Walk, Personality! Talk, Personality! Smile, Personality! Charm, Personality! Alright, on to the main topic...
What is a team? According to BusinessDictionary.com, a team is a group of people with a full set of complementary skills required to complete a task, job, or project. Team members (1) operate with a high degree of interdependence, (2) share authority and responsibility for self-management, (3) are accountable for the collective performance, and (4) work toward a common goal and shared rewards. Team dynamics and their overall effectiveness are influenced by many factors such as the organization(s) from which the team stems, the frame of reference in which the team operates and the mix of individual personality types within the team.
Within a team, each member contributes different talents, perspectives, skills, methodologies and experiences to the overall team functioning. Team performance can be strongly affected by the differences in personalities and how these personalities deal with conflict and communicate with each other. We (the collective Agilista) thought that typing our personalities would yield an interesting perspective on our team dynamics. The purpose of taking a personality test was two-fold: (1) Each team member would have additional self-awareness of their own personality – their strengths, weaknesses, communication styles, etc., and (2) Individuals would be more aware of other team members’ personality types during future communication, interaction conflict resolution.
To begin with, we hypothesized about the traits that we felt were common between us:
Common Traits
Verbal communication
Collaborative
Ability to adapt to change (flexibility)
Empathetic
Interact with all team members
Sense of humor
And the things that we thought differed:
Differing Traits
Volume levels
Response to stress
Organization levels
Food / background
Extroverted / Introverted
Social Interaction
Downtime (what we do with it)
We used the following two tests (with the second test optional) and commented on any insights we gained from the experience and the extent to which we felt that the personality description was accurate.
http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/mmdi/questionnaire/
http://www.personaldna.com/tests.php
Results: (Click on links to see detailed information on the profiles for both tests.)
| Name | Myers-Briggs* (MMDI) | Personal DNA |
| Achint | ||
| Christina | -- | |
| MJ | ||
| Molly | ||
| Rachel | ||
| Shefali | ||
| Toni |
* The Myers-Briggs percentages indicate the nearest “region” to your personality type.
Comparison to Theories:
Not surprisingly, everyone that took the Myers-Briggs test scored either strongly extroverted (E) or scored on the border (could be either I or E) between being introverted (I) and extroverted. This fits in with our theory that one of our common traits is verbal communication. Since some of us scored more strongly extroverted than others, this also fit in with our theory that we have differing levels of how extroverted/introverted we are from day to day. However, we also thought that we would have empathy as one of our common traits – turns out that several of us scored quite low on empathy! Interestingly, each of us also tended to have a “Personal DNA” characteristic (Benevolent/Director/Leader/etc.) in common with another teammate.
Thoughts:
Achint: ENFP Evaluation: The statement that "You are enthusiastic about new projects or causes that offer the potential for a beneficial impact on people, especially when it involves breaking new ground." ...absolutely apt. I do feel a great rush when I'm about to start something new. As far as identifying potential in people, I haven't really been in a situation where I have had to, but I won't be surprised if that's true since I feel I have a strange intuition. ENFJ Evaluation: "If your personality type is ENFJ then you are someone who seeks to develop and promote personal growth in your friends, family or colleagues."...oh yea, you ask my family how sick they get of me sometimes...I can be a little aggressive about this when it comes to people really close to me:( "You also seek to develop the potential within relationships or the team. However, you don't push so hard that it creates conflict, because keeping the harmony in your relationships is also important."...Also true - I absolutely abhor conflicts in any relationship, be it work or personal - will do anything to avoid them. However, if the water goes above my head, I will confront :D
MJ: Taking the tests was an excellent exercise. It was enjoyable thinking about how one would respond to different scenarios. The best part is reading all the amazing traits that the results claim you have. If nothing else, I feel reading the results ends up inculcating a lot of the values in their audience, therefore making the process a worthwhile endeavor. The trait that really surprised me was: My patience brings out the best in people. Seriously?! Anyway, enjoy reading (Even the skeptics – one more reason to raise that eyebrow).
Molly: The first one said that the 'feeling' characteristic might mean I appreciate people but don't verbally express it. I think this might be true (and something to work on!). However, I don't view myself as introverted so I found that result surprising. Then, after the second result said I was animated, I decided maybe ENFJ was a more correct representation. I have been told that I am animated, with emphasis on how often I roll my eyes. One thing that the second test suggested was taking more time for myself, being alone. In comparing the two results, I personally think the second result is more accurate.
Rachel: I was surprised that both tests indicated that I was a “people-person.” After reflecting on the results for a while, I realized that I do enjoy being around people and interacting with others. However, unlike the second test suggests, I don’t especially enjoy being the center of attention. I thought both tests were extremely accurate by indicating that I am action-oriented and have a preference for order. I do like organizing things! And, as the rest of the team can confirm, I love style! The second test suggested that I had a hard time understanding other people’s perspectives – which is true. Sometimes I have a hard time understanding why someone might take a certain path when it seems obvious to me that the other path may work better. I can improve on this by taking time to think through a person’s “path” choice before becoming frustrated – I will probably learn a lot by doing this!
Shefali: I thought the second personality test gave a better description of my personality. The test pointed out that “having a routine and sticking to it is important to you” and “you find comfort in tradition and familiarity.” I think those things are absolutely true about me. I am not a very authoritarian individual trying to force my opinions on others. In addition, I scored really high on the empathy scale, which I believe has been one of my strengths.
Toni: I have to say I had a hard time with some of the questions for the MMDI (Myers-Briggs) test. I didn’t like having to choose one or the other – I wanted to agree with both! All in all, I agree with my personality type – I know I’m an extrovert J The only thing I disagree with is that the Personal DNA test gave me a really low score for empathy and I always saw myself as being empathetic. It was a fun test though – that is, if tests can be fun!
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