Consultants and psychologists have made healthy livings for decades trying to identify common traits, work styles and personality types that employers can leverage to create their own corporate dream teams.
Of the many typecasts, my favorite is the Myers-Briggs personality test (I’m an ENFP), but I can acknowledge that there’s always room for more.
Workplace consultant Francie Dalton thinks so too, because as she promotes her new book,
In an interview with TotalPicture Radio, a career and leadership podcast, Dalton said the workplace is made up of:
1. Commanders. Commanders, said Dalton, “won't relax their need for control until [managers have] demonstrated that you'll do the work the way they would do it.” This means, a manager must “anticipate what the Commander would want, and how the Commander would approach the work,” she told TPR. “Only then can they trust you enough to let go a little.”
2. Drifters. Known for their creativity and innovative prowess, Drifters thrive in an informal environment and are particularly challenged by structure of any kind. “To manage Drifters successfully, delegate short assignments representing a variety of types of work,” Dalton said. “Be flexible, lighten up and make work fun."
3. Attackers. Such employees are caustic, hostile conquerors, according to Dalton. Still, Attackers help propel organizational success in part by taking on tasks that all others want to stay miles away from and by pointing out flaws in public documents and presentations before they are released.
4. Pleasers. While conflict-averse, Pleasers bring a spirit of cooperative collegiality that warms and humanizes the workplace.
5. Performers. These workers are self-serving politicos, yet also charismatic and ambassadorial, Dalton says.
6. Avoiders. Avoider types are safety-oriented and precedent-bound, but they're also low-maintenance adherents to policy and procedure.
7. Analyticals. While calling them micromanaging procrastinators, Dalton also pegs Analyticals as organizational sentinels, monitoring processes and compliance.
Dalton believes that when strengths and work assignments are properly aligned, each style is of unique and necessary value in the workplace. “The secret is to package your own behavior so that each style wants to help you,” she told TotalPicture Radio.
Dalton’s breakdown sounds interesting, but as a manager, it makes my head spin. If I had all seven of these employee types on my staff (which I don’t believe I do — I’d say four at most), I would vacillate between whistling while I worked with the seven dwarves and trying to slay a seven-headed hydra — which might make for an interesting work day, but not necessarily a very productive one.
What do you think? Do you agree with Dalton’s assessment of seven employee types? Which ones are in your workplace, and which help/hurt your staff the most? Share your thoughts in the comments.
