The 7 Workplace Personalities
It’s funny how the workplace can become a hodgepodge of personalities. While it is interesting to have all the different personalities interact with each other on a daily basis, these could sometimes lead to conflicts. It is only a matter of time until one person snaps at another and before a critical meltdown affect the entire company. Before that happens, it is important that you are equipped with the necessary tools to identify, respond and resolve the problems that come with each type of workplace behaviour. In general, there are seven profiles that you should be aware of.
The Antagonist – Criticism, hostility, cynicism and a demoralizing personality, these are the marks of the Antagonist. He is highly critical of others and he won’t mind showing it off in public. He also uses a bit of sarcasm which could be lethal to any organization groups. Above all these, he attacks fellow workers with a condescending, contemptuous, and disgusting personality. In short, he wreaks havoc whenever he’s around.
The Control Freak – The Control Freak is out to control everyone in the office ‚àö¬± whether it’s the boss, the subordinate or the consultant. He is abrupt, demanding, bossy, and domineering and his attitude sometimes borders to rudeness. To top these all off, the control freak lacks tactfulness. Thus, it is very natural for him to be hated by co-workers who don’t understand his behaviour. The truth is, the control freak doesn’t mind being hated, although it wouldn’t hurt him if one or two co-workers understand his attitude. Nevertheless, human interaction does not interest him. He is more result-oriented, initiated and driven.
The Hobo – The complete opposite of the control freak, the Hobo is the warm, easy-going guy in the office. While he respects structure, deadlines, rules and other things that relate to the organizational components of the company, he does not feel obligated to follow all these in to, after all he is not the type that is comfortable being in a box.
The People Pleaser – The People Pleaser is the guy who just doesn’t know how to say ‚ ≤no’. He would go to great lengths just to keep harmony and peace in the workplace. He basically treats co-workers like his extended family. Thus, when confronted with crucial decisions that would make him chose between company and co-workers, he would always go with the latter. At the outset, this attitude can do no harm to the company. But when you look at it closely, he could jeopardize the company by trying to protect his co-workers.
The Joker – The ambassador of entertainment, the Joker is the loud, witty and oftentimes funny personality who is always ready to crack a joke. The other side of personality though is not that amusing. He is self-promoting and works insatiably to draw the limelight to himself. He also does not have the compunction to use other people and their accomplishments as his stepping-stones. You can trust the Joker to handle tasks that could give him more public exposure, but you cannot trust him to accept any responsibility.
The Shrinking Violet – This person is reserved, quiet and most of the time found in his cozy little nook in the least visible corner of the workplace. While he doesn’t cause conflict, he doesn’t contribute that much to the achievements of the organization either because he shies away from the big and important tasks that would increase his accountability. While temptation may be strong to lose your temper with the Shrinking Violet, you can trust him to do well by managing him well. With the right tools, you can trust the Shrinking Violet to get the job done right all the time.
The Procrastinator – This personality hides behind the image of being analytical. He is diligent, precise, and obsessed with detail. On top of these, he shoots every idea down, especially those that present considerable potential risks. It is a headache to work with this person because obviously, you can’t trust him for immediate results or to provide you one without first overwhelming you with detailed explanations on how and why it would fail. But you can trust him with tasks that require a great deal of accuracy. You can also trust him to evaluate the risks of a plan and to work out solutions before a failure happens. Conflict could end up with pretty devastating results.