You can understand the ins and outs of different project management frameworks (think Prince2, PMI) but project success isn’t just about timelines, budgets, and deliverables—it’s about people. Every project involves a diverse group of individuals, each with unique strengths, communication styles, and ways of approaching work. Understanding personalities is the key to fostering better collaboration, reducing conflict, and driving your projects to success.
Projects are made up of people, and people have different ways of thinking, working, and responding to challenges. Each individual delivering your project has their own background, their own motivations and drivers and also their unique personal life! All of these are hidden factors that will influence your projects success, therefore it's important to be in-tune with the subtleties of your team's personalities.
By recognising and appreciating these differences, you can:
Whether you’re working with a small team or coordinating a large-scale initiative, leveraging personality insights can make all the difference between dragging your team through the project plan, and actually creating a successful project that delivers on it's mission and empowers your team.
So how do you actually go about doing it?
There are several well-established personality frameworks that can help you better understand yourself and your team members. Why not add this task to the project plan > "Complete a personality quiz and present the findings to the team.". Watch connections form between your team members as they foster understanding and empathy with each other.
Which quiz to use? That depends…
At the end of the day, any of these will do for the purposes you will be using it for.
It's important to remember that you are not trying to put yourself or your team in a box, the results of these quizzes can change over time. The key is to use the results to work better together, today.
As well as your own all-round personality results, there are even more personality types that you can typically find in a project team, and it's usually a good idea to have a good mix for a successful project.
Each personality type in the project has it's own strengths and challenges, and understanding which role each of your members aligns with can help you strategically assign the project tasks.
For example, you probably want to have the action-oriented doer on your side when sh*t hits the fan and you need that client deliverable out the door yesterday.
Once you have a better idea of who you have on your team, you can make insightful decisions to drive your project forward!
Understanding personalities isn’t about labelling people—it’s about leveraging their strengths and fostering collaboration. When project leaders take the time to recognise different working styles, they create an environment where teams thrive, productivity increases, and project success becomes a natural outcome.
By integrating personality insights into your project management approach, you can build stronger, more resilient teams and achieve outstanding results. Ready to start leveraging personality strengths in your next project? The key to success might just be in understanding the people around you!
If you would like to talk about what practical steps you can do to implement these learnings to your projects, get in touch for a free, no-obligation call!