Written by Liz Swanson, Assistant Director, Professional Education Services
Two of our most popular education programs at ICAHN are our Nurse Preceptor Academy and Supervisor Academy. In both classes we include personality assessments as part of the coursework. We use the assessments to encourage managers and leaders to understand their own personality and the personality of the team they work with. I find the study of personalities in the workplace fascinating and, over the weekend, I read an article on the subject that really made me think.
In the piece, Hannah Nugent from the University of Maine wrote, “What you may think of as your own personality or "yourself" only exists for you. Even then, you don't even really know who that is. It can be as simple as making eye contact with someone, smiling at a stranger, or holding the door for someone. Now that they've interacted with you or seen you in some way, another version of you exists. For every person you encounter, there is a version of you that exists in their mind.”
The Version of You
How many thousand versions of me are there? Me in a moment when I am tired and snippy, me when I am trying my best, me when I just want to blend into the crowd, the me that wants to be the center of attention. I just got back from vacation, and I literally saw thousands of people. I talked and interacted with a good number including the person who took me to the airport, train conductors, rental car agents, and the woman who told me she liked my earrings. I had a flight attendant that seemed to tell me his life story and a waiter that directed me to a roof top bar to see the best view of the harbor. In all of their minds, there is a version of Liz that may or may not be real.
Meet them With Kindness
Here is the thing. We will never really know the in-depth personality of our teammates and everything that makes them tick. The truth is they may not know that much about themselves. The best we can do most days is meet them where they are with as much kindness as possible. You don't have to go out of your way to do anything, but a simple smile can make a difference. Someone that met you on a bad day probably has a different impression of you than someone that met you on a great day. It can make a huge difference if we walk with our team on their journey with kindness even when we don’t understand or have all the answers. Try to walk a path that is real and authentic so there are not that many versions of yourself to keep track of. I can hardly keep track of one version of myself. That is the view this week from where I sit.
