It’s not you, it’s me, and it’s you! How managing differences in personality starts with awareness.

One thing we spend a lot of time talking about at TALY is that there is no good or bad personality.

Your personality is mostly fixed and doesn’t change much over time, so we have to deal with what we’ve got? If we start putting labels of good and bad on our personalities and the personalities of those around us, or putting people into boxes, it’s not super helpful.

But the differences in personality – and a misunderstanding of these differences – can lead to a lot of tension.

And tension is bad.

Get in touch to find out more about understanding personality differences at work… we love talking about this stuff! Or Book a Demo today to see how easy it is to start using TALY in your business.

An example of tension: Emotionality.

One personality trait where this sticks out out more than others is in the area of emotionality. This trait has regularly been found to have an impact personally on behaviour, in relationships, and at work.

Emotionality (or in the technical term neuroticism) is a personality trait based around emotional instability. Individuals who are high in neuroticism tend to experience mood swings, anxiety, irritability, and sadness. Those low in this personality trait tend to be more stable and emotionally resilient.

Now, before we go any further, a reminder – there is no good or bad personality. It isn’t better to be high or low on this trait – where you sit is where you sit.

What matters is what you do with the information once you know where you sit, and how you manage this trait personally and in teams.

Have you ever had a conversation with someone who is really worked up and worried about something, but you feel like it’s just not a big deal?

Or vice versa, have you ever felt anxious and nervous or emotionally worked up in a situation, and someone else around you just doesn’t seem to be impacted.

That can be differences in neuroticism. You’re not right and they aren’t right. You just see things differently. You feel things differently.

Resolving differences by building awareness.

The problem is, that without data to know where you sit on this trait, each person in this scenario feels things differently and responds differently. You don’t realise this is a personality thing – you just feel the tension.

We have so many conversations with clients who are ready to pull the pin, move on from employee or from a roll because of this tension. But then once we share the personality data, based on a scientifically-proven approach to measurement, and have a conversation, we can start to unpick this.

Awareness of differences leads to empathy – and it can solve a lot of problems.

Here are a few tips on how personality may help to navigate tension at work:

If you’re feeling misunderstood, or simply can’t understand someone else’s perspective, take a moment to think about personality. Could personality differences be playing a role?

Build an open culture around differences, and strong rituals around open discussion when the differences come to life. It’s hard to get there, but high performing, high engagement teams are built on an understanding and respect for differences.

Be careful of the personality data you use. If you are looking to use data to help understand differences in personality, make sure the tool you use is giving you an accurate picture.

Other the traits with this can really stand out where the difference is the most felt things like openness to experience and order.

This is why data matters.

Remember, the more we understand each other, and step outside our own perceptions, the stronger we’ll be together.

If you want to find out more about leveraging the broad impacts that personality profiling can bring to your business, get in touch today and be sure to follow TALY Australia on LinkedIn.

The TALY approach to personality profiling brings together a unique mix of Five Factor and Emotional Intelligence profiling to help organisations, hiring managers and teams to make better decisions about recruitment and teams.

Get in touch to find out more… we love talking about this stuff! Or Book a Demo today to see how easy it is to start using TALY in your business.