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Meet The Team Member - Ambitious Andy
Each character in this series is designed to portray one of four different styles of behaviour, based on Robert Bolton and Dorothy Grover Bolton’s book, ‘People Styles at Work’. For each style, we’re looking at two examples: a person whose approach has more impact upon other people and one that has more impact upon the task in hand.
The style
This month, it’s the turn of Ambitious Andy. Like ‘Make it Happen Mavis’, Andy is an example of a Driver. Andy is very motivated – he knows exactly where he’s going and is quite determined to get there.
He thinks and works at a fast pace, and he’s completely focused on tasks and results (rather than on people). He has great energy and drive and is single-minded. It’s no surprise that Andy is probably a successful squash player as well – because he’s out to win.
The substance
It’s great having somebody like Andy in the team, as he can help you to set your sights high, and can provide some extra (perhaps badly needed) momentum to a project. However, despite his positivity and inner drive, he can sometimes have a negative effect on the people around him.
Within a work environment, people can seldom operate completely alone - so Andy needs to have his colleagues on board if he’s going to achieve his own goals and also the company’s goals. And while they might admire his energy and drive, the other members of the team can find his style somewhat dictatorial.
The solution
Andy should be helped to recognise the fact that he needs to bring other people with him on his journey. He needs to take a little time to sell his ideas and plans to them.
Although the task in hand will always remain his primary focus, if he gets everybody else working with him (rather than against him), he will find that he can achieve even more. And as he’s already so focused on results, this alone can be a very persuasive argument.
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