3 Ways To Manage Conflicting Personality Types

You're outgoing; he's reserved. She researches everything to death; you rely on hunches. Does this sound familiar?

You and your employees can fall into any one of the 16 different personality types, so don't be surprised if you find yourself supervising someone who is your diametric opposite. But, don't fret! Follow these ideas to manage personality opposites effectively.

Understand Types

Effectiveness expert Stephen Covey advises to "seek first to understand, then be understood." Seeking to understand goes far deeper than simply reading an explanation of a particular personality style, however. After you've learned your colleague's personality type, invite him or her in to chat about what that classification means to them. "So you are a 'Thinking' type. How do you see that play out in your job?" "I see that you rely on intuition. How does that relate to how you manage projects at work?"

Discussing hypothetical situations specific to your industry may also be helpful. Present a scenario and explain how you would approach it, then invite your employee to share their own approach. Despite being personality opposites, you may find that you often will reach the same result, but just take different paths to get there.

Empower Self-Management

Instead of feeling a vague sense of discomfort with how someone of a different personality type approaches their job, use communication and empowerment to lead to a better outcome. In many fields, a variety of methods can be used by different employees to complete a task. As a manager, sharing your outcome expectations effectively lays out a clear vision of what you want to happen. Rather than managing every decision and action along the way, empower your employees to create their own road map. Rather than expecting someone to work just as you do or think in similar ways, enable him or her to feel comfortable in their own space and with their own style of tackling projects. It's the outcome that matters. 

Ask Why

The "5 Whys" is a great approach to process improvement and is equally effective in understanding employees with different working styles, particularly when an extravert/introvert mismatch is at play. Each additional "why" seeks to dig a bit deeper than the one before, getting to base-level explanations instead of surface-level assumptions. In practice, digging deep into the "5 Whys" tends to reveal the root of an idea, practice or problem. Asking your employees why they do, think, feel or decide in a certain way—in a safe and non-judgmental way, of course—can be the key to feeling more comfortable in a working relationship and building trust within your team.