I was just reading an article, The Rise and Rise of Soft Skills, and it prompted me to share a common misunderstanding about personality types and roles. There is a current trend to seek out soft skills in technical roles. Okay, let’s look at that.

Myth 1 – technical engineer, that is also a strong business strategists.

With business insight tools driving a lot of strategic decisions today, the market is crying out for individuals with high technical skills that are also great communicators and business strategist. Hmmm…really! Let’s step back a bit and consider this. A person who has the mind and personality to be a great technical engineer sits on the opposite of the genius quadrant from someone who is great with people, and inventively creative. Sure, we are all typically a mix of skills, so there is someone who has a bit of both, but they won’t have the strength of someone who sits squarely in that one quadrant. There is a reason a technical engineer is very good at their job, and it is that they have the right mix of technical skill and the right personality type to leverage that skill to its maximum. I have often also found that a highly skilled technical person will be absolutely convinced that they have presented something ‘in business terms’; when to me it is still far too technically focused to garner the required support from business-focused executives. My point is, expecting to find someone that is strong in both is pretty much a fairytale.

Myth 2 – highly creative, that is also a great organizer.

Often, the most creative people, and those most likely to connect their creations to human needs are not the tidiest or most organized people in the world. We all use both our right and left brain hemispheres for all activities; we just each use them to different relative degrees. So the old assumption that right brain people are more creative is pretty much on cue. However, expecting them to be very strong in this area AND very left-brain organized is expecting a bit much.

Myth 3 – powerful leaders, that connect with people.

Now this one, whilst historically not common, is absolutely possible. So it’s not really a myth but it is a misunderstanding. We once believed that powerful leaders needed to contain their personal feelings and drive through decisions that will increase profits, regardless of the cost to humans or adverse opinions of their executives. We now know that the development of leaders can only go so far, without developing the skills to connect, empathise and communicate with others. As we say at Insight Mastery, emotional intelligence is what makes good leaders great. Leaders low in EQ don’t integrate the value of their executive teams well, and make poor connections to the needs of the market. They are typically more focused on how to get the most out of their 3-4 year term, and not worry about the long term, or wider impact of their decisions. And sadly, they are often the ones that “impress” the Board at interviews for being ‘strong and decisive’.

Taking these three examples, you get the idea that we each have a bundle of skills and personality traits. For each person to deliver their best, their role needs to be aligned with both their skill and personality. We all know that. But what often isn’t practiced is accepting that what makes them great at certain capabilities, will generally mean they will be weak at others. And this should not be seen as a weakness; it doesn’t need fixing. It needs managers who understand the depths of diversity goes beyond Myers Briggs categories, and that there is a reason we need ‘teams’ of people to deliver optimal performance. Trying to force a very creative person [who just may be somewhat messy] to plan and manage logistical tasks is just stressing the individual, and reality. If you want the most from your employees, work to their strengths, and mitigate their weaknesses by assigning those tasks to someone else.  Don’t pull them into misery and lower productivity with ‘training’ to improve their weaknesses.

Value each person for what they bring, naturally. You will have a happier, more productive, and more profitable workplace.

Author: Gail La Grouw. Insight Mastery Program Director, and Strategic Performance Consultant for Coded Vision Ltd.