The Power of Me not being You
In this article, Jayne Rhodes from J2People looks at the benefits of embracing different styles within a team, and why difference achieves results in your business.
The Power of Two – J2
When Jane and I set up our J2People in 2019, we knew the most important ingredient of success was going to be our working relationship. Without understanding how each of us are at our best it would make working directly together more of a challenge.
We had worked closely together on projects in our former corporate world. We always got on, but equally recognised that our style and approach was often different. Jane was a brilliant ideas person, I would always say she could think her way over any brick wall faced in our project. I was more detailed and diligent in completing tasks and would pin Jane’s ideas down and make them become a reality. Having a ’starter’ and a ‘finisher’ working well together made us a powerful pair.
However, forming J2People was quite different. We were creating a partnership of equals, and we were ‘glued’ together more closely as a small team to deliver. We have always been fully committed to the success of our business, but it was even more important that we were rowing in the same direction for J2People to thrive.
When we first started developing our business plan, we laid out our skills and values to understand how we complement each other and where we are different. We knew it was important to invest in our working relationship, and at an early stage committed to taking regular time out together to laugh, bond and plan our way forwards.
Understanding Us
As part of this approach we used the ‘Insights Discovery’ tool to understand our natural behavioural preferences and how we operate in different situations. Those of you familiar with ‘Insights’ (and us!) will understand what I mean when I say Jane is a combination of ‘Sunshine Yellow’ and ‘Fiery Red’, whereas I am ‘Earth Green’ with a bit of ‘Cool Blue.’ For those not familiar with the model, in summary we are quite different! The important thing is that we have learnt how to swim in the same lane even if we are doing different strokes.
If I was to sum up Jane I would say she is positive, optimistic and enjoys interacting with people. She is brilliant at coming up with ideas, and thinks things through from all angles. Jane is driven to achieve results and ensures we keep on track when the pressure is on to deliver for a client.
On the other hand, I am a reflector and bring a calm environment to the team. I am flexible, patient, reliable and a good listener. With my engaging style, I bring harmony to a situation, and Iike detail and time to think things through. I am thorough in planning and able to maintain our energy to see every project through from start to finish.
Our behaviours can therefore play out quite differently in work situations.
We are ‘different’. However the magic comes from our self-awareness of our own behavioural preferences, and understanding each others’ styles and trusting our partnership. We openly discuss our differences, and lever them to keep our relationship on track and bring our ‘J2’ minds together to deliver effectively as one. The key is to remain aware of our different styles, and discuss our natural gaps and where we might need help from each other. I need Jane’s direction and challenge (most of the time😉), Jane needs my detailed eye. By understanding each others’ individual qualities we have all bases covered, and bring our J2 minds together to deliver a fantastic service.
Helping you to embrace difference in your teams
We love that we are different and what this brings to our business and to our clients. When we are supporting our clients in turning around dysfunctional teams to succeed, the concept of embracing and understanding difference and how this can empower your team to perform is at the heart of what we do and a key part of our Positive People agenda. We actively encourge teams to embrace difference and be open to different styles.
J2People are an HR Consultancy, we are passionate about supporting businesses to enable their employees to thrive in the workplace. If you would like to know more about how we can support your team to embrace difference and thrive in the workplace, please get in touch at hello@j2people.co.uk
