Make your personality your greatest asset
Understanding your personality is more than knowing your interests and how you like to spend your time. It’s how you act and react in certain situations. Knowing how you operate is one of the best things you can figure out. It will be beneficial to navigating almost any situation in the way that works best for you.
You might be aware various personality tests that are available, and many are accessible in some form for free online. I find them fascinating, both in filling out the questionnaire associated and the results of mine and others tests. It becomes even more fun when you start associating other people with personality types, and subsequently knowing how they like to interact, or how they are likely to respond in certain situations. Anyhow, the three tests I have done have been valuable in different ways:
Myers Briggs – provides you a score on an axis across four different factors:
Where you focus your attention – extroversion vs introversion
The way you take in information – sensing vs intuition
The way you make decisions – thinking vs feeling
How you deal with the outer world – judging vs perceiving.
The big five personality test – assesses five factors that make up our personalities:
Openness – how open you are to new ideas and experiences
Conscientiousness – how organised and focused on a goal you are
Extroversion – how much you rely on external cues to gain your energy
Agreeableness – how much you put other people’s needs and interests above your own
Neuroticism – how reactive you are to stress and negative emotional triggers.
Insights – aligns your personality to a colour:
Blue – analytical, task/issue oriented, introvert
Red – dominant, task/issue oriented, extrovert
Green – stable, people oriented, introvert
Yellow – inspiring, people oriented, extrovert.
Where to start
I think the easiest profile to assign yourself to is insights, as by reading about the colours it is easy to see which colours you fall into. In his book, ‘Surrounded by Idiots’, Thomas Erikson goes through each of the colours by highlighting the traits that each personality comes with, how they react in different situations, and how they process information. Understanding not just your own but also other people’s personalities is critical in working in a team, or even who you decide to have in your social circle. In reading the book you will figure out what your personality brings to the table. You will also identify what personalities work well together, and those that clash.
Erikson suggests that the majority of people sit among two colours, with one that mostly dominates your personality. In most situations you will show one colour, but that could change in different environments. When people are fired up, enthusiastic, or angry, the personality may be presenting as a different colour. One chapter in the book discusses a company party, and how the consumption of alcohol affects your personality. Interestingly Erikson suggests that your behaviour becomes the opposite, in that introverts become more extroverted and extroverts become more introverted – this could be a fun one to observe at your next office party!
Introversion/Extroversion
The main thing people tend to talk about when it comes to personality is introversion vs extroversion. Interestingly, at different times in my life I have considered myself as both an introvert and extrovert. The world seems to value those who shout the loudest, or those who are constantly sharing what they are doing, all of which are natural for an extrovert. The introvert however are a much misunderstood breed. Susan Cain, in her book, ‘Quiet’, discusses how introverts are often branded as strange, or somebody who doesn’t have a view, but actually organisations and society in general are just not geared to cater for introverts.
Extroverts have the (perceived) advantage
Growing up it seemed unacceptable to be an introvert; there was almost an expectation to be social with anybody and everybody. Being the centre of attention or being the loudest came with perceived competence. Taking a break, or choosing to work alone vs in a group just didn’t seem to be an option.
Then you take that into the workplace. The people who talk the most, regardless of credentials, are seen as the natural leaders. Generally speaking extroversion is a proxy for success. It is the desired behaviour. However, being an extrovert doesn’t automatically mean success is achieved. Although on face value an extrovert might be the obvious choice for a leader, introverts are just as successful at leading. Their approach however might be different based on where they get their energy from...
Extroverts gain their energy from high stimulus environments with lots going on. Introverts get their energy from quieter, more low key environments. That is not to say introverts do not need to spend time in high social environments, and vice versa; it just may not be their natural comfort zone.
It's a sliding scale
Rather than being solely one or the other, it is like a sliding scale. Some will sit at one absolute end of the scale and others will be more in the middle. If we go back to the insights profile, this is where we will see cross overs between the colours. I, for example, sit mostly in blue (introvert), but can also be red (extrovert) in certain situations. This is where digging deeper into your personality, further than introversion/extroversion, becomes valuable; because you can figure out where you are on the scale and use that to guide how you navigate different situations.
Whether an introvert or an extrovert, a green or a red, understanding which bracket you fall into is important to be able to navigate how you approach almost every situation. Also, being able to link other people to a personality type will enable you to better understand how people operate, and the reasons behind their actions. Where do you sit on the scale?