PERSONA'S

In life we go through it meeting many different people, some we absolutely love, some we absolutely hate, and in life, we can choose if we want to stay with them - Have a friendship or relationship with the person or we can decide actually we don't like them and we can leave them for whatever reason that may be. But when it comes to business and working in groups for projects, it is far harder and some say unprofessional to go:

"You know what I don't like you or your fashion sense I am not working

with you."

It might actually get you fired. In group projects we adapt to who we are working with for the greater good which is to get to the end goal successfully with the group you are in. Everyone has a personality and it is important to understand or at least accept who they are. In a professional role it doesn't matter if the individual 'hates sports, loves Netflix' or 'I am vegan and I only wear Gucci'. We need to look past the personal personality traits and understand who they are business personality wise. Here are some of the personalities that you could come across in a group project:

The leader

"A natural born captain who has no problem in grabbing the

wheel of the ship and instantly steering it on course for success."

• Takes charge. This is important because a lot of people do not want to be at the forefront of a project and they may feel like they don't have the confidence or social skills to adequately and decisively manage a team of people as well as delivering the project asked for at the correct standard of quality. Remember a group of random people with all there qualities and faults is a tricky task to manage.
  

• Gathers support. A winning team or successful group project won't work without the support from every single member. The leader may have confidence in the deliverables that they can deliver but they cannot do it alone. The individual who wants to lead will need to be able to rally the group and make them get behind him/her otherwise maybe they aren't right for the job in this instance. Another way you could take 'gathering support' is that in this instance, the individual who wants to lead may have relevant contacts that could work for this brief, meaning they can 'gather support' for this project which will benefit the team as whole.
  

• Delegates responsibilities. A leader should have confidence in their abilities but they should not want to do everything themselves. This is a recipe for disaster especially on a work and personal front. Work wise the individual will be drowning in the grioup project because these group briefs will have parts that showcase your strengths but also your weaknesses. This is why delegation of the tasks and working out who should have which part to take on in regards to their skillset is vital for the success of the group.
  

The over promiser

"Yes of course I can do that for you by the end of the day although I

am busy until 12pm next Tuesday."

• Says yes to everything. This may be a good trait for a friend who will always go out with you on the weekends, but when it comes to the professional work place and tasks within a group project, over promising is a dangerous game to play. While you say 'yes' to a task that you know in yourself you may not even be able to do, the group will write it off as 'complete' and think you have it completely under control which can lead to many problems on both sides.
  

• No time delegation. Saying 'yes' all the time is hard work and will take up a lot of your time, the individual is juggling many balls from social to professional after all they can't meet a client in London while playing football with their friends in Manchester. They will find that their timetables for every day are jam packed, which may like as they get to do everything and be the 'social butterfly' they've tried so hard to become but for the team members at work waiting and hoping for an in depth analysis on future trade proposals, it can be worrying and frustrating when it turns up done half heartedly and slacking on the quality.
  

• Irrational. They may not have always been 'the overpromiser' of the group but through lack of thought and care regarding deciding what they can and cant take on, irrational thinking can creep in which could cause the over promising of going out every day or agreeing to do aspects of the group work.
  

• Positive. You would hope that saying 'yes' to everything would lead to a lot of excitement in their life, so I would say that this individual, this doer rather than thinker could be a very energetic positive person... Or the complete opposite.
  

The slacker

"Ah, yeah my bits nearly done, I know I should have been in lesson sorry

lol had a heavy one last night and broke my pen"

• Not there. Whether it is actual attendance wise they never turn up to group meetings or work shops or mentally they are never actually there, when they are even there... May be they're too hungover to concentrate or have forgotten their vital contribution to that meeting, when they are there, they still aren't really there...
  

• Not interested. A slacker may not be the laziest of individuals when it comes to their specific hobby but when it comes to the group project they couldn't care less which is hard to deal with as of course people have their preferences in life but that needs to be looked past for the good of the team, you may not like the project or task you have been given, but you should care for your group mates and think of the consequences of you not doing the task delegated.
  

• Consider. It is easy to blame the slacker for the lack of what I have mentioned above, but it is important to think of why they may be 'not there' or 'not interested'. The leader of the team should seek to find out a solution to making the slacker motivated and hungry for the project by changing their task or asking them what they think should be done and not to throw them under the bus which can make the slacker spiral. Everyone has been in a scenario where you are in a bad spot or you have gone out too much which then snow balls and effects your work rate and there is nothing worse than coming to the group and for the slacker to feel despised... Because we are all slackers sometimes.
  

The go to guy

"Tasks 1-7 have been done I am working on the next part as we speak

and no problem I can baby sit for you tonight"

• They just do it. The go to guy is a very focused individual who when given a task, will get it done on time and to the quality you spoke about in a group. This is a great person to have in a group project as reliability and trust are two attributes that are needed for success in many paths in life, especially something group orientated.
  

• Punctional. Completely opposite to the slacker, when they need to be there, they are there and when they are there, they're there. Punctuality is important to running a project as timings for each individual and their tasks all need deadlines and if a deadline is missed it will then push tasks back which result in problems such as quality standards and organisation of the overall project.
  

The control freak

"No I did that bit I think its the way we should do it... And no you cant

do that bit either I have the perfect idea for it, in fact I'll do it all".

• No delegation. Opposite to a good leader, the control freak will be scared to give up tasks for the better of the team as they believe their idea is better than the rest of the other team members. This is a problem for the project both for the end product and the team moral as the work will then fall onto the control freaks shoulders and they will do it, but is it the best way? Teams are good because they have a mixture of unique skill sets so it's hard to believe that one person will have better answers to all the problems (in the project) compared to the team as a whole. Further more the moral will be effected because the control freak is not allowing the team members ideas be used which is unfair and demotivating for the other individuals.
  

• Stressed. The mindset of wanting to do everything themselves and the anxieties of letting other team members even touch their project must make the control freak stressed overall as a person which doesn't benefit anyone at all.
  

• Perfectionist. This can be seen as a bad thing at times due to time, financial and physical constraints in group projects. The control freaks perfect idea could take 20 years and 3 million pounds when the group project has 2 months and 300 pounds to play with. But on the other hand being a perfectionist is a really good tool personally and in a project where it is a longer time period to play with so their vision can be accomplished. With this in mind the perfectionist could become a good leader through having clear visions, plans and quality standards as well as any other traits that a perfectionist has.
  

The gluer

"How is everyone today?! GREAT! Lets get started shall we?

After this we'll go for a drink!".

• Chemistry creator. This person is the Kevin De Bruyne (a very good midfielder) of people management. The gluer will be able to talk to everyone and get even the slacker involved and motivated for the task in hand. You could say the leader needs to do this but the leader is further up the project 'hierarchy' and may not have time to be making sure everyone is happy with what they're doing work wise then going out for morality boosting drinks after everything is complete. Think of a captain in a Football team, there will be an overall captain but then also be a vice captain who is normal in the defence may be even the goal keeper as they can see everything and is involved in everything also.
  

• All rounder. To be a good gluer you need to have all the attributes, communication, business management, individual skills, confidence and a relaxed approach in order to keep the team happy and moving along in the right direction. The gluer doesn't need to lead and may not be the go to guy for certain aspects of a project but they are there in the middle helping out as well as doing their own parts.

gifs from - https://gfycat.com