Weiss Report Blog

77% of Americans enjoy the time they spend away from their jobs
more than the hours they spend working, according to a recent
Gallup study. Do you experience any of these conflicts while at
work?

While working on a task do you feel mentally “pulled” in
opposite directions? For example, part of you says “hurry up –
get it done”, while another part says “slow down, this has to be
done accurately”. Is your way of doing things different from
someone else’s way of doing things? You may feel comfortable
planning as you go, without writing things down, while a
co-worker prefers to create detailed, written action plans and
to-do lists. Are you are asked to complete tasks you do not
enjoy because they do not come naturally to you? You may find it
easy to work on projects that have a lot of interaction with
people, but not compiling the statistics for the quarterly
report.

All three of these conflicts are related to a person’s
behavioral design. Simply put, your behavioral design describes
how you prefer to naturally behave. Everyone has a combination
of the following four styles. However, one style is usually more
prominent.

*Some people focus on the bottom-line, are very results-oriented
and prefer to work at a rapid pace. *Others enjoy interacting
with people and being in the spotlight. They like a high degree
of people contact. *Some individuals prefer to work “behind the
scenes” and enjoy the planning process while working in a slow,
deliberate manner. *Others are attracted to detailed work such
as data analysis and copy-editing.

When you can do what comes naturally to you and interact with
people who behave in a similar way as you do, all is well. You
feel happy, energized and rewarded. However, when conflict
develops, whatever its form, you become miserable. As misery
increases, so does stress, tardiness, absenteeism, errors,
physical complaints, and turnover.

One of the main reasons so many people are unhappy at work is
because they are experiencing one or more of the three types of
conflict mentioned above.

Here are some suggestions to help you resolve these behavioral
conflicts.

When you find yourself being mentally “pulled”, ask yourself
this: “How do I need to behave in order for the project that I
am CURRENTLY working on to be successful?” Do you need to “have
it done yesterday” or is precision and attention to detail more
important? Whichever is more important, let yourself be “pulled”
in that direction. Acknowledging this internal dialogue and
making a conscious decision how to behave will help reduce the
conflict. When interacting with someone who does things
differently than you, first realize that this person probably
does not intend to give you a hard time. Their behaviors stem
from their preferred behavioral style. Just as you have your way
of doing things, so do they. The goal is for both of you to
discuss how you each prefer to approach your work and reach some
type of compromise. When projects are assigned to you that do
not match your behavioral design, you have several options. You
can enlist the help of people whose natural behavior matches the
demands of the project. You can also speak with your
manager/supervisor about the type of tasks that energize you and
request that in the future, those tasks be assigned to you. The
most drastic measure (and sometimes the most appropriate) is to
remove yourself from the environment — yes, quit! If you are a
person who does not like the spotlight and prefers to work
behind the scenes and your position constantly requires you to
make presentations and public appearances, you will continuously
be unhappy. The single most important factor related to job
satisfaction is having a job that closely matches your
behavioral design.