Some people are used to making decisions in seconds. Information is limited, the clock is ticking, and yet they still manage to arrive at a clear yes or no quickly. Others insist on data, follow-up questions, and a night to sleep on the matter —and even then, for them, some uncertainty remains. Both approaches are found in every form of collaboration, and especially in teamwork. And both approaches often lead to friction.
Personality research provides a useful framework for understanding this. Three pairs of personality dimensions interact here: Openness and Consistency, Conscientiousness and Impulsivity, as well as Extraversion and Introversion.
Three dimensions – one moment of decision
People high in Openness tend to absorb new information quickly and make connections between ideas intuitively. They notice patterns while others are still sifting through the information, and they often trust a kind of inner sense of the whole – what we commonly call a gut feeling. This is by no means carelessness. Instead, it is a cognitive style: associative, exploratory, and open to uncertainty.
At the other end of the spectrum – among people who lean more strongly toward Consistency – there is often a desire for greater certainty: Proven approaches, familiar patterns, past experience. This is by no means fearfulness. Instead, it is a style that relies on dependability and on what has worked before.
Then the second dimension comes into play. People with high Conscientiousness scores tend to prepare decisions carefully: gathering information, weighing pros and cons, and working through checklists. Those who lean more toward Impulsivity are likely to make decisions more spontaneously—with less lead time and less use of documentation.
And then there is the process of reaching the decision itself. People high in Extraversion often think out loud. They need conversation, social interaction, and prefer a back-and-forth with others to gain clarity. At the other end of the spectrum – among those who lean more toward Introversion – the processing happens more internally. These individuals typically emerge from quiet reflection with a well-considered conclusion, while, for example, an extraverted colleague may have talked things through with several different people. Both paths can lead to good decisions. But from the outside, they look fundamentally different – and both are therefore often misjudged.
Where it gets interesting in teams
When these different styles meet, the result is what many people tend to interpret as communication problems. One person may perceive the discussion as “endless.” Another thinks the decision “was made too quickly.” Both are right from their own respective perspectives.
The point is that decision-making process is rarely about right or wrong. It is about different personality profiles that bring about different approaches to decision-making – but also about what behaviors are appropriate in a given context. Anyone who understands this can stop thinking one colleague is “slow on the uptake” and another one is “hasty” – and start using each person’s strengths as the situation calls for.
The quick decision-maker brings speed and direction. The careful deliberator brings safeguards and depth. Ideally, good teams know who brings what to the table and can make use of these differences.
What this means in practice
Self-awareness changes one thing above all here: how we judge those styles of processing information, to get to postulations and decisions. Anyone who understands that their own “gut feeling” is not a universal benchmark can be more relaxed about it. And anyone who recognizes that their own thoroughness can feel like a roadblock to others will likely find it easier to compromise.
No style is superior. But knowing the roots of your own style – and the styles of the people around you – will likely make collaboration tangibly better, less stressful and more successful.
Myself at Work – European in thought, humanistically founded
The Myself at Work offering is, of course, GDPR-compliant: No data transfer outside Europe. Hosting, processing, and evaluation take place entirely within the EU.
Myself at Work consistently refrains from negative statements. Different personality traits – such as work styles, communicative preferences, or specific requirements for collaboration and the work environment – are understood not as deviations, but as resources. The evaluation of the Big-Five-based results is based on a humanistic view of humanity that understands diversity, development, and context as indispensable dimensions of personality.
