MCE Employee Wellbeing News

Perhaps the polar opposite to the creative and dynamic people are those who love details and analysis. Without these people, the ideas that are thought up just on the spur of the moment would never be realised.

Inevitably there is often a massive clash between those people who just want their ideas to happen, and the people who want to know every detail and inch of a project. These people could be regarded as a nuisance, formal, creating problems that needn’t be there or just indecisive. Despite this, the more analytical minds come across as reliable, honest, very capable and precise.

Whereas with more creative people it is best to play into their dynamism, often it is better to address the more analytical of us quietly, gently and with very definite details.

These type of people are also quite closed personalities. Turning up late for a meeting for example may not have an apparent effect, but quite often they will feel stressed inside. Conversations should really be precise and full of background information, but at the same time not too long.

Explaining a mistake can often be a delicate process, however usually it is good practice to explain how the error came about and present one or two solutions to the problem. It is important that this kind of criticism is not done in public.

One of the key problems is getting more creative people from Part 2 to work alongside these more analytical people. The ‘creatives’ are often driven mad by the apparent slowness of the ‘analyticals’, especially as when they feel hurt these people tend to quietly refuse to co-operate.

A meticulous and logical approach should where possible be used.

MCHAP

In Part 1 of this short Management and Communication guide we looked at the type of people who prefer to lead and take on responsibility. The next obvious category of people is the creatives of this world. These are the people who come up with the ideas and are often seen as being more imaginative.

Of course there are cross overs between each of these categories of people we are describing, however most people will fall into no more than two of these brackets predominantly.

Creative people can be seen to have more fun in life than their more responsible counterparts. Often seen as being able to have a joke and reacting more to pictures, metaphors and examples. On the downside, these type of people can be seen as exhibitionists, unreliable while in a more positive light they seem friendly and dynamic.

Key to these people is their ability often to adapt to situations. They may turn up late, but ultimately it doesn’t matter as they can learn to fit in with the situation.

Often you won’t be able to change the way these people think and nothing you do will persaude them, but on the other hand if they come to the conclusion that they themselves had the idea to change then so much the better. Best is to inspire them and tap into their creativity by using their talents. Give them space to operate in and try not to confine or limit their ideas.

Worst is when these type of people hear authority and are given strict rules. Lots of details, reports and analytics also frustrate them. However they do need to be needed and ultimately the best to way to keep them on board is to ask for help.

MCHAP

Communication between employers and employees has been an issue raised by HR publications. However it would also be fair to say that communication between management staff on an equal payroll, or even CEO’s of companies working together, plays a huge role in business.

Most communicators in business come to realise that certain people respond better to certain approaches than others. For example, some people like to know exactly every detail of a process whereas others will just want to know the overall goal of a project. Other people put relationships above results and vice versa.

It would be true to say that some people prefer to be in charge than others. This can mean that these people appear as arrogant, forceful, pushy and even aggressive. However it can also mean that these people come across as direct, efficient, reliable and just a genuine high performer.

Some of the tendencies of leaders can be that they will only be convinced of an alternative way of doing things if that way is proven a success. As a result, approaching such a person would involve being able to prove that your idea is better, rather than just coming up with the idea in the first place. This can of course mean a lot more ‘homework’ before presenting an off the cuff idea.

Discussing emotions would usually be out of the question with this kind of person and presenting an idea would mean concise, to the point conversation. Bullet points might even be a sensible suggestion.

Above all, possibly the best way to get such a person to co-operate would be by showing a process, and a journey through to a tangible result. Flow charts with clear goals that can be accounted for are often best in this situation. Competence and proving that you are competent yourself play a very important role with working with these type of people.

MCHAP