People often assume that all PR people have similar personalities. Those of us working in the industry certainly know that’s not the case and – unfortunately for some – the Ab-Fab PR persona is far from the truth! Yes, the majority of us share a similar skill package, but every one of us has a different approach when it comes to our work.
Personality insights
Your colleagues are literally your second family. You spend, on average, 40 hours a week with them. They know what you had for lunch, what you’re doing on the weekend and where you’re going on your next holiday. But how important is it to fully understand their personality traits and how to best work with them?
As more people join our growing hive, we introduce new skills and personalities. To help us grow as a team, we recently enjoyed a session with the Amber Group, which offers an insights discovery session to understand your personality type. We first discussed what personality types we thought we were (I thought I was a yellow-green). After we each answered a number of personality-probing questions, our personality types were uncovered.
I’ll admit I was slightly sceptical of this idea at first. However, I was blown away with the accuracy – it made so much sense! For instance, those who have a ‘cool blue’ about them like hard facts, planning and seeing things right through from start to finish. Those who are red are more likely to speak their mind, don’t mind confrontation and proactively throw ideas out there.
Karma chameleon!
What we’ve most benefited from in the months since doing this training is being able to much better understand our colleagues’ working styles. And see what areas we need to work on. For instance, as a ‘yellow’ I like to juggle multiple tasks at once to keep my mind active. However, this may concern my ‘blue’ colleagues when we are working on a similar project. Splitting tasks and checking in regularly solves this and ensures deadlines are hit! Winner.
From doing the colour insights training I realised that not everyone works in the same way. Being able to adapt your working style (like a chameleon!) to get the best out of those you are working with – both clients and colleagues – is a truly valuable PR skill. So, to answer my question – no, there isn’t a perfect personality type for PR. Rather, a successful agency will be made up of a mix of personality types working in harmony alongside each other to motivate and challenge each other.
Harri,
x
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