Question

Not the Type Who Sees the Big Picture

Jenny Folsom is the manager of a group of marketing specialists. She has good relationships with most of her team, except for Connie Perez. Jenny is on the verge of letting Connie go. Connie just cannot seem to work up to Jenny’s expectations. Over the past year, Jenny has had four quarterly review sessions with Connie. In each one, Jenny pointed out her expecta- tions and indicated where Connie was falling short. Connie continued to act in much the same way, even though she felt she was trying to improve. Before going to the drastic step of dismissing an employee, Jenny has gone to the Personnel Department, specifically to the Training and Development Group. She has presented her problem to two training and development specialists. She said, “Connie seems to get bogged down in details. I give her a project to work on and a set of overall objectives. Then, when I talk to her, I find that she is buried in some minor issue, getting all the information she can, talking to other people about that issue. It drives me crazy. I need to get the project completed and have her move on to something else. I want her to see the big picture.We have a lot to do, a whole strategy to implement. I can’t afford to have someone getting hung up on minor details.” The training and development specialists sense that there is a big differ- ence in personality types between Jenny and Connie.They invite Jenny to come back the next day, at which time she is given a briefing on types. It quickly becomes evident that Jenny is an intuitive thinker (NT) in the Jungian personality types. She is good at conceptualizing and systematic planning. She can see the underlying principles of organizations and systems. With each accomplishment of her group, Jenny can see three or four new big challenges.When the training and development specialists talked this way to Jenny, she agreed readily with their description of her. On the other hand, Connie seems to be a sensor–feeler (SF), based on Jenny’s description. Connie is very practical and down to earth. She actually is quite good at problem solving in an immediate way. Also, she is highly resourceful, able to find information and answers. Unfortunately, she simply is not the type to see the big picture. Jenny asks the training and development specialists,“So what do I do?”

Questions

1. Should Jenny have a session with Connie on her own?

2. Should she have the session with the training and development specialists?

3. Should Connie be given the analysis results for herself and for Jenny?

4. What kinds of issues should the two women discuss? 5. What kinds of tasks should Jenny assign to Connie in the future?

Answer 1

1

No. Jenny should not have a session on her own with Connie. They are of different personality and a session between them where just two of them are involved can give rise to bigger complexities. The best approach will be to have a session where HR personnel leads and educates both of them about these personality traits.

2

Yes. Jenny should have a session with training and development team in order to learn how to handle the different personality types. For example, as a leader she should first learn to accept the personality differences and find ways to establish a system where all different personalities can make contribution.

3

Yes. Just Jenny needs to learn about other personalities, Connie too should be aware of her boss’ personality and how to be an effective team member.

4

The two women should discuss issues different personality traits, how these personalities can be productive and how they could leverage each other’s’ strength and be more focused.

5

Jenny should assign Connie short term projects that require quick response problem solving