CHEMISTRY IN THE WORKPLACE… NO, IT’S NOT WHAT YOU’RE THINKING

We’ve all experienced that magnetic energy. There’s just something about that person, an undeniable energy that’s difficult to ignore. This invisible connection comes to mind when you think of chemistry. But, chemistry can happen in teams, too. It just doesn’t have to be a romantic experience. 

Every team is made up of all types of people. While this can lead to conflict and even an inability to work together, with conscious awareness, diversity can improve a group’s performance. The challenge is to embrace those differences, as well as strengths, in synchronicity. 

Being social psychology advocates, we believe companies should develop a system to better understand the personality styles in their teams (and capitalise on their cognitive diversity). 

Think of people as music and you, the composer. Then, Tick’s personality profiles would become the notes and the way in which you create the song. Even the Harvard Business Review are talking about the value of personalities in teams and how there are four distinct ‘types’ of people. They’ve categorised them as Pioneers, Drivers, Integrators and Guardians. 

Pioneers are curious, big dreamers and are extremely adaptable. They care little about details and prefer to sit in the big-picture zone. Guardians are all about stability. They’re methodical and tend to be more linear in their thinking. Drivers love to take charge, but lean on the competitive side. They’re experimental and don’t shy away from a debate, but are still logical. And the Integrator is all about connection – bridging ideas and people. They’re empathetic and observant. 

See the similarities between these four personas and Tick’s bird types? We do, too. 

Use Tick’s personality test results as a team ‘matchmaker’. 

Coming back to the chemistry between people. You can consciously create this by knowing the archetypes you need in your team. Think of some of the world’s most successful companies. Apple, for example. Steve Jobs was the brains behind this tech giant. The most powerful leaders, like Jobs, have a second who’s different from them. 

There’s great power in combinations. Jobs’ pair might have brought out all the things he wasn’t good at (and vice versa). Together, their collective whole is greater than the sum of their parts. 

Tick’s personality profiling tools make it easy to design our teams to put some of the opposites in roles that work together. In other words, your team will be more diverse. Put your people in roles that lets them play to their strengths. 

This is not to say that only certain personalities can fit in specific roles. But, it’s a useful guiding principle to help you design more productive, happier teams. Fill in the red form to organise free samples of our personality assessment tools. 

Sometimes in love, opposites attract. The same goes for teams.