Are you an introvert or extrovert? Do you look at the big picture or focus on the details? Make your preferences work for you
Have you ever found one person at work you just couldn’t get along with? They may seem like a perfectly nice person, but when it comes to working with them, forget it! Over the course of your professional career there’s no doubt you’ll encounter at least one colleague who’s difficult to work with. And while you may think it’s because they’re not qualified, they’re hardheaded, or they’re just not nice, the disconnect might be due to something more basic: work style.
Your personal work style explains how you perform best. Do you like to work alone or in groups? Do you prefer face-to-face communication or email? Are you most productive early in the morning or late at night? Answering questions like these can help you identify your personal work style — and help you along the path to professional success.
A variety of resources are available that can help you determine your work style, and while names and definitions may vary based on the tool, the underlying characteristics are similar. Online quizzes and personality assessments such as DISC, Myers-Briggs, and HBDI can also help you understand your personal work style. You may want to explore a few different options before ultimately deciding what your work style is.
According to Kim Christfort and Suzanne Vickberg, authors of Business Chemistry: Practical Magic for Crafting Powerful Work Relationships, there are four different types of work styles: pioneers, guardians, drivers, and integrators. Pioneers value possibilities, take risks, and spark energy. Detail-oriented guardians like stability and order. Drivers thrive on results and winning. Integrators are drawn to connection and consensus. Although these aren’t the only styles and definitions, they provide a framework for thinking about your approach to work, and they may help you identify your own work style.
Once you’ve determined your work style, think about how you can benefit from this self-examination. If you don’t have a job or are looking to make a change, identify roles that complement your work style. If you work better in the morning, don’t consider roles with evening or overnight shift requirements. If you work better alone in a quiet space, an organization with an open floor plan might not be a good fit.
Once you’re in a role, consider how you can optimize your work style. Think about why certain things do — or don’t — work for you. In a former position I routinely fielded inquiries from walk-ins. While I enjoyed the work, I found myself drained at the end of the day. But once I understood that I work more productively in a quiet space, I moved into a role that allows me to focus more on my work, with minimal distractions. Take steps where possible to ensure that you are filling a role in an environment that allows your work style to flourish.
Understanding your own work style can also help you understand your colleagues. You may find that you like working in groups, and that the two other employees you work well with like to do the same. Your similar working styles allow you to collaborate effectively. But there will certainly be times when your work styles don’t align. Understanding where the differences lie can help you figure out how best to move forward and create a positive work environment.
Knowing that not everyone has the same work style is key to making your own approach work for you. Very seldom do we get to choose everyone we work with, so it’s important to understand that different work styles exist, and that they should be celebrated as each one brings something unique to the workplace. If you’re unsure of how to meld your work style with those of your colleagues, ask. You may find that you excel at preparing for meetings, but that your colleague is better at getting meeting attendees to reach consensus. So when it comes to dividing the work, you can volunteer to do the pre-meeting research, and your colleague can take on the task of creating consensus. This way, you and your colleague are optimizing your personal work styles without stepping on each other’s toes.
Finding your personal work style is a great adventure that can provide insight into not only how you work, but also who you are as a person, so don’t shy away from learning more about yourself and what you value. But understanding your work style is only half the battle. Once you understand it, you need to make it work for you. It may take some trial and error, but if you keep at it there’s no reason why you can’t make your personal work style work for you.
Sandra One Feather, Oglala Lakota/Diné, is a program specialist, HR People and Organizational Development, at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in Los Alamos, N.M. She received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Minnesota and a bachelor’s degree in business from Fort Lewis College, as well as an MBA from Northern Arizona University. An AISES Sequoyah Fellow and chair of the LANL American Indian Employee Resource Group, One Feather provides tips for identifying and understanding work styles and harnessing this knowledge to benefit you and your career.
How would you define “personal work style”?
It’s a preference for how you work, influenced by a variety of factors, including life experiences, family, maturity, and education. Personal work style is the way that you work and the behaviors that you exhibit in accomplishing your work. For example, are you outspoken or contemplative? Do you like working with people or working independently?
