Life would be much easier if everyone had the same work style as you. Clashing work styles in the office, whether they are through communication or leadership differences, can deter you from having your work accomplished on time and proficiently. Life can’t be perfect and the workplace presents the real world difficulties of working with different individuals that have different methods of getting things done. Thus, I present to you a few ways to overcome clashing work styles.
The first thing you should do before you confront a co-worker about conflicting work styles is become self-aware and manage your own expectations. Realize that your method of doing work is not necessarily the preferred method of others, so don’t expect anyone else to adapt to your method when they have their own that they are comfortable with. It’s difficult for us to take the time to realize how our actions are perceived by others. By managing your expectations you can work towards finding common ground and making your work styles work together.
Next, consider the work styles that are in conflict. Take the best of both work styles to create an even better method of doing work. For example, you are a type A personality that likes to take charge and you have to work with a type B personality that likes to work less competitively and take more of a backseat. The type A person should hit the brakes on their possessiveness and perfectionist skills and work with type B to get work done at their pace, but clearly establish deadlines and guidelines for getting work done. Realizing that you have different work styles and communicating effectively to work through them will help ease tension.
As mentioned before, communication is crucial to resolving work style conflicts among co-workers. If you feel that there is tension building with your co-worker over work style differences, be proactive and talk to your co-worker about it. Although you may have work differences, you have a common goal in mind if you’re working as a team and finding a way to work professionally towards that goal is something you can both strive towards.
Have you ever clashed with a colleague’s work style? How did you overcome? Let us know in the comments!
IMAGE: Courtesy of Flickr by jimbowen0306
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