New Managers

How people vary

The main idea

People have different ways of learning and working. Find out yours, and realise that others may be different.

What kind of a learner are you? How do you prefer to make decisions? People vary in this; if you understand your own preferences and are aware that others may be very different you will have a much easier time working with a team or group.

Put simply, we find that people tend to want to start in one of four ways:

to have the concrete experience -"get stuck in for real"
to try something out, make a plan, test the situation
to understand the background and framework, the theory or facts of the situation
to reflect, watch, observe what has been done so far.

These four approaches are all essential parts of the process of taking on something new - the difference is in what we prefer to start with.

Consider these questions.

1. Where is your preferred starting place? Are you a "Hands on" Activist, a "Pause for thought" Reflector, a "Give me the facts and background" Theorist, or a "Let's plan this and see how it works in real life" Pragmatist? Explore your preferences. Where do they work for you and where do they let you down?

2. How do you react to people who have a different starting place? It's very easy to over-value your own preference, and undervalue different ones.

Why this matters

Your task as a manager is to appreciate the value of each style, and understand when they are most important to the work of the team. Sometimes for example an 'activist' needs to be held back until there are more facts, or a 'theorist' has be held back when action is needed even with insufficient facts.

What seem to be the preferred styles of the people that you manage? Your task is to use the best of the individual styles, which means understanding what they are. Think about individual members of your team and how they prefer to start something new. Think about the strengths of their approach.

You may also learn better ways of communicating with people who have a different preference from you. What might be the most convincing way of communicating with people with each of these four preferences? What kind of language and information are they most likely to respond well to?