Understanding Personality’s Role in Career Satisfaction

Discovering the personality type you possess, and how you communicate this personal style, are can make a dramatic difference in the type of career you would be most happy in. Many great books and resources exist for discovering how to use your natural personality strengths and understand your personality limitations to maximize your career opportunity.

I LOVE to read on this subject, and found it has helped me much to understand more about personality styles and career choice. As a fully expressive Extravert, Intuitive, Feeler, Perceiver , I have found myself working with IT Executives, Analytical Technologists, and Technical Writers, and Service Content Experts… Well being a energetic, enthusiastic, and somewhat polar opposite to the quieter more reserved and detail oriented professional, my “big picture, just do it now cause it feels right style” needed adjustment to really get my message across.

My Challenge? I had no idea who cared about what detail, because the overall strategy was so sound. Not knowing who would need what, I failed to communicate the crisp message, catered to my audience. I did not know how to reach them, why they were not as on board as I, and how to get them involved. For me this was solved by introspection, practice, and repeated failed attempts. Light resources, help to quickly “stay tuned in”. Detailed reading into Personality types, helps you identify and optimize your communication style. Finally adopting some of the standard Change Management Resources to how I approached communications helped me improve.

But HEY that is just me, my story, and I am sticking to it. We are all unique. We all have stories, strengths and weaknesses– awareness and a bit of communications study can go a long way in valuing the differences rather than despising them. We are all more wholly completed by recognizing that we are perfectly personal in our creation, and just need to find the right vehicles and develop the skills that help us highlight that quality of our personal style!

Light Resources for discovering your personality type:

• PersonalityType.Com Quiz
• Book: The Delicate Art of Dancing with Porcupines by Bob Phillips

Detailed Resources for exploring how to optimize or build on your personality type:

• Kiersey Temperment
  
• Myers Briggs Personality Model
• MAPP Assessments
• Book: Do you Know the Real You- More than 66 Ways… by Claire Gordon

Change Management Resources

• Work Out Change Acceleration Process iSixSigma.com
• Book: How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
• Book: Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway by Susan Jeffers
• Book: Dealing with People You Can’t Stand– Bring Out The Best in People At Their Worst by Dr. Rick Brinkman and Dr. Rick Kirschner
• Upsizing the Individual in The Downsized Corporation by Rob Swigart and Robert Johansen