The Personality Clash Myth

It is just too easy to say: “Bill and Mary have an irreconcilable personality clash and there is nothing that I, as their leader, can do about it!”

We don’t really believe in ‘irreconcilable personality clashes’.

We believe in:

• Ignorance and
• Laziness.

By ignorance we mean a lack of awareness i.e. Bill is unaware of a style or temperament difference in his co-worked Mary and falls into the trap of assuming that she is deliberately trying to annoy him. And as a result of this conflict arises.

By laziness we mean an unwillingness to manage diversity i.e. to accept and value diversity. Mary is aware that her co-worker Bill has a significant style/ temperament difference but she feels that it is his ‘problem’ and that he should be more like her!

The bottom line is that sharply different differences can be highly complimentary but diversity is only a strength if managed!