It’s a known fact that we tend to like to be around people that are alike ourselves. We know we get a long with them well and it often feels more seamless to be around them. However, if you are hiring for your team, you might want to take the opposite approach. Building a diverse team can help your organization in the long run. As specialty chemical recruiters, we see firsthand that hiring managers have acknowledged bringing in a different personality as a technique to fix problem areas or even just enhance their teams.
What does personality diversity have to offer?
It brings balance in the workplace. Everyone is going to have strengths and weaknesses. As a hiring manager, if you know your team is weak in a particular area, it makes sense to hire a candidate with strengths in that area. Personality diversity improves the culture of the team. People feel good when they do tasks that they are good at. Having a diverse team will allow each member to take on the areas they are strong in, which will create more positivity and productivity. This balance will also come in hand when making decisions. Like minded people will likely come up with similar solutions. Adding diverse personalities may bring solutions to the table that a like minded group may not have thought of. More perspectives will bring more options and better choices of actions, which will benefit the organization.
How to add personality diversity
The first step is doing an evaluation. Take a look at your current team. Understand the strengths and weaknesses and what could be improved. Use a personality questionnaire to understand the personalities on your team. It can help coaching and mentoring approaches for current employees to aid in their growth. As a hiring manager, you will be able to use this to understand what personalities to recruit the improve the team and the company’s culture to bring in more diversity. This will require building a culture that encourages different opinions that will welcome different personalities to work together and see value in one another.
As chemical recruiters, we have been given the ability to watch and help organizations and teams grow. When we discuss a role with hiring managers, we take a deep dive into what personalities they are looking for in a candidate and why they feel those traits would be the best fit. Skills sets are of course important when finding the right candidate, but personality is not something to overlook in what it could bring to your team. What could a diverse team do for your organization? When looking to hire and improve your team’s dynamic, consider the personality that will bring diversity and empower it.
-Written by Michelle Laud: Specialty Chemicals Recruiter