Knowing your personality preferences and effective management is important in crafting your approach.
Peter Drucker suggests that good managers set objectives, organise, motivate and communicate, measure results and develop people. Simple.
Psychological type suggests that we are all born with inbuilt preferences for where we get our energy, what information we take in, how we make decisions and whether we have a concrete plan or go with the flow.
Our type preferences mean that we are unlikely to be effective in all of the management areas that Drucker has highlighted.
So what’s the answer?
Knowing where our strengths lie is a good start. Knowing our potential blindspots will also help us navigate our way through the challenge of being effective managers. We should use the talents of others to help with the blindspots.
Effective managers can strike a balance between engaging with the outside world and getting insight from reflection, dealing with nitty gritty detail, the vision and big picture, making decisions on a logical basis or the impact decisions have on people, and making concrete plans whilst staying open to new opportunities as they arise. It’s not a question of either or but of finding an equilibrium that respects the fact that people are different and have many options open to them. Utilising your natural tendencies as strengths and having knowledge of your weaknesses and trying hard for them not to cause significant issues.
Knowing your personality type offers you the opportunity to bring more balance into your management and to be a more effective planner, organiser, leader and controller.
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