Office Personas- The Good

In my last post I discussed negative office personas, and now it's time for a few positive ones and some tips on how you can get the most out of your working relationships with these positive personas.

1. The Mom

The Mom is usually a female but is not necessarily an actual Mother in real life. The Mom goes out of her way to make sure that everyone is prepared for meetings and has the resources they need to complete projects. The Mom tends to remain on an even keel, and is generally upbeat and fun to be around. She is does not often express stress and frustration openly. The Mom is empathetic and will listen to other people's problems and offer advice where needed. Moms can be found in admin roles, HR, and occasionally middle management.

Tips on harnessing the power of The Mom:

• Tell her what you need. Moms enjoy procuring the resources and favor needed to get things done.
• Utilize her connections. The Mom is well-liked and can be your ticket to getting to know people and winning influence.
• Don't just take take take. Even The Mom needs someone to listen and care for her at times

2. The Pinch Hitter

The Pinch Hitter is the all purpose teammate that will fill in as needed and never lets the team down. The Pinch Hitter is not the type of person to refuse a job or task because "it's not his/her job." Pinch Hitters may not always want to help out with certain tasks but they know that the progress of the team is paramount. They may fly under the radar and not get the recognition that they desire, but for Pinch Hitters the public recognition is not their driving factor. Pinch Hitters thrive off of the success of the team and the relationships that they develop within the team. The Pinch Hitter is the glue that holds a team together and can be found in any space in a company.

Tips on harnessing the power of The Pinch Hitter:

• Only ask the Pinch Hitter for help when you really need it, not to lighten your work load. Pinch Hitter or not, no one likes to be used. Even The Pinch Hitter can burn out eventually.
• Thank The Pinch Hitter. Just because they don't need public recognition doesn't mean that they don't want recognition from the people they are working with closely. Relationships are very important to The Pinch Hitter and gratitude will go a long way. 

3. The Ghost

In the old Mario Kart Nintendo game there was a single player mode of the game that allowed you to race a course and then re-race it over and over following a translucent "ghost" of yourself and every time your time improved you'd follow the new faster version. Thus, in a sense the ghost was the best version of yourself. 

The Ghost on a team or in a company is the coworker you work best with- the person that is similar enough to get who you are and how you work and different enough from you to push you to be better. Ghost relationships are usually symbiotic. Hopefully, The Ghost is wherever you are in the company!

Tips on harnessing the power of The Ghost:

• Be clear about your goals and the obstacles you foresee in getting there with The Ghost so that you are both on the same page 100%. The Ghost will help get you where you're going by pushing you to do the work to get there.
• Offer to work with The Ghost on as many projects as possible.
• If The Ghost moves teams/divisions/offices/gets a promotion, etc.don't let go of your Ghost buddy. Find a way to work cross functionally in order preserve that relationship.

There are probably a million positive personas out there. Feel free to leave a comment with some of your favorites!

Office Personas- The Bad & The Ugly

At a recent conference I attended they were discussing buyer personas. At the most basic level there are four buyer personas: spontaneous, humanistic, methodical and competitive. These personas are neither good nor bad, they are just differences in personal characteristics or predispositions that indicate how people will go about making purchase decisions but this made me think of some "personas" you might meet in the typical office scene. Office personas, on the other hand, CAN be positive and negative. Here are a few negative personas, and some tips on working with them:

1. The Bro (aka The Meathead)

Think Jersey Shore. The Bro is typically male and thrives in a competitive field- sales, business development, recruiting, etc. When it comes to relationships, The Bro values quantity over quality because  he wants to be well liked. The Bro does not take kindly to being criticized or questioned. The Bro is stubborn and likely will not change his behavior, even if it if deemed as unprofessional.

Tips on working with The Bro:

• Don't volunteer to work with him.
• Address issues with The Bro address privately. Do not challenge or question The Bro in front of others.
• Do not misconstrue The Bro's jovial nature for a trustworthy business relationship. The Bro will probably not go to bat for you should you ever need it.

2. The Busy Bee

The Busy Bee is busy being busy. He/she loves to boast about being busy either to garner sympathy or establish superiority. Busy Bees like to make plans and are eager to engage in projects but will remind others at every step just how busy they are (even when they are not any busier than anyone else around them).

Tips on working with Busy Bees:

• Being busy is closely tied to the Busy Bee's sense of self- never suggest that perhaps the Busy Bee is not as busy as he/she is suggesting.
• Give Busy Bees the opportunity to help out with projects- you'll already have to hear about how busy they are so you might as well make it true :-)

3. The Guru

The Guru loves to be right. You can find the Guru in management, investors, communications, and social media. The Guru will always relate a particular problem/situation/opportunity that is facing the team or company to something from his/her past. There are actually subject matter experts out there, but the Guru claims to be more than just that. The Guru sees himself/herself as the foremost authority on the industry, your job, or just life in general. 

Tips on working with The Guru:

• The Guru will almost never be wrong, just get used to it now. It's likely that you'll never make any headway on this front.
• Suggest other "rights"- The Guru doesn't necessarily have to be wrong for you or your team to be right.  If you can get The Guru to latch onto "your right" you will have him/her on your side as a promoter.
• If you suspect that The Guru is making the wrong call and his/her idea/solution may not pan out, make a back-up plan. It's never a bad idea to have something to fall back on!

In my next post I'll address some positive personas; but in the meantime, if you have encountered any other negative personas feel free to add the in the comments!