How Understanding Personality Types Improves Team Performance

Issue 212, May 15, 2025

Most effective leaders have come up with a way to manage the range of personalities that make up their executive and managerial teams. Without understanding what motivates others’ behavior it leaves you prey to reacting and not being proactive in organizational and personal interactions. This may sound too simple and obvious, but we tend to hire and show favoritism to individuals who share our personality types. That may make daily interactions more frictionless but can lead to creating teams that are imbalanced and ineffective in terms of skillsets and perspectives.

Personal Preferences

We know a high-performance coach who has bypassed the traditional Myers-Briggs type of personality assessment by developing a set of behavioral preferences that people can actually remember. Take the test and identify which of the following descriptions best describes your preferences. Most of us are hybrids of the four sets but identify which is your primary preference.

You make lists. You like everything to be orderly and clear. You are a linear thinker and don’t do well with what you perceive as disorganized, haphazard thinking. You are a problem solver and use logic, data and analytics to make decisions. Who do you not understand and who makes you crazy? Highly creative, often chaotic innovation teams.
You are a people person. You love working with others. You find a way to talk to anyone about anything. You are a team player and loyal to a fault. You are curious about others. One of your tactics with others is to charm them to win their attention and allegiance. You create a narrative that suits the situation and draw others into your orbit. Independent, non-loyal colleagues are your Achilles’ Heel.
You are the smartest person in the room, and you know it. You can’t figure out why no one else can see the answer to a problem; it’s so obvious. You spend time studying theory and developing strategy. You love big, complex problems and solve them holistically, relying on your ability to use systems thinking. Your colleagues come to you for big ideas and your ability to “connect the dots,” revealing hard-to-see macro trends and directions.
You love the seduction of the deal. You chase the next project, the next idea. You’ll even poach ideas from others if it helps the win. You move fast, usually independently. You are true to your goals and will enlist others to help achieve the win. You resist accountability, confident of delivering results on the fly.

Have you identified your personality preference? The innovation of our of our coach is to take these preferences and associate them with animals that embody these personalities. As we said, it sounds too simple, but it works because people remember animals, not complex, formulaic classifications.

You are a beaver. What do beavers do when their habitats and dams break? They rebuild them exactly the same way. They are reliable, deliver results consistently and keep chaos at bay.
You are a dolphin. Dolphins love to perform, entertain and do tricks. They are friendly to a fault and travel in pods. What do they do if a shark threatens their group? They attack to defend the pod.
You are an owl. You live on a branch high above everyone else. You can see everything by swiveling your head (metaphorically) and understanding how it all fits together. Your nemesis is a slow, plodding, literal thinker.
You are a fox. Smart, canny, and quick, foxes move from one deal to the next. They are restless, get bored quickly and are not above raiding the henhouse.

The true lesson is that management teams need all four of these personality types to achieve success. If the group is overweighted with one or two types, friction can result.
It’s the “wisdom of crowds” concept that thrives with balance, inclusion and diversity. We’re pretty sure you’ll remember your animal type as well as the others on the team. It helps defuse issues when you know where people are coming from operating from their default personality preferences and biases.

Types ABCD

It recently came to our attention that a corollary to the “animal” personality typology is a study on the classic personality types A and B with two lesser-known types. For eons, we’ve been bifurcated into Type A or B. Fun fact, Type A and Type B were developed by cardiologists as a way to assess heart disease risk.

If you’re Type A, you’re organized, impatient, a high achiever, competitive and ambitious. You may be a workaholic and hold high expectations for yourself and others. Type A individuals typically have a sense of urgency, often leading to high levels of stress.
Type B individuals are generally more relaxed, easygoing, and patient. They tend to be less competitive and more focused on enjoying the process rather than just the outcome. Type B personalities often experience less stress and are better at maintaining work-life balance. They may also be more flexible and adaptable to changes.

Interestingly, Types C and D have emerged as an alternative to the polarized A and B Types.

