Can't We All Get Along?

 

President Theodore Roosevelt once said, "The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people." Pretty sage advice for this day of highly diverse project teams. So how do we get along and improve the process of team performance? One ingredient starts with knowing thyself as well as others.

There has been much written on temperament or personality tests or (more appropriately called) sorters or personality preferences or temperaments. Regrettably, most of us are introduced to these useful people tools as tests or surveys used to type us into a box. What is missed is the profound potential use of these people tools as a way to facilitate effective communications, energize teams and improve team performance.

When one understands more about their personality preferences or temperaments and then compares and contrasts their personality preferences with others preferences, countless light bulbs start going off like Tim the Tool Man Taylor's house on Christmas!

There are numerous methods to identify your personality preferences. Some widely used tools measure your preferences for:

• How you get your energy or focus your attention
• How you take in data or information
• How you use information in making decisions
• How you organize and operate in the world around you

Let's take a quick look at each of these …

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