Esther Celosse : "Companies in Luxembourg are redesigning their organisation"

How to deal and manage the different personalities within a team ?

In all the various team set-ups, whether now in a permanent team or in a project related temporary team, you will find different personalities. Without losing the uniqueness of individual members and the team combination, we need to learn to deal with our own behaviours and that of others. Knowing and understanding ourselves and others will help to manage these differences, but at the same time find the commonalities and use both to maximise the performance of the individuals and the team. There are many tools and techniques out there to help find out the different styles team members have in, for instance, communication, conflict management and working methods. Personality, drivers, motivators and ambition levels are important to understand as well. All this knowledge will help both management and individual team members to understand why and how they behave in certain situations. This awareness is the cornerstone for open communication about this behaviour and the starting point for adopting alternative behaviour if needed.  

What are the main trends to follow in terms of management ? Which ones are the most popular in Luxembourg ?

The way we do business and the type of companies needed for that, is changing rapidly. Even the more traditional companies in Luxembourg, such as the banks and the big consultancy firms, are redesigning their organisation and management structures. Some organisations are abolishing the yearly employee performance evaluation all together. The speed with which companies need to react and act is such, that they will have to keep “their foot on the ball”. This means short measurement & feedback cycles and direct communication. The skill set needed for this type of management is leaning towards facilitation, mentoring, coaching and motivating. In line with that development, new hires are nowadays often enrolled in "leadership" programmes, instead of "management" programmes, learning more of the so-called "soft-skills" than before.

If you look at the start-ups here in Luxembourg, you will hardly see the more conventional hierarchical organisation structure anymore. A good example is Etix Everywhere. Julian Troian has designed and developed an innovative working environment, where on-boarding, mentoring, technical and personal development are addressed in an interactive and continuous way. As a result, the local HR community has rewarded Julian the "HR Manager of the Year" award for 2016 and the HR team became "HR team of the year 2016". Many local companies, start-ups and established alike, are taking learning from Julian's and other parties experience and experiment more with out-of-the-box leadership and management approaches.

What are the main caracteristics of the MBTI tests ?

Already in the 1950's Isabelle Briggs Myers, one of the developers of Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) said: "When people differ, a knowledge of type lessens friction and eases strain. In addition, it reveals the value of differences. No one has to be good at everything".

The questionnaire helps to understand the preference of persons dealing with information, decision making, planning and interaction with the outer world. It does not measure trait, ability or character. Knowing and understanding your type will help you decide your strategies and behaviour at work and in life. Knowing and understanding the types of others, will help you decide how you can work and live together with "less friction and strain" and using the differences to optimise performance and pleasure. MBTI has been developed already in the 1950's and is continuously been updated since. Millions of people around the world have already used the insights to improve their performances. It is a popular tool in organisations to facilitate understanding of team dynamics, communication in general and personal development.