Type C is characterized as conscientious, analytical, and detail-oriented. They are often described as calm, cooperative, and consistent, with a strong focus on accuracy and quality. Type C individuals tend to be reserved and may prefer solitary activities, taking a long time to open up in groups. They prefer independent work, focusing on relying on logic and facts when making decisions and solving problems. While their strengths lie in their problem-solving skills and analytical abilities, they may struggle with emotional vulnerability and delegation. Type C individuals are highly sensitive to criticism of their work and strive to avoid making mistakes.
There is also a Type D Personality known as “distressed personality.” Type D experiences and expresses a wide range of negative emotions, including sadness, anxiety, worry, and irritability. They are characterized by high social inhibition. They have difficulty expressing emotions and behaviors in social interactions, potentially due to fear of rejection or disapproval. They may also be more susceptible to psychological distress and its associated health consequences.

How Understanding Personality Preferences Improves Team Performance

Understanding personality types—whether framed through animals or the classic A/B/C/D model—equips leaders with the tools to unlock their teams’ full potential. We work with clients to transform the challenges of multiple personality types into assets for effective teams. You can’t manage what you don’t understand, and that goes particularly for the behavioral motivations and biases of individuals who are in decision-making roles. Let’s return to our animal typologies to offer a window of understanding.

Enhanced Communication: Leaders who understand the diverse preferences and stress triggers of each type can tailor their communication for better clarity and engagement. For example, owls prefer strategic conversations, while dolphins thrive on relational, people-centric dialogue.
Balanced Collaboration: A team made up of beavers, dolphins, owls, and foxes naturally covers a broader range of capabilities—execution, empathy, vision, and initiative. When leaders recognize and intentionally assemble diverse types, collaboration becomes more productive and less combative.
Conflict Reduction: Many team conflicts stem from misunderstandings about motivation or communication styles. Knowing that a “fox” moves fast and resists structure helps a “beaver” avoid personalizing what might otherwise seem like recklessness.
Strategic Role Assignment: Leaders can align tasks and projects with each team member’s strengths. Beavers manage processes. Dolphins thrive in customer service and team cohesion. Owls strategize. Foxes chase innovation and new markets.
Better Decision-Making: Inclusive teams with varied perspectives avoid groupthink. Each personality type challenges assumptions differently, leading to more robust solutions and fewer blind spots.
Leadership Self-Awareness: Perhaps most critically, understanding these types enables leaders to reflect on their own biases, strengths, and default behaviors. A Type A leader, for example, may push too hard for results without realizing the burnout risks for Type D team members. Recognizing this allows for a more empathetic and sustainable leadership style.

Ultimately, knowing your team’s personality preferences fosters psychological safety, encourages mutual respect, and enables adaptive leadership. It’s not just about knowing whether someone is a fox or a dolphin—it’s about leading people as they are, not as we wish they were.

How ABCD Types Can Enhance Leadership and Team Performance

Integrating the ABCD typology alongside the animal metaphor adds a nuance to team design and leadership. While animals reflect behavioral archetypes, ABCD types can help identify emotional and cognitive tendencies revealed under pressure. Understanding both can elevate leadership and collaboration.

Emotional Intelligence and Stress Management: Type A and D individuals, though very different, are both sensitive to pressure—A from internal drive, D from emotional strain. Leaders aware of this can prevent burnout by moderating intensity and creating space for psychological safety.
Task Delegation and Role Fit: Just as a fox should lead a bold market initiative, a Type C may be best suited for quality control or research. Knowing someone is a Type C “beaver” tells you they’ll thrive with detailed, structured work.
Conflict Mediation: A Type B dolphin may avoid confrontation, while a Type A owl may drive hard for results. When friction arises, leaders can intervene with empathy, understanding each person’s core motivation—be it harmony, excellence, or recognition.
Leadership Style Adjustment: An effective leader understands that a one-size-fits-all approach is counterproductive. Type A leaders may need to temper urgency when managing Type D team members, while Type B leaders may need to assert more direction with independent foxes.
Team Balance and Resilience: Teams composed of only Type As may implode under pressure; teams with all Type Bs may lack urgency. Diversity across A/B/C/D dimensions ensures more adaptability, healthier group dynamics, and a wider perspective in decision-making.

Success Is Limited by Isolation

Understanding personality isn’t about boxing people in—it’s about unlocking their potential. Whether you view your team through the lens of beavers and owls or Types A through D, the goal is the same: better communication, smarter delegation, deeper empathy, and greater trust. Leaders who take the time to understand their team’s personalities—both how they work and how they feel—build stronger, more effective teams capable of sustained success.

Get “The Truth about Transformation”

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