How to Praise Your Team Members by Their Personality Types

The project is over and thankfully, it was a success. You’re sitting with your team members in the meeting room, and you want to praise them and give them some positive feedback. But you don’t just want to give a generic speech. Instead, you want something more personalized that “speaks the language” of each person in the room. The reason for this is that you’ve tried praising them the way you’d personally like to be praised before, but you saw that it didn’t quite resonate with everyone. So, is there a way we could map the needs of different types of people with different forms of praise?

This is where personality psychology can come in handy; particularly, one theory that was presented by an American psychologist called David Keirsey in 1978. In his book called “Please Understand Me”, Keirsey builds on the work of Carl Jung, the famous psychologist, as well as the famous Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, and expanded them to develop his own theory of temperaments that is used to this day in companies like Cisco, Bank of America and AT&T.

According to Keirsey, human personalities can be divided into 4 main temperaments: Rationals, Idealists, Guardians and Artisans. Let’s look at each of the four and how to spot them.

 1. Rationals are the types that:

• Trust logic and reason in making their judgements or decisions
• Feel at their best when they are being inventive or solving complex problems.
• Love building strategies for the future, whether it be for a company, product, or a process.
• Enjoy abstract conversations and debates about big ideas and theories, and can seem tough-minded when communicating.
• Are annoyed when others make decisions based only on emotions or assumptions that are not well-thought of.
• Are abstract in their communication, meaning that they prefer looking at the big picture and skipping over unnecessary details.

2. Idealists are the types that:

• Are more romantic and are driven by intuition.
• Seek to find meaning in their work and relationships and seek to be authentic in what they do.
• Love to explore ways for their personal development as well as the development of others.
• Are diplomatic; can deal with different people and put themselves in their shoes.
• Are deep thinkers. They like to find what lies beneath the surface, whether it be uncovering underlying motivations of others or finding meaning behind life’s events.
• Abstract communicators, usually using metaphors to describe their ideas.

3. Guardians are types that:

• Have a strong work ethic and a sense of duty.
• Believe in serving the community and view following rules as the means to achieving it.
• Understand the importance of institutions in keeping the social structure intact, and are the glue that holds organizational structures and processes together.
• Are practical and concrete in their communication. Therefore, they prefer tangible evidence from the past when making decisions rather than idle speculation.
• Are detail-oriented and methodical in how they think. They prefer to go through a step-by-step process rather than big picture summaries like Idealists and Rationals.
• And more aware of basic necessities or tasks that others sometimes forget about.

4. Artisans are types that:

• Are spontaneous personalities that are primarily action oriented.
• Learn best by doing and tend to zone out during long lectures or explanations.
• Are more focused on what can be done here and now rather than linger on the past or speculate about the future.
• Are usually laid-back but they’re also quick on their feet in dealing with emergencies.
• Enjoy physical activities, whether it’s painting, cooking, cross-fit, using tools, dancing, or operating machinery
• Take pride in how skilled they are in their crafts.

Now that we’ve had an overview of the personalities, let’s take a look at what kind of praise works best with each one.

Rationals Need Respect

The Rationals in your team will have the need for you to “understand” their work and show Respect for their abilities. And the way to do that is to consult them on their logic and method with which they completed their tasks.

Ask them why they made the choices that they made and how it affected their accomplishments, whether they be technical, analytical or related to how they persuaded a client. Challenge their reason with questions and listen to their responses, and if everything is correct, then congratulate them on their efforts.

If their work is technical then open up possibilities for more potential research to develop their work, as this will satisfy their need to expand their knowledge. Finally, make them a point of reference for advice for future similar work because they will view that as respect for their abilities.

Idealists Need Recognition

The Idealists in the team crave Recognition. This seems to be somewhat similar to the respect that Rationals like, and indeed there are similarities. However, since idealists are the more romantic type, they need the manager to recognize their “print” in the work.

The idealist type is very focused on identity, so they are naturally aware of their strengths and talents, and how these show up in their output. They need their manager to recognize their diplomatic skills in handling clients, visual skills in displaying complicated information, and creativity in finding solutions to difficult problems.

Recognize which parts they worked on and commend them for it. But be aware that an idealist doesn’t want to give the impression that they’re bragging, so be sure to ask them what difficulties they faced in their work. Take a closer look and give them the compliments that show them that you “know” them and recognize their uniqueness and identity within the team.

Guardians Need Gratitude

The Guardians in the team will certainly enjoy the recognition and the respect, but that doesn’t quite strike the chord like Gratitude does for them. As the type that is most aware with basic logistical necessities, guardians are more likely to do the thankless jobs that no one else is preoccupied with.

Aside from their primary responsibilities in the team, they will take care of updating the project pipeline, finding scheduling conflicts, keeping code consistency, writing necessary documentation or editing that of others. However, Guardians often don’t wait for instruction to perform these tasks, as they have an internal sense of duty. Hence, what they really appreciate is gratitude for the tasks that they voluntarily took upon themselves to finish.

Show them that you see them as dependable and reliable. List out in detail the tasks they’ve accomplished and how they’ve helped the project in a significant way, and how their work ethic provides consistency and quality for the team. For when they are appreciated, the guardians don’t have a problem taking on even more burdens.

Artisans Need Generosity

The Artisans in the team, while certainly welcoming verbal praise, will often appreciate Generosity the most. As a group they can either be talkative or introverted, but one unique thing about them is that they are a type that values actions above all. They jump into assignments right away and measure the success of their work by the tangible impact they’ve made. Consequently, the form of praise that really hits home with them is acts of generosity.

As a thank you for a job well done, take the team for a lunch or give them a few extra vacation days. If you can provide coupons for food or online courses, they’d really appreciate it. Ask them if they need something else for their desk (a bigger screen or a more comfortable chair) and arrange for buying one.

Another major example is to be generous with the freedom and space you grant them when doing their work. Let them know they can have time to explore different ways to finish their tasks and be sure not to micromanage them. Finally, don’t forget the financial forms of generosity like raises and bonuses.

There certainly is a significant overlap between the different types of praises. Your words might be offering a mix of respect and recognition, or your actions showing a mix of generosity and gratitude. But what’s important is to understand which type of praise is central to each team member’s process and personality. Also, be sure to mix the different kinds of praise for each team member as they’ll all be appreciated at one point or another (Who doesn’t want a bonus, right?).

Another important point to note is that you need to be genuine in your praise. When consulting the Rational, make sure you are asking relevant questions and not merely displaying fake interest. When recognizing the Idealist, make sure your comments about their work are authentic and come from active observation of their work. When thanking the Guardian, make sure they know exactly what you’re thanking them for and why you value it. And finally, when showing generosity to the Artisan, make sure that granting them the coupons or vacation days is a decision that you are happy to make and not an inconvenience for you or the company.