Should we change our personalities in order to succeed in the workplace?

Our personality traits influence several fields of our life: health, happiness and productivity. Therefore, it is beneficial to put effort in developing our personality.

Our working conditions have drastically changed in the past few years: where, how and when we work might not be the same as the pre-pandemic times. Our personality traits play a big part in how we adapt to these changes. We can experience different levels of anxiety, frustration and loneliness (which is of course the product of the difficulty of our individual situation, too). Personality measurements can predict what attitude we show when faced with challenges: how anxious, fearful, reactive and confident we are when new circumstances arise.

Inheritance and environmental effects are equally influential when it comes to personality development. The foundations of our personalities cannot be changed easily, but we can aim to become more responsible and emotionally stable. The best results in personality development occur when we focus on one trait at a time, and we are conscious about our actions towards change. Dr. Darren Stevens’ study suggest that our reaction to a situation is a product of not only our personality traits, but our self-image, intention, awareness. This shows how complex a personality can be – we have to consider a number of factors to understand one.

For example, if someone hasn’t considered themselves to be one to follow the rules, but their new workplace follows a strict set of regulations, he will likely become more compliant or sooner or later leave the organization. With awareness and intention he will follow the rules and in time, it becomes a habit. With self-reflection, effort and practice we can work consciously in changing our thoughts, beliefs and behavior patterns, therefore we can alter our personality traits to some levelBehavioral therapy, psychotherapy and social ability development trainings can help reduce neuroticism and increase emotional stability.

 

Personality development in the workplace

Suppose we want to develop better relationships with our co-workers. How do we begin?

1. The first step is self-awareness. We have to know ourselves, what comes to us naturally, what we enjoy in our work and what we are less enthusiastic about. Introspection can be very helpful, but the best solution is using personality questionnaires. The Occupational Personality Questionnaire can help determine preferences in connection to work life.
2. Specifying goals and growth mindset is essential. We have to believe that we are able to develop and we also have to want to change. We must plan out how we will achieve this change, act accordingly.
3. Focus on the process and put effort into actions. Hennecke’s research shows that 3 things are required to change a personality trait. One of them being practice – repeated actions form habits. In time, our perception of self will adapt, which further motivates us to act according to our changed personality trait. Let’s say we want to be more conscientious. We can start with being more meticulous – check our to-do lists and reflect on our goals. Leaders and HR managers can support workers by granting space for practice and allowing employees to make mistakes – at the same time protecting workers from making ominous mistakes.

With work conditions constantly evolving, we should focus on developing personality traits like openness, emotional stability: these qualities bring us closer to success and they also have positive effects on other fields of life – for example, our well-being. 

The original blogpost can be accessed here.