SHORT-TERM VS. LONG-TERM THINKERS. THIS REVEALS YOUR PERSONALITY.

Think long term. Plan for the next five years. No, wait, stay in the now. It’s easy to get confused with the mixed messages that people are telling you. The past two years have been about responding and adjusting to many ‘new normals.’

In business, sometimes short-term thinking works in our day-to-day lives. Say you’re working on a big project. Tackling a two or four-week timeframe is easier than mapping out a full year. But long-term thinking is required for projecting growth and planning future endeavours.

It isn’t that some of us are planners are some aren’t. But our personalities do come into play. Do you know your Tick bird type? If not, jump to the end of this article now.

Short-term thinking might stress you out, but your colleagues work better with bite-size task chunks they can tick off each day. Put a vision board in front of you and your teammates at your side, and you’re in your element. You’re likely a Dove.

Put an Owl in the mix and you’ll likely have someone saying: “This isn’t going to work.” And the Eagle will prod for the result, the bottom line.

It’s important to keep in mind your personality (your Tick bird type) when working in or managing a group of people. It’s important to balance short and long-term planning by leaning into the strengths of your people.

Support your team’s needs 

Once you see your people through the lens of personalities, it begins to make sense. Peacocks will undoubtedly try to make the situation fun. While they’re not known for their organisational abilities, Peacocks bring an emotional side to the group.

Doves thrive with the ‘we’re all in this together’ ethos. Their kind, understanding temperament is critical at times like now. But Doves do thrive in a stable environment, so speaking in a long-term voice is helpful.

Eagles are highly competitive and love to be in control. Straight shooters and time-efficient, they’re all about getting what needs to be done, ticked off. The faster the better.

And Owls, are slower and prefer to take time with their decisions. Structured and detail-oriented, teams can benefit from the methodical approach and long-term planning skills of Owls.

What bird types do you have in your team? 

Fill in the red form to arrange free samples of Tick’s personality profiling assessment tools. It’s not only an effective team-building exercise, but it’ll also inform many of your strategic decisions now, and into the future.