Think of the person at work who irritates you the most.
Have a clear picture in your mind? Great! Now, brace yourself, because the next request is a little harder:
Resist the temptation to start ruminating all the things they do that bug you juuuuust long enough to read the rest of this article.
Because an award-winning teams expert has an insight that’s more important than it is annoying: that irritating coworker may be the key to exponential growth you’ve been seeking.
Marit Peters has spent more than 20 years as a leader and business coach, helping organizations go from stuck to thriving. She knows what makes teams tick, and what keeps them from reaching their greatest potential.
And on the Powered by Instinct podcast, she made clear that the person at work you have the least in common with may be your most effective resource.
“I think probably the most powerful thing that’s happened over the years,” she told Kolbe Corp’s Eric Herrera, “is people realize, oh…we need different people in the room. We hear about diversity all the time, and a lot of times that has to do with whether we have men and women in the room, or what races we have.”
But there’s a different kind of diversity that often gets overlooked.
“For me,” she continued, “diversity is about how we think and how we problem solve and our instincts. It’s always wonderful when I’m working with folks and they start with, boy, that person’s really irritating, and they leave the room going, ugh, I really need that person in the room because their voice is so important.”
The reality is that different people have different skills and different personalities, and the ability to embrace those differences can give organizations a huge edge, as they are able to solve a multitude of problems in a variety of ways.
The difference that gets overlooked the most is not about intelligence or preferences, it’s about the third part of the mind: conation. It’s about how people naturally operate when free to be themselves.
People vary on how they instinctively take action and problem-solve in the following ways:
When two people differ significantly in any of these modes, it can lead to conflict and misunderstanding…if you don’t have clarity.
However, when you’re aware that you gather information by conducting deep research and your coworker instead naturally simplifies and gets to the bottom line, it becomes a powerful asset. You can now use both of these strengths to handle a greater variety of tasks and collaborate more effectively without either of you having to work against your grain.
In other words, the thing that irritated you about them is actually a path to less stress for you and greater productivity for your team.
You may naturally experiment with new ideas and make a lot of changes, which makes it often easier to work with those who do the same. But if your team doesn’t have someone who naturally questions change, you run the risk of running with so many ideas that you never actually get where you want to go.
“It’s all about expanding your network,” Marit explained. “We need more people in our lives who have different perspectives and strengths. We’ll be stronger, better, and deliver better results for our people when we have the right dynamics around us.”
Often, that means valuing the person who you relate to the least.
“When you’re working with someone who’s a 180 from you, oftentimes that’s when the friction happens. That’s when you start to butt heads. But generally, that’s the who that you need to make the stuff happen,” Marit said. “When I have the unicorn in the room who looks totally different than anyone else, I make it a real point to say, ‘This is your job while you’re here, right?’ You’re different than the rest of the room, and your voice is more important in order to challenge everyone’s thinking. And generally, everyone walks away with a totally different level of respect for what that voice can do.”
