Opposites attract: a very well known concept and expression. People tend to be attracted to their opposites because we are naturally drawn towards individuals that possess the strengths to our weaknesses. This can be seen as a way to create a sense of completeness.
We often hear the concept of opposites attracting in terms of romantic relationships, but what about in the workplace? Today, more than ever, workplace diversity has become a topic of interest. In the workplace, this kind of diversity is defined by the similarities and differences among employees in many different aspects such as age, culture, psychological characteristics, race, gender, sexual orientation, and more.
Diversity allows you to have a greater range of talent, it also decreases the odds of a groupthink situation happening — a psychological phenomenon where a group of people with many similarities will want to conform to the group in order to keep a sense of harmony, which can actually negatively impact the decision-making process. Diversity at work is necessary because it brings heterogeneity, and this heterogeneity has been shown to improve performance. In fact, research indicates that the most important aspect of diversity that helps improve work performance is that of psychological diversity — especially over time. Simply put: the greater the mix of personalities, the greater the team performance.
The OAD survey can help you determine your employee personality types, and help you build more effective teams by pairing opposites together. With the OAD, you will learn how to read different personality profiles and will be able to pinpoint what kind of opposites attract. For example, you will more easily be able to pair extroverts (highly outgoing and social individuals) with introverts (more direct and technically-oriented individuals) for maximum efficacy!