Managers often find difficulty supervising team members using one approach for all. This is why recent studies have been focused on understanding the different patterns and styles of work that can be found in different individuals, so it helps their supervisors motivate them, unlock their hidden talents, as well as make distributing tasks much easier than ever before.
According to O.C. Tanner's 2022 Global Culture report, employees' styles of work can be categorized into five main groups, based on their most prominent traits and how each can be utilized for the utmost advantage of work.
The report aims to support executives' efforts in identifying each employee's strong points and consequently delegating tasks that best fit them.
5 Types of Employees You Can Find in Each Team
1- Builders
Some employees are great visionaries who glow professionally when asked to set big-picture plans and outline strategies that can eventually achieve the team's goals.
These highly confident employees are goal-oriented, with a great sense of emotional intelligence, and are known to be quite resilient. Builders can be greatly motivated by rewards.
They can perform best within strategy and planning teams and they make great supervisors of operations.
2- Taskers
As the name suggests, taskers are employees who function best by having work divided into small chunks delegated to them. They focus on the details of each task and are not great at finding a comprehensive view.
Thanks to their neutral self-esteem at work, taskers respond well to rewards but not punishment or exciting promising changes. They can also be resistant to feedback. They can be great facilitators of daily tasks.
3- Achievers
This group of employees puts a lot of work while looking forward to the final outcome. Achievers want to get done with the project and see things at their optimum condition with their focus almost entirely devoted to this purpose.
Achievers have high energy and are honest but can be moody and possessive. Achievers do not respond well to punishment but receive great motivation through rewards and fun activities.
Once Achievers can control their negative behaviors, they can be great leaders and mid-career supervisors.
4- Socializers
Here are the team's outgoing and loud members. They enjoy being part of the group and always thrive in big teams. Providing them with fun activities can be the most efficient form of reward that motivates them to do more.
They have high self-esteem and focus their energy on building connections with team members or clients. While they can be a little aggressive, they also make great spokespeople.
Socializers can be the best marketing agents as they enjoy meeting new people they can pitch new business ideas to. They are also great executives in human resources and culture departments.
5- Coasters
This is the most challenging type of employee and needs careful supervision. Coasters have negative self-esteem and can often suffer from stress, and anxiety, as they are prone to being pessimists.
Coasters' work style is mostly about getting things done with the bare minimum effort. Yet, they are practical and deliver the needed results just before the deadline. Coasters can not be motivated easily as they focus on avoiding punishment. Sometimes, they appreciate rewards that can be a little motivating to them.
The best way to use coasters' skills in your team is to raise the bar for results required from them, so they feel the need to put more energy and effort into each task. Making possible punishments clear can also help achieve needed results.
Moreover, deadlines for coasters need to be set as early as possible, so their work can be reviewed ahead of the last minute.
