Managing and Motivating Different Personality Types
In many cases, motivation is less to do with employees practical or technical skills, and more to do with their personality types.
By understanding what motivates your team and the type of work they are best suited to, you can affect the most appropriate techniques to keep them fully engaged.
There’re many different ways of identifying and defining different work personalities. Here’s a way to break them down into one of three distinct groups.
TYPE A:
You’ll recognise a Type A personality instantly because they will have a real buzz about them. They may also be the ones who are constantly visible. They may appear tense and hurried at times, or even aggressive. By nature, type A staff can be competitive and keen to get everything done straight away. Staff who are type A personality types don’t like matters to be delayed and can seem to be rushing in their enthusiasm to get on the case.
How to Motivate Type A Staff
Type A employees are generally in their element when they’re working by themselves. They tend to also like to take charge of the task. They’re extremely goal orientated, and generally, will self-motivate and self-manage. They won’t appreciate being micro-managed!
Because of these attributes, these employees are ideal candidates to become future leaders and managers.
They will be competitive not just with others but with themselves too and generally have the right attitude to stay on task, no matter what.
TYPE B
Employees with type B personality types are friendly, talkative and brimming over with energy. However, they can also be very easily distracted and wander off topic. Type B’s adore a vibrant and stimulating environment but they have a deep-seated need to be liked by everyone around them.
These employees often claim centre stage and like to make sure everyone is paying attention to what they have to say. This means that they can be extremely persuasive and have fabulous social skills. On the downside, they can miss the details because they lack attention.
How to motivate
Type B employees are motivated by the social element of being at work. These personality types thrive in jobs which require teamwork and plenty of interaction. These people are the perfect choice for extra activities such as committees or organising events.
Managers need to spend some time ensuring that Type Bs feel valued and included. They also need to make sure that staff remain focused on the task at hand. The added bonus is that having Type Bs feeling positive is that they will spread lots of energy throughout the workplace.
TYPE C:
In stark contrast to Type Bs, Type C personalities are extremely sombre and serious, with an analytical approach to their work. These personality types rely on data and statistics and never make decisions which aren’t carefully supported by facts. These individuals can be slightly sensitive at times but are typically extremely dependable and consistent in all they do.
How to Motivate
Activities which focus less on style and flair, and more on the cold, hard facts will be best suited to Type Cs. They will flourish when given a task which requires a sense of accuracy and attention to detail. They will enjoy data-driven projects they can complete without assistance. Type C personality types won’t generally perform as well when they need to lead a team or hold a management position. This is because they like drilling down to the finest detail, they’re not always the right person to oversee a larger project as they can get caught up in the minutiae. Criticism needs to be given carefully and constructively as if they can become resentful because of their sensitive nature.
In Conclusion
Understanding how to motivate your workforce is a fundamental part of being a successful manager. These three personality types can help you to better motivate your employees by giving them tasks which they will not just perform well, but will actually enjoy too.
For more information contact our HR Consultants on t: 01383 668178 e: info@thehrbooth.co.uk