When looking around most any workplace,
chances are you'll identify team members
who have a variety of approaches to their work.
There are various work styles in any business setting,
depending upon people's experiences,
backgrounds, personalities, as well as the organizational culture.
These working styles affect how people make decisions,
how they deal with change,
how they treat risk, and how they respond to each other.
Some people are risk takers, while others work better within a set of rules.
Some want consensus while others just want to make a decision and move on.
It's important to recognize that there is no right or wrong style.
No specific style guarantees success nor do any specifically hinder it.
They can all add value and enhance collaboration.
However, achieving successful collaboration is enhanced
by identifying your own approach to work
and understanding the working styles of fellow team members.
According to a Harvard Business Review
by leadership and teamwork experts Kim Christfort and Suzanne Johnson Vickberg,
understanding work styles is the key to successful collaboration.
Using a data driven approach, Christfort and Johnson
identified for general primary working styles based on how people interact.
They refer to these styles as Pioneers, Guardians, Drivers, and Integrators.
Pioneers value possibilities.
They like to take risks
and enjoy igniting their team members with energy and imagination.
They are big-picture thinkers
who like to take advantage of opportunities or create new ones.
Individuals with this work style tend to not be detail oriented,
and they make quick, spontaneous decisions, and embrace risk.
Guardians, conversely, like stability, order, and consistency.
They're practical, detail-oriented and avoid risk.
Guardians are careful and thoughtful about everything.
They don't make snap decisions
and they're slower than Pioneers to adopt new things.
They tend to be risk-averse,
and take a "look before they leap" approach to new ideas,
methods, and technology.
Drivers love challenge.
They thrive on results and winning, generally viewing issues in black and white.
Drivers are goal-oriented
and enthusiastically take on problems by applying logic.
Nothing makes a driver feel more part of a team than when there is a debate.
Integrators, on the other hand, prefer connection and consensus.
They are empathetic and help glue a team together.
Integrators are great at understanding the context of all the moving pieces
that contribute to making a successful project.
They are the diplomats of the group.
Christfort says, think of these traits as magnetically charged particles.
Some cluster together and attract while others spread apart and repel.
Identifying everyone's pattern can help you work better together.
Regardless of your own personal work style,
understanding work styles of your teammates
allows you to make accommodations
with those team members who have a different style.
This is known as flexing,
or recognizing what you need to do to be a successful collaborator.
Flexing is different than being flexible.
Flexing is the ability to navigate between different working styles.
It allows you to relate, respect, and value what the other team member brings.
Of course, these categories are generalities and not absolutes.
It's possible to employ a blend of a couple of work styles.
For example, Pioneers may also display the characteristics of a Driver
or Guardians who occasionally show Integrator tendencies.
Some of that may have to do with how each broad type deals with conflict.
For instance, Guardians and Integrators might tend to shy away
from disagreements, valuing harmony, and positive relationships.
They try to placate people or even change the topic
because they either don't want to hurt anyone's feelings,
or because it may disrupt team dynamics.
Pioneers and Drivers, on the other hand,
might seem to seek out conflict and disagreements.
They tend to display directness and honesty,
worrying less about disagreeing with someone or challenging their opinions.
While it may seem easier
or more agreeable to work with people of the same style,
working with others with different or seemingly opposing styles
allows greater perspective
and the kind of positive conflict that often leads to better solutions.
When everyone is of a single or similar work style,
it's easy to miss important considerations,
understand the full context of an issue,
or spot the potential risks involved in a decision.
Working in collaboration
virtually ensures working with a variety of work styles.
The key to making it a success
is being aware not only of your own preferred work style,
but being open and flexible to the styles of others.