How to Understand and Support Different Work Styles
By: Devoted Studios
Tags: Team Collaboration, Corporate Culture, Workstyle, Leadership, Management

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

Our workplaces are increasingly remote and global. As a result, we have to learn and adapt to the behaviors, traits, and beliefs of many different people.

Don’t take this need to adapt as a negative. Diverse workplaces are actually healthier, stronger work environments than those that are more homogenous and/or neglect, discriminate, or ostracize people who are different.

But how does leadership navigate the challenges of inclusivity, balancing individual work styles, and respecting team members’ values while still maintaining a productive team? The simple answer is empathy and education.

IDENTIFYING WAYS OF LEARNING IN THE CORPORATE WORLD

The fact is that not everyone learns the same way. So what impacts each person’s learning style? How many styles are there? While no one true answer exists, we can explore different approaches and factors.

Some people are visual learners. Others lean towards auditory learning. There are also those who need to have hands-on experience before they feel comfortable even attempting a new skill or job or expectation. (This latter method is sometimes referred to as “driving”.)

Cornerstone has an easy-to-understand outline for four major learning styles. These learning styles are:

“The Student” (Visual & Verbal Learners) “The Independent” (Visual & Non-Verbal Learners) “The Conversationalist” (Auditory & Verbal Learners) “The Hands-on Learner” (Tactile & Kinesthetic)

And because people utilize different learning styles, their needs also vary. HR Daily Advisor’s two-part article provides a series suggested accommodations that can help your employees shine. Another site, Eagle’s Flight, also provides some solid suggestions on how best to facilitate learning for each learner type.

So how do you notice these different learners “in the wild”? It’s remarkably easy. Insperity points out that identifying different learner types is as simple as paying attention to the questions they ask:

Visual learners typically ask, “Can you demonstrate that for me?”

Auditory learners will ask, “Can you tell me?”

Reading-focused learners will want to know, “Is there a manual for this?”

Kinesthetic learners will tell you, “Can I try it myself?”

As you can see, there are many, many approaches to learning. Equally, there are tons of reasons why individuals learn and retain information the way they do (even if those methods don’t make sense to their friends and coworkers). Life experiences, culture, sex, and gender do all shape our worldviews; however, we’re going to take a look at a different pair of factors.

THE VALUE OF TAKING TESTS

This variance inspired the development of the theory of multiple intelligences. The theory of multiple intelligences states that there is more to intelligence than an affinity for math or language. Instead, this theory posits nine different types of intelligence which are:

Musical

Spatial

Naturalist

Intrapersonal

Interpersonal

Linguistic

Bodily-Kinesthetic

Logical-Mathematical

Existential

People can be proficient in more than one intelligence affinity. While definitely not a requirement, having you and your team take a multiple intelligence test such as this one from the Global Leadership Foundation or this one from Psychology Today can help you to keep in mind what sort of strengths each individual possesses.

But human beings are more than just one defining characteristic. To build on the value of intelligence types, let’s talk about personalities and the impact they have on employees’ work styles and learning styles.

Personality type tests such as this one from 16personalities — or either of these tests from Psychology Junkie or Personality Perfect — have had some benefits as well in identifying strengths and weaknesses in team members. In total, there are 16 personality types, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. These simple 4 letter codes can provide a wealth of insight in building better camaraderie with your team as a whole. Each letter in sequence represents a different facet of personality —

First Letter: I or E for “Introvert” or “Extrovert”

Second Letter: N or S for “Intuitive” or “Observant”

Third Letter: T or F for “Thinking” or “Feeling”

Fourth Letter: P or J for “Prospecting” or “Judging”

The full list of potential personality types looks like this:

16personalities also has a great breakdown of each personality type as well as its function, strengths, weaknesses, and potentially ideal career alignments. Can you guess how many potential fusions of personality and intelligence types there are?

144.

If you assign one personality type to one intelligence type, you have a total of 144 possible combinations. That’s an incredible amount of possible variety.

For visualization:

This does mean that you could have someone who is a “Campaigner” personality type (ENFP) with strong spatial awareness (ability to work and think in three dimensions). Or a “Logician” personality type (INTP) with strong linguistic intelligence (storytellers and word-nerds). You may notice that many suggested work styles in the next section overlap with personality/intelligence types.

DEFINING EMPLOYEES’ WORK STYLES

The first thing you need to understand is that there is no one-size-fits-all “employees’ work style” that works with everyone.

Experts on coworker interactions in the corporate world each have their own work style breakdown. Many times, the difference in work style nomenclature comes down to whether the expert decides to subdivide a given work style into multiple parts or keep it under a larger, broader heading.

Regardless of how work styles are named or grouped, the fact remains that different work styles do exist.

PRIMARY TYPES OF WORK STYLES

There are dozens of ways to group and name work styles based on the traits and habits people exhibit.

