaknesses. By knowing what members of your team are naturally good at you can more effectively help them to understand each other, work together and capitalize on each other’s strengths. More importantly you will be able to best encourage, develop, support and empower your followers.
I would also encourage you to understand your own personality type and leadership style and how they interact with other types and styles. You may not like to hear this but there are not only going to be people who naturally like you and your leadership but there will also be people who cannot stand them. Being aware of which types and styles these are will help you to focus some of your efforts on developing healthy understanding and working relationships with these people for though you may not naturally interact well they bring a perspective to the table that you will never have, and that is invaluable.
To wrap up I will just suggest the personality type inventory and leadership style assessment that I prefer for their simplicity and usefulness. For personality type I like to use the MBTI (Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator) and for leadership style I find the DiSC profile to be very helpful. I encourage you to take a look at these two but also suggest that you try out a few others in order to find those that are most helpful for you. I also recommend you find simple inventories that you can use to assess every member of your team, new and old, and use the information to move your team to a greater understanding of each other. This will only lead to more effectiveness for you as a leader and them as a team.
