What is your personality at work?

We spend a sizable chunk of our time at work with our co-workers. In fact, a Steelcase study states that people spend nearly 37% of their day at work. While constantly interacting with our colleagues at our workplace, we encounter with different personality types. Some personalities at work are always perceived as strong leaders, while some are viewed as quiet, shy, or even poor collaborators who rejuvenate by being more on their own or in low-key environments. Although a variety of personalities at the office can cause an occasional challenge, designing a progressive workplace will help cater to different personality types, leading to a more balanced work environment.

Hence, organizations need to start looking at designing a work environment which is fitting to different personality types, as it will help boost productivity and engagement. Here are some workplace design considerations for varying dispositions.

1. The Wallflower: Some personalities at work have an ability to make themselves anonymous, as it frees them from the restraints incurred through normal social surveillance. Being unknown allows people to avoid interruptions, as well as express themselves in new ways and experiment with new behaviours. The key is that it’s strategic—individuals choosing when and why to make themselves anonymous.

Examples:
Going to work at a café or a place where you’re unknown
Engaging in online discussions using an avatar or handle

Design considerations:
Incorporate informal, non-constricting environments with a home-like feel that will help break the corporate barrier.

2. The Whisperer: Privacy isn’t just about being alone. We also seek privacy with selected others. When we choose to share personal information or our emotions with someone else, there is a measure of trust involved— an assumption that the other person understands that the shared information isn’t for general public consumption. But, in today’s mostly open-plan workplaces, it’s difficult to find places where such conversations can occur without being scheduled.

Examples:
Discussing a personal situation with a colleague or attending an important call
Being in a performance review with your manager

Design considerations:
Create a mix of “I” spaces and “We” spaces so that people freely circulate in a shifting kaleidoscope of interactions.

3. The Perceiver: Companies are now shifting to a mobile technology era, wherein organizations are providing laptops to employees instead of desktop computers. Here, the employees’ seating arrangements fluctuate according to their own wish and requirements as they do not have any fixed desking system. These personalities acknowledge a flexible style of working and are open-minded, adaptable, and spontaneous with such office environments.

Examples:
Getting used to a new desk at workplace easily
Interaction with different set of colleague’s everyday

Design considerations:
• Create areas where people can connect with others without any distractions or interference
• Provide ample and well-equipped spaces for mobile and resident workers to work individually or in teams so that they can interact with each other


4) The back bencher: Isolation is a state of mind—it’s possible to feel isolated from a group while that group surrounds you. But solitude is physical: intentionally separating from a group to concentrate, recharge, express emotions or engage in personal activities. People in individualistic cultures, such as the United States, may take times of solitude almost for granted, but even within a collectivist culture, such as China, being alone sometimes is a fundamental need.

Examples:
Finding an enclave
Sitting in the farthest empty corner of a large room

Design consideration:
Create spaces that allow personalization and individual customization, instead of tightly enforced workplace standards. Offer settings and affordances that help employees feel supported in their work.

5. The invisibility cloak: Our innermost thoughts and feelings are our most personal information and our own quirky behaviours can only be revealed if we choose to do so. Some choose to reveal specific information to select group of people, while revealing different information to others. These personalities are in their own nutshell and prefer to uncover themselves only with certain people as and when required.

Examples:
Opting for a telephonic conversation instead of a video conference
Choosing which personal items to display at a workstation

Design considerations:
Create spaces that help people connect with others one-on-one and eye-to-eye, and not just through their technology devices. Also, design areas that allow workers to control their sensory stimulation and choose if they want to amp it up or down.

(This post has been authored by Mr. Praveen Rawal, Managing Director, Steelcase India and Southeast Asia)