How to Manage Different Personality Types in the Workplace

Whether you embrace the manager's position or have it thrust on you, learning to manage the diverse personalities in the workplace is critical to managerial success. It does not require that you be a trained psychologist to be successful. In fact, unless you happen to inherit someone with major mental issues, the main part of managing different personalities in the workplace is to identify a few common characteristics in personality types. You can usually deal with any oddities beyond these as they come up.

Regardless of personality type, younger people tend to be a little brash and less considerate.

With young employees, even college educated people, you need to take more time for guiding and training. You have to regard younger workers as a place to invest yourself. Most of them want to move ahead and make more income. This means that you need to work to layout a clear career path for them to follow. If the young employee can see the ladder for personal advancement in the company, they will usually take instruction regarding how to prepare to move ahead. Because advancement tends to equal more income, these people will often become motivated to be high producers with high quality output. Teaching young employees to bite their tongue and wait for success to come to them is the hard part.

Dealing with the "boss" employee can be challenging.

Nearly every department has at least one employee who thinks that he or she runs the show. This type of personality usually has two sub-types. One actually wants your job and will work against you to try and undermine your position. The other does not really want your job, but still wants to control the work and power flow within the department. The first type of "boss" is not really one that you want to retain if you have the choice. Unless you can do something to change this person into the second type of "boss," you will be in a constant battle to control them. You should just start building the file to terminate them today.

The second "boss" can be turned into an asset with a little work.

This person may be able to be trained to be a controllable assistant. By assigning jobs to do that highlight their willingness to put their mark on the department, you will frequently get high quality work and a high degree of follow through on tasks. Avoid giving this person the title of assistant for as long as possible. The reason for this is that once the title is bestowed, it is all but impossible to reverse without terminating their position. Make sure that the position has been earned and the employee has been proven.

Reluctant employees can become a project.

Many people do not like change. In the workplace, this is seldom an employee asset. Employees need to be flexible and versatile. Learning to manage a reluctant employee can seem like an effort to lure a turtle out of the shell. Reluctance can come from a lack of self-confidence, or it could just be a lazy attitude. It can be very hard to fix lazy. Most of the time, lazy employees must be replaced to solve the problem. However, those with low self-esteem or low self-confidence can be helped to improve. You have to be on the watch for opportunities to help them get wins. Most often, these are small jobs that they can do well. Once they learn that new jobs can be mastered, their reluctance for change or work will begin to erode. Like the young employees, these people require investment. When you see their excitement and job interest start to climb, it can be very rewarding for you as a manager. Their wins will become your wins. Once you have lured them out of their shell, these people will become loyal employees for you that you can trust when you turn your back.

Beware of the know-it-all employee.

These people can be nearly impossible to train. You main job as a manager is to get them to shut up and listen to instructions. This employee can be recognized by the way they will pick up on your first sentence or two and immediately launch into everything that they have ever done that relates to the job. The only way that you can successfully deal with the know-it-all is to force yourself to write out all instructions. Review the instructions with the employee. Do not let him or her talk until the entire instruction list is completed. Ask for questions and discourage comments. Discipline the employee if he or she proves unable to follow written instructions. Eventually, you will either establish that the person does not know it all or they will leave the company. Either way, you are ahead.

Dealing with conflicts between employee personalities can be tricky for a manager.

As a manager, one of your jobs is to become the arbitrator of the department. This means that you have to have the ability to hear both sides and choose the option that is best for the customer and company. Your choice can sometimes fall between the two sides, but often it becomes a matter of choosing one over the other. You have been made a manager because you have the ability to be decisive. Use this skill heavily in this area. Employee conflicts usually arise because each person wants their way to prevail. You risk becoming an enemy to one or both, but that goes along with your title. Letting the employees settle it themselves rarely ever works. Be a manager and make the call and deal with the consequences of the choice. Most of the time, bad attitudes cannot prevail unless they are allowed to continue unchecked. Being a decisive manager will help keep bad attitudes away from the workplace.