Making dealing with different people at workplace easy!
Students and young professionals will meet a variety of people on a daily basis. Unlike school, where you can choose your friends and groups, once you start interning and working you are assigned teams and bosses! People come from different backgrounds and have a different outlook toward life in general. Working at a firm or with a society in college requires knowing how to comfortably interact with diverse people. Learning how to work with them is critical to success. Interacting with a variety of people at work can be challenging. Here are some suggestions on how to make it work for you.
- Know yourself: There are several personality tests that measure your tendencies, preferences and patterns of behaviour such as DiSC Personality test, The Big Five Personality Test, HEXACO-Pi-R Personality Test and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). According to MBTI, there are 16 types of personalities. These personality preferences are indicated based on four dimensions. What we focus on- Extraversion (E) or Introversion (I); the way we absorb information- Sensing (S) or Intuition (N); how we make decisions- Thinking (T) or Feeling (F); and how we deal with the world- Judging (J) or Perceiving (P). It’s only once you understand yourself and your peers that you can learn the best way to work with them.
- Adjust and Adapt to others: Different people have different ways of interacting and communicating their thoughts and feelings to one another. Some people are diplomatic while some prefer being more direct. The way in which these 2 kinds of people give or receive feedback might differ, but the important thing is to identify the personality type of the person and make sure to take the feedback being provided in a constructive manner. Understand the working style of the people you’re working with and adapt accordingly. There might be certain things that your colleagues do not approve of, one can try to improve on that. This would help in maintaining healthy and professional relationships. However, adapting to one’s style doesn’t mean neglecting yours completely. If there is a misunderstanding or disagreement on a certain issue, discuss it maturely and come to a common ground that is mutually beneficial in the long run.
- Respect: A crucial part of working in a team is that every person needs to respect each others’ strengths, opinions and most importantly weaknesses. This will help the person overcome his/ her weakness gradually with a positive attitude. This also makes it easier for the individual to trust his team members for other work-related matters. There are a few qualities that all of us should build upon before we start interning at a firm. These include – patience, tolerance, basic human understanding, mutual respect for each other, a caring nature, honesty and selflessness. These traits would help maintain a friendly and healthy environment at the workplace and build lasting relations with people. Don’t make work related issues personal, solve them in a professional manner!
According to a survey by The American Institute of Stress, stress due to people issues at the workplace accounts to 28 percent, only behind stress due to workload which stands at 46%. Other factors for stress include lack of job security (6%) and juggling work/ personal lives (20%). Instead of increasing stress, recognize how different personalities at a workplace function and learn how to work with various types of people. Diversity at a workplace is also an important thing since it allows for different thoughts and ideas and creates space for diverse discussions!
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