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In the first half of our chat with Katharine Giancalone, the hands-on career counselor offered insights on understanding what makes each of your team members tick. What her book calls “playground personalities” are in fact forms of shorthand describing various types of thought process that commonly contribute to organizational outcomes. For Part II of today’s sti-down with Sylvia, The Corporate Nanny™ shares more of her signature perspective on leadership.

0:43 Personalized Messaging

What immediately resonates with one personality would never stand the faintest chance of swaying another given individual’s opinion. This means that we can conserve untold ex-positional effort simply by tailoring our messages to the listener. Giancalone expands on her initial contention by underlining the necessity of identifying the type of individual we are attempting to convince to support us in our actions. For example, identifying herself as a an organizer at heart, she is most receptive to tightly controlled, well-considered action plans.

4:43 Practical Application

Obviously, our personality profiles have a wide-ranging effect on our personal lives as well as our career prospects. As an illustration, Giancalone gives us a window into her everyday experiences with her husband, a research scientist. Identifying him as a “steamroller” type, she describes watching him ruminate on an issue for hours. For these high-functioning, heavily regimented minds, the formation of ideas is a process to be approached in solitude. Only then, when comprehensive constructs are created, does any collaboration become possible.

9:26 Found in Translation

Perception is reality in many cases, and so most often it is not an idea that matters as much as  listener’s idea of the idea. Giancalone animates this concept by considering the mindset of a “peacemaker” personality type. Where more pragmatic thinkers may primarily value the end, a peacemaker gives added weight to the means. They may have concerns such as “Will this action negatively impact anyone on the team, despite any advantages it may offer?” It can be helpful to ask ourselves some of the questions that we can foresee from our collaborators.

12:51 Your Personality is Showing

Whether we are aware of it or not, our personality comes through in every communication, verbal and nonverbal. This includes digital correspondence such as email, texting, and social media…areas where there may be no defined rules of engagement. This is where coexisting can become more of a challenge for groups made of vastly different personality types. Peacemakers will not respond well to communications that are less than perfectly courteous, and revolutionary types will be loath to get bogged down in the minutiae of constant contact.

14:55 Demographic Content

Asked to comment on whether certain demographics may be over-represented among personality types, Giancalone navigates perilous waters with aplomb. She prescribes an organizational view of the matter, with different industries and even different companies attracting certain types. Looking back at her time working for a major hotel chain, she recalls a very organizer-focused culture. In her work assisting educators, she encounters more peacemaker types. In the end, the goal is to offer the right person the right opportunities.

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