When you’re in a management role, your success relies on getting the most out of every employee on your team. And as a leader, you’ll learn quickly that no two team members think or work alike. So how can you respect your employees’ different personality traits and work styles, and let them use their individual strengths and talents, while still creating a cohesive team?

• Play to your team members’ strengths. For example, if some members are more outgoing, allow them to speak freely at team meetings. Don’t forget to allow your quieter team members the chance to respond either at the meeting or more privately via an e-mail.
• Try team building exercises. One of the reasons diverse personalities sometimes get into conflicts is because they haven’t been “forced” to experience the other person’s perspective, or they haven’t really had to work together as a team. Team building exercises can help conflicting personalities come together.
• Take a proactive approach from the get-go and set a tone of cooperation, collaboration and compromise within your team. Make sure the team knows: Conflict that undermines the team and/or the work environment just won’t be tolerated. Should you notice conflict cropping up, encourage team members to seek common ground and to work with each other to create a solution with which all will be comfortable. By helping your team members work together to come to a solution to their differences and to see the others’ perspective, you’ll end up having a stronger team as a result.

Obviously, not everyone is going to be happy all the time, but employees with conflicting personalities can work together effectively—especially if you can learn to manage behaviors rather than personalities.

Are you looking to add finance and accounting employees to your organization? Then call the team at Staffers. We know how to match the professionals you need with the culture of your organization, helping you to build better teams.