Many team members have been typecast and stereotyped. Usually their personality type has been compressed into four characteristics. This often happens during team building exercises. When people are typecast they are also stereotyped. This can reduce the effectiveness of individuals and teams. Why?
Team Effectiveness
When a person has been stereotyped other team members have a set perception of that person. This can result in misunderstandings and in people no longer listening to what a team member has to say. Often the underlying logic of the viewpoint is missed, and other team members dismiss the team member as simply behaving to type.
Typecasting can actually reduce communication effectiveness between team members. In extreme cases a team member may refrain from expressing a view because of fears of being pigeon holed and misinterpreted.
Individual Effectiveness
At the individual level a person’s career development can be stunted because, not only can other team members stereotype the individual, but the individual can stereotype themselves. Their self-perception and self-efficacy can be severely limited resulting in a failure to fully realise their potential.
Alternative Approach to Team Building
Taking a dynamic systems approach to team building avoids the problems of typecasting and stereotyping. A dynamic systems approach helps team members to understand:
- How teams develop and change over time
- How individuals grow as team members
- How team identity develops and ways of facilitating effective team identity
- How to understand the music behind the words – this is about meaningful communication and the blockages to meaningful communication
A dynamic systems approach treats people as mature adults rather than a small set of typical characteristics. Telling people they are mature adults is more powerful for enhancing team performance than all the typecasting and stereotyping in the world.
For more information call Dallas Burgess on +61 2 99573511 or visit: www.peopleadvantage.com.au
Dallas Burgess
Organisational Psychologist
Copyright PeopleAdvantage Pty Limited 2009. All rights Reserved.
Dallas – I think that personality typing tools are a great way to start conversations and a terrible way to end them – for all the reasons that you’ve given.
One exercise a colleague of mine uses is to get people to identify which superhero they are. This superhero may be a real person (e.g. Madonna) or imaginary (e.g. Superman).
Hi Matt
Thanks for the great comment. I agree with you. Often the problem is that the process is over extended and not very well controlled by the facilitor. As a result people are not properly debriefed. A related problem is that many of these “typing” methods are sold to organsitions by good sales people rather than by people who are experienced in this area.
Cheers
Dallas
Thaks for your comment.
Cheers
Dallas
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Thanks Christian, much appreciated.
Cheers
Dallas
Hello,Awesome blog dude! i am just Tired of using RSS feeds and do you use twitter?so i can follow you there:D.
PS:Have you considered putting video to this blog posts to keep the visitors more enjoyed?I think it works., Anthony Utzig
Thanks Anthony, I will give it some thought.
Cheers
Dallas
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Under the Blogroll heading, click onto RSS Feed. Please let me know if that does not work.
Regards
Dallas
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Thank you for your comment. I don’t have a face book entry and I don’t twitter. I have limited time. But i will continue, as time permits, to post blogs.
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No, but other bloggers have messaged that they have taken some of my posts and used them on their own blogs.