Leadr Blog

5 Ways Using Personality Insights Make you a Better Leader

Written by Leadr Team | Jun 22, 2023 4:28:01 PM

One powerful tool that can significantly enhance your leadership skills is utilizing personality insights.

What if you never had to guess which team members thrived with structure and which preferred loose reigns? 

How would it help if you knew what motivates and demotivates each team member before collaborating on their upcoming goals?

By understanding the unique traits and tendencies of yourself and those around you, you can unlock a new level of leadership prowess. Here are five ways that using personality insights can make you a better leader, from improving communication to clarifying leadership potential. Let's dive in.

1. Improves communication 

Effective communication lies at the heart of successful leadership. Personality insights provide valuable information about communication styles, preferences, and strengths. 

By understanding the communication preferences of your team members, you can tailor your approach to maximize understanding and engagement. Whether it's adjusting your communication style, changing your feedback style, or actively listening to others, leveraging personality insights empowers you to communicate more effectively and build stronger connections within your team.

2. Highlights natural strengths

Gallup tells us that people who use their strengths every day are 6xs more likely to be engaged on the job.

By recognizing and harnessing the strengths of your team members, you can delegate tasks more effectively, foster a sense of fulfillment, and achieve optimal results. This approach not only enhances individual performance but also cultivates a collaborative and supportive team environment.

3. Identifies coaching opportunities

Leadership involves guiding and developing your team members to reach their full potential. Personality insights can identify areas for growth and development, helping you tailor your coaching strategies accordingly. 

By understanding individual preferences, learning styles, and areas of improvement, you can provide targeted support and mentorship. This personalized approach boosts employee engagement, enhances performance, and fosters professional growth within your team.

4. Prevents unnecessary conflict

How much detrimental conflict could we avoid if we only knew how people preferred to be approached with feedback?

Knowing your Enneagram 8s prefer more candid conversations than your Enneagram 2s can help guide the more sensitive conversations you have with your team. 

By understanding the different communication styles, decision-making approaches, and conflict resolution preferences of team members, you can navigate disagreements more effectively and promote harmonious working relationships.

5. Clarifies leadership potential

Every person on your team has leadership potential. However, this will come across wildly different between your ESTJs and your INFPs. 

Personality insights can help you identify potential leaders within your team, even if their traits might not match traditional leadership stereotypes. By recognizing their unique qualities, you can nurture their development, provide opportunities for growth, and create a succession plan for future leadership roles. Embracing a broad perspective on leadership potential fosters diversity, inclusion, and innovation within your organization.

Utilizing personality insights as a leader opens up a world of possibilities for personal and professional growth. Leadr’s profile card is a cheat sheet that helps you keep these personality insights front-of-mind before every meeting, so you can have more effective and intentional conversations with your team.

One Leadr user shared, "As our company grows, it becomes harder to make it feel personal, like our team members know each other well. The Profile Card is really helpful for solving this issue."

Here’s a sneak peek:


Using The Working Genius to maximize results

At Leadr, we're big fans of The Working Genius, a groundbreaking tool that helps identify and leverage each team member's distinct talents. This innovative approach helps you build effective teams, increase productivity, lead better meetings, and maximize results.

We use it so much that we've made it an integral part of our Leadr Advantage software.

With Leadr Advantage, powered by Patrick Lencioni’s insights into organizational health, you can seamlessly incorporate Working Genius into your everyday work for more effective teams. 

As the official Organizational Health Platform in partnership with Patrick Lencioni, we’re continually seeking ways to bring The Working Genius to life within our tool. Curious to see how it all works? Get a closer look here.