Is there a difference between an individual’s personality type and work style?
There may be a link between an individual’s personality type and work style. For example, they may be an introvert and so their preferences include the desire to work alone. However, as people grow professionally, they learn to adapt to situations. Natural introverts might learn to flex their style and become a driver (extrovert) in order to lead a large team on a project and meet goals.
What is the best way to identify your own (or someone else’s) work style?
There are several online articles and resources available for learning more about personal work styles. To better understand your personality type and behavioral style, the free 123test.com DISC personality test is a quick assessment. There are no right or wrong answers, and there is no work style that is better or worse than others. The key to effectively working with a style that is different from yours is to develop self-awareness of your work style and awareness of other styles.
The DISC personality test will calculate your personal profile based on your everyday work behavior. The result is one of four types: dominance, influence, steadiness, or compliance. The dominance personality type is direct and results-oriented and tends to make quick decisions. The influence personality type is optimistic, values relationships and recognition, and tends to make decisions based on a “gut feeling.” The steadiness personality type values stability and people and tends to make decisions in a deliberate manner. The compliance personality type values accuracy and quality, and tends to make decisions based on an analytical approach.
How can that information be used to improve interactions with co-workers?
Once you know your personal work style (self-awareness), you can learn about the other work styles (other awareness) and become more strategic in your interactions with others as well as develop tools to help you be successful. For example, if you know you have a co-worker who has an influence work style, scheduling work sessions together is important to them, as well as giving them feedback on specific behaviors that are positively contributing to the overall project (recognition).
In general, many managers are the dominance style — or they have learned how to emulate this work style to be effective in their role as a manager. Developing an agenda prior to meeting with them can be helpful, as they can see the items that will be covered. This approach helps give them a sense of control and ability to achieve results, factors important to them. An agenda also allows attendees to prepare for meetings with the dominance style and anticipate questions or research data in advance in order to have information on agenda items to help facilitate decision-making.
Also, managers can take control and learn about employees’ work styles, which can make their jobs easier. I once knew a manager who was all about results, and he rarely visited his employees in their work space. One of his employees was an influence personality type. She was not very happy in her job, and she let the manager know. The manager decided to do a daily walk-about of the office space each morning and just ask each employee how they were doing. The individual with the influence personality type appreciated this gesture and would talk about her family and all her pets. Her attitude toward her work improved and she was much happier as a result of this five- to 10-minute daily interaction with her manager. In addition, the manager was able to learn about the employee and take the time to make her feel valued by just listening. In the end, it was a win-win for both the employee and her manager.
How can individuals harness the positive aspects of their work style?
Personally or professionally, having insight and being open to your personal work style will give you information on why you do the things the way you do and why other people do things the way they do. Having this information gives you the power to understand yourself and others and to be able to flex your style to be effective in your interactions.
Having an awareness of how you naturally are inclined to interact, behave, communicate, think, collaborate, make decisions, and operate under stress provides data points that give you information on your natural behaviors and tendencies. Just to reiterate, no work style is better or worse than others.
We all interact in relationships whether at home or at work. Having an increased awareness of your work style and the work styles of others provides insight into how you and others process information, make decisions, and achieve goals. The key is to use this information to flex your style to that of others in order to achieve a win-win for both work styles.
How can understanding your work style help you find the right job?
Knowledge of work styles is a powerful tool at any stage of your career. When interviewing with potential employers for internships or career positions, you can ask questions about team dynamics and how members achieve goals. For example, do people work in teams on projects or is the project workload divided among team members, with each member working on an individual piece and meeting periodically with the rest of the team? This information will help you determine whether the company and its work environment are a good fit based on your personal work style.
Of course, if it’s a company offering your dream job, then the key is being able to flex your style to fit into the work environment. You’ll also need to figure out how you can recharge, because adjusting your personal work style takes energy.
Taking the first step toward self-awareness of personal work style can be empowering and help you become more effective in working with others by identifying tools and strategies, and knowing when to flex your work style, to help you be successful in relationships at home and at work.
