15 Ways To Support Various Work Styles Without Sacrificing Collaboration

Oct 28

Every employee has his or her own unique way of working. Their preferred styles can be influenced by everything from their personality type to their organizational skills and ideal working environment.

With so many individual preferences to consider, you may find it difficult to accommodate each team member’s preferred working style. This can make it challenging to maintain a strong sense of collaboration and provide sufficient support to each team member.

To help, 15 Forbes Coaches Council members shared some tips to help leaders validate, accommodate and support their team members’ different work styles while maintaining a strong team dynamic.

1. Know Your Players’ Unique Needs

A strong, collaborative work culture keeps employees engaged and helps to retain top talent. To get there, leaders must know their players and their unique needs. Make time for open and candid conversations, and don’t shy away from personality assessments. Identifying each team member’s preferred operating style and adjusting the work accordingly creates trust and allows for more productivity. - Mari Carmen Pizarro, Whole Leadership Systems

2. Adopt A Hybrid Approach

Expand your repertoire of methods for affirming and fostering collaboration. Most of us have a preferred way of working; some love remote work, and some yearn for social interaction. Adopt a hybrid approach to collaboration with large groups, small groups and one-on-ones. Vary your collaboration formats: writing, discussion, visuals and audio. The more approaches you can incorporate, the more you can cater to all. - Chuen Chuen Yeo, ACESENCE

3. Optimize Your Team Size For Individual Support

Whether they need more face time or “me” time, it is important for leaders to understand the individuals under their charge. Savvy leaders reinforce strong cultures driven by collaboration and cooperation, and then leverage self-directed, cross-functional teams to run the show with minimal support. Optimizing team size makes it possible to validate and accommodate the unique needs of team members. - Lillian Gregory, The HumEx Institute

4. Schedule One-On-One Time With Each Team Member

Use your one-on-one time to tailor the approach that each member of your team needs to feel supported and successful. However, to ensure a collaborative team environment, also co-create a team charter that captures agreed-upon behaviors and expectations across the team that everyone will use to hold themselves accountable. This will empower a group of people to become a cohesive team that believes they are better together. - Cyndee Blockinger Lake, Blank Page

5. Ask About Their Preferences And Share Yours

Invite the conversation. Never assume you have the answer to the riddle, as it will be wrong 99% of the time in my experience. As leaders, we must recognize that our employees’ behavior, as well as that of our own, are rarely an indication of what is needed or expected from the world around us. It is incumbent on leaders to not only ask, but also share their preferred style of working as well. Mystery solved. - Angela Cusack, Igniting Success

6. Understand Personality Preferences

Understanding personality preferences is a powerful way for leaders to optimize their team’s performance and engagement. Even using free psychometric tools, such as the Lumina Splash app, can reveal important preferences around introversion versus extroversion, big picture versus detail, task focus versus people focus, etc. Armed with knowledge, leaders can flex their own style to get the best out of individuals and the team. - Gabriella Goddard, Brainsparker Leadership Academy

7. Accommodate What Your Employees Ask For

Ask them how they want to be supported. We can think we know what people need, but until they tell us themselves, it’s simply conjecture. Let your employees tell you what they need, then make sure you accommodate their preferences in how you develop your business model. - Bri Seeley, The Unapologetic Entrepreneur

8. Prioritize Competence Over Style

Manage employees based on their competence around specific tasks, not on their personal styles. Utilize situational leadership. If someone is just learning a task, be direct, or they won’t understand how to do it. As they are coming to understand the task, be both directive and supportive to help them overcome any lack of confidence. And once they have mastered the task, let go and let them fly. - Dan Messinger, Cream of the Crop Leaders

9. Implement The Right Collaboration Tools

Utilize cloud-based collaboration software. Microsoft Teams, Google Hangouts and Slack are all great options to accommodate each member of your team’s preferred style of working. Autonomous workers can work freely while keeping up to date with employees that need a lot of face time to feel engaged. - Bree Luther, Inspired Science Coaching

10. Observe And Engage

As a manager, it’s your job to know your team and how it works best. You gain this insight through observation and engagement. Pay attention to the working style of each member, noting those who interact with you often and those who prefer to work on their own. Follow up by engaging them in a conversation about what you observed and asking if your observations are correct. - Cheryl Czach, Cheryl Czach Coaching and Consulting, LLC

11. Ask If They Had Enough Support On Their Last Project

One-on-one meetings allow you to get to know employees and their engagement style. I would suggest meeting to walk them through the last few projects and ask if they had enough support or needed more. You will find that many employees adjust according to their level of comfort with the task. They may want to engage more when and where they are not entirely sure of themselves. - Amera McCoy, McCoy Consulting LLC

12. Add Value To Their Experiences

As a manager, you have to let individuals be themselves; yet, they cannot set the rules. If you want to lead well, you must have continuity among all of those you manage. Every meeting you have with them must add value for them, and this means customizing the way you manage different personalities. The best thing to do in these situations is to ensure that you’re being consistent. - Jon Dwoskin, The Jon Dwoskin Experience

13. Enable Employee Communication

As a manager, it is very important for you to enable communication. Create reasons and opportunities for employees to meet with you or other employees. Employees can decide for themselves how much face time is enough for them; you don’t have to artificially entertain them or send them into isolation. Furthermore, you must lead everyone in the direction of common goals. - Michael Thiemann, Strategy-Lab™

14. Know Each Team Member’s Specific Role

Knowing the role that each team member fulfills on your team is key. This is done through assessment, which brings both individual and team awareness to the forefront. The onus is then on you to actively follow through on this knowledge by facilitating communication in a way that engages everyone based on their preferences. Foster a supportive team environment to promote cooperation instead of competition. - Arthi Rabikrisson, Prerna Advisory

15. Honor Their Preferred Style Of Working

Many leaders struggle when it comes to catering to their employees’ unique working styles. Ask your employees about their preferred style of working. Then—and this is important—honor their preferred style of working. Create a culture of belonging and engagement by being a leader who truly honors and respects your employees and their needs. - Kyle Elliott, MPA, CHES , CaffeinatedKyle.com