Introverts, extroverts, and the work "tree"

I explain to my crew at work about how to work with personalities other than your own this way.

We here are a tree. The introverted detail person is the roots. They like to dig deep, focus on getting every last nutrient out of the soil into our tree. They can be single minded and like to be left to their task.

The extroverted people oriented staffers are the branches, leaves and twigs of the tree. They wave to all passing by "hey come on over, get comfortable, we can provide for you . Whatcha need? Shade? Fruit? a place to rest? Come on over..... They are multi-taskers who do best when they are moving around and doing more than one thing at a time, they thrive when they are able to share with people the work they are involved in. 

We meet in the middle - the trunk is where we communicate with each other. The root sends nutrients up to the leaves, the leaves send chlorophyll down to the roots. When we don't communicate clearly there is a knot formed in the trunk, a wound that may be able to be healed but we all work around it daily. When we don't communicate at all we have a tree that dies. It gets chopped into firewood and used to build a fence.

Clear communication between the roots and the branches can be difficult. We see differently. The root sees the rock that can disrupt the tasks, the dirt that can smother the job or provide nutrients the tree needs. 

The branches see the sky filled with visiting birds who have songs of exciting happenings, they see the grass that cushions the couple sitting in the shade of their leaves, they see the storm clouds coming bringing rain that can either bless the tree or destroy the tree and those sheltered within and under.

We daily struggle to see our jobs and our co-workers in a way that permits for differences in style, personality, temperaments and as we struggle we try to give grace. We try to remember we need both roots and leaves, twigs and branches. We work together to balance our store, balance our staff and work from the strengths we each possess. So what if she isn't good at dotting all her i's, she is fabulous at helping customers find the treasures in the store, so what if he isn't a people person, you should see how fast he got the inventory moved. When we honor the person's strengths their weaknesses can fade. Not by ignoring them but by balancing them and learning from others.

We don't take offense, "A Fence" gets heavy when you take it and  cart it around on your back, it wears you out, and allows the cow that was grazing behind it to get loose and eat the neighbor's garden. You then have to catch the cow, replace the garden, mend the fence and all this while your back aches from having carried it to begin with.

Instead we give grace - we remember no one is perfect and none can do everything well. Each of us has talents, skills, abilities and we are not in competition with each other to be the "golden child who can do no wrong". We purposefully remember : We don't assume "she can do what he can do". We deliberately think before we assign duties. We provide training to strengthen weak areas, we applaud growth and development, we spend their energy where they are strongest and most likely to succeed. 

All this helps us have a strong growing healthy tree that provides for many families in many ways.