Compared to some lists of potential work styles that number in the double digits, Tony Robbins takes a lean approach by naming five potential work styles:

Independent Cooperative Proximity Supportive Big Picture

Another great list comes from Toggl Plan (which also includes some great tips on managing different work styles — we’ll talk more about that in the next section). Toggl breaks this down into eight potential work styles:

Leaders Doers Lovers Learners Integrators Pioneers Drivers Guardians

You might notice that Toggl’s list is exactly half of the 16 personality types named. Crazy, right? This is why multiple teaching methods are so important. By providing multiple ways to approach teaching and learning, and understanding the vast swathe of potentials out there, you increase the likelihood that whatever you want your team member to learn will actually stick.

By factoring the various ways people learn, interpret, and utilize information, you can craft better quality training materials such as SOPs and job aids, which allows your overall training approach to be better-rounded. Strive for your team to possess mastery of their job skills — not spitting out facts by rote.

Speaking of mastery, let’s get into one of the even trickier parts integrating work styles — actually managing them.

MANAGING DIFFERENT WORK STYLES

Implementing and acknowledging various work styles boils down to observation, communication, and implementation. These are also some of the same qualities successful leaders utilize in order to be effective. Keep in mind that you may need to set your ego aside and see things from the point of view of a team member who performs a function differently. What you may find to be an annoying flaw (because that isn’t how you would complete a task) may be an equally viable approach. Or perhaps an even more effective handling method.

OBSERVATION

One of the best places to learn how best to manage your employees’ work styles is through observing their learning styles. Just as some learners are more visual or more hands on, some team members exhibit certain traits when going about their work. (That’s for good and for bad.)

The earlier Toggl article illustrates the value of recognizing what work style personalities you have on your team and in your organization.

To manage different styles at work, you first have to recognize them and then work to leverage each style. Your data-oriented learner will do well at analyzing data and solving complex problems. Meanwhile, your guardian should be in charge of making sure projects are done on time and everything is in order. A pioneer will do best finding solutions and brainstorming different ways to reach a goal. The supportive lover can handle team relationships and persuading stakeholders to stick to the project’s main idea.

If you’re unsure, you’re accurately understanding someone based on your observations, sit down and have a chat.

COMMUNICATION

This is one of the key points where learning and managing intersect — coaching. The Harvard Business Review recommends tailoring aligned to the respective work styles of each of your employees.

Make sure that everyone understands the value each team member brings to the table and give people assignments in which they can use their skills to best effect. There is huge value to be gleaned when you leverage work style diversity by observing your team members, playing to their strengths, and giving them tailored coaching. Still, it’s not wrong to challenge your employees to reach for more, or subject them to new experiences.

Someone who may not seem like a good leader may actually have the capacity — and even the want — to lead but may require some additional coaching to overcome those hurdles. Equally, the typical leader-type may turn out to be a terrific teacher, the collaborator can get the loner to relax on the “my way or the highway” thinking, and the loner can ensure everyone works with as close to perfection as possible.

Never underestimate the power of a kind comment, a sympathetic ear, or an understanding heart, even in the corporate world. Sometimes a word of encouragement can give a much-needed push in the right direction for an uncertain-feeling team member. Not only will this help you stand out as a leader, you may also end up with a new powerhouse employee in your organization.

IMPLEMENTATION

There is more to initiation than nurturing a particular team member or putting together an effective team. One of the biggest pain points to address? When and where to best use team members on a particular project. According to Fast Company, you should keep the following questions in mind when building a team (particularly for project work):

What is the goal?

What is the deadline?

What data or facts are necessary?

What metrics will be used to evaluate success?

How will the project be delivered?

How will the project be completed? Is a project plan necessary?

How will information about the project be communicated?

Who are the project stakeholders?

Who else needs to be involved?

Who can support you in achieving the goals of the project?

What are the gaps between where you are today and where you want to be at the end of the project?

Why does this project matter to the team and the organization?

What barriers can you foresee that will need to be addressed as you implement this project?

Remember: Leaders lead, not bark orders. Remain cognizant and nimble with regard to your subordinates, their drive, and their aspirations in their career.

BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR BAD BEHAVIOR

Of course, being understanding, empathetic, and flexible does not mean you should allow yourself to be a doormat. Be discerning in determining which is a different work style approach is actually an example of bad behaviors and bad habits.

Things to watch and address include:

Slackers: Ensure pulls their weight. This includes completing work fully, completely, and in a quick fashion.

Passing off work: Be watchful of individuals who hand off work to someone else you may be quieter and more hard-working. Collaborating is fine; taking advantage or bullying someone else absolutely is not.

Know-it-all, loud-mouth, bullies: Big personalities that steamroller over others can devastate the functionality of a team.

A bad team member still impacts the whole team and affects the whole corporate machine.

THE OVERALL BENEFITS AND MAKING IT WORK

The workplace is constantly evolving. You and your team should be, too. Here are some tips to keep in mind to make it work:

Guiding is fine. However, lording over or demeaning someone for approaching a task differently will always do more harm than good.

Learn to be observant. Pay attention to those different personality types and the resultant traits that come with them.

Effective communication comes with effective understanding of the way people see things. And the way people see things can be impacted by their personality types and their dominant intelligence type.

Take the time to test and see what your personality type and intelligence type both are. The better understanding you have of yourself, the easier it will be to be understanding of other people.

Proper recognition and utilization of work styles, and the factors that impact them, will allow you to be a more effective leader and better balance your team.