Working Style: What Types are There and How do You Find Yours?
11 min read
Everyone has their own way of approaching work, based on their habits, personalities, and personal preferences. In any workplace, these different work styles can have a powerful impact on team productivity, performance, and the potential for personal conflict. At the same time, however, this diversity of working styles can also provide tremendous opportunity for innovation, collaboration, and success as a team. But how much do you know about the different types of working styles – and which style best describes your approach to work?
In this post, we will explore the idea of working styles, and examine the four main types of styles that employees adopt. We will also provide some helpful tips that you can use to identify your own preferred working style and use that knowledge to advance your career.
What is a working style?
The term work style refers to the way in which someone prefers to approach their work. It includes all the habits, behaviors, and preferences that impact the way in which they perform tasks, deal with colleagues and superiors, and solve problems. Your work style will play a powerful role in how you manage your professional relationships, how you react to challenges, and your ability to cope with various duties and responsibilities.
For most people, work style is informed by core personality traits, skills, and attitudes. Consider your own personality and approach to work. Over the course of your life and career, you’ve developed certain biases, habits, and natural reactions to situations that you may encounter. All these factors contribute to your working style and can impact everything from your ability to collaborate with others to your preferred work hours, how you respond to feedback, and even your ability to fit within certain workplace cultures.
Why do working styles matter?
No matter how skilled you are at your job duties, your ability to be effective will be at least partially dependent on how well your work style aligns with that role. If your approach to work is at odds with what your team or company needs, you’ll likely struggle to reach your full potential. However, if you can identify your own working style and how others prefer to work, you can more readily adapt your approach to minimize the potential for conflict or other problems.
In addition, knowing your own work style can make it easier for you to figure out which career path you should take. For example, if you know that you don’t enjoy work that requires attention to detail, you can focus on a career that allows you to prioritize other responsibilities and tasks.
What are the main types of working styles?
Most conversations about the different working styles tend to focus on four main types. Each of these different styles involves a different approach to managing work challenges, interpersonal relationships, and other important elements of work. As you review each style, you’re likely to identify with elements of one or more of these approaches. That’s natural since most people have traits and preferences that combine several styles. Still, you’ll probably see one style that closely resembles your own preferred approach to work.
1. Big picture work style
People who gravitate to this working style tend to be idea-oriented and focused on the broader vision. They are generally excited to hear and consider new information and big ideas, and view obstacles as potential opportunities rather than impediments. In the right collaborative environment, these individuals can inspire tremendous creativity and innovation.
They’re also inclined to take risks, which can make them great candidates for leadership positions. Their boundless creativity can be a contagious source of energy that inspires everyone around them to follow their vision. If they have support from more detail-oriented colleagues, these types of employees can make a positive contribution to any workplace that values innovative problem-solving.
As you might expect, however, this type of preferred work style does not always fit well with every work environment. Because big picture types often shirk attention to detail, they can sometimes be disruptive in workplaces that prize collaborative efforts that require everyone’s equal effort. An idea-oriented worker may get so focused on the creative process that they fail to provide their teammates with the support they need to achieve common, shared goals.
2. Detail-oriented work style
The detail-oriented approach to work is seen in employees whose work style focuses on organization, strategic task management, and efficiency. These employees have a keen interest in the details of their jobs, and always seem to be on-task and on-schedule. In any team environment, this working style helps to provide the foundation and stability that organizations need to successfully advance their projects and overall missions.
Detail-oriented workers can also play a vital role in analyzing problems and dissecting all the contributing factors that need to be addressed to find a sound resolution. They always seem to be thinking about what needs to be done, and making plans that can help their teams execute their leader’s vision. Teams that contain great detail-oriented workers can be highly effective if they have an inspirational leader to keep them focused on achieving the team’s goals.
One drawback to this working style is that these types of workers may sometimes struggle to maintain their effectiveness when the workload is greater than normal. Adding multiple responsibilities to their workload can cause them to fall behind, especially if they are used to spending more time dealing with their normal tasks.
3. Logical work style
Workers who approach work in a logical way tend to take things one step at a time, analyzing their tasks thoroughly before tackling them in earnest. They prefer to do things in a linear fashion, enjoy being immersed in data, and thrive in settings that require deep analytical thinking. Their drive to finish everything that they start often helps to keep them focused and on-task.
These types of workers tend to be driven by a desire to see results, which translates into a powerful need to achieve their goals. They are intensely focused on efficiency and try to avoid activities and strategies that their logical mind views as counterproductive or distracting. They also like to ensure that their workday is organized in a logical way, eliminating unnecessary tasks that might reduce their efficiency.
While logical workers can be a great addition to any team, their managers and leaders will need to remain vigilant to potential communication lapses. The logical work style often lends itself to a greater focus on individual efforts, especially in workplaces where other work styles are prevalent. A good manager will recognize this potential for conflict and try to ensure that they focus on maintaining open lines of communication between logical workers and the rest of the team.
4. Supportive work style
The fourth main type of working style is often described as the supportive style. These employees tend to excel at collaborative efforts and always seem to form solid relationships with everyone around them. They have high emotional intelligence, which helps them to assess the emotional needs of their team and empowers their excellent communication skills. Supportive workers are often skilled in active listening, conflict resolution, and other vital abilities that help to facilitate a strong team environment.
Many managers try to promote this type of work style in the workplace, to ensure that every team member has the emotional support needed to be effective. This style also has the added benefit of producing a more harmonious environment that allows team members to focus their energies on resolving problems and pursuing common goals. In any work environment that includes team members with differing work styles, the supportive personalities can serve as the glue that binds the entire team together.
There are very few drawbacks to the supportive work style. However, it is important to recognize that a team filled with only supportive types may lack the creative energy needed to foster consistent innovation and progress. With the right leadership and organizational structure, though, these types of employees make great team members.
How can you identify your own working style?
It’s important to understand your own preferred working style so that you can more effectively manage your own behavior and interactions with others. A better understanding of how to identify work styles can also help you recognize others’ preferred approaches to work – which can make it easier for you to collaborate with colleagues and enhance your productivity. The following tips can assist you as you work to identify your unique work style.
Take a personality test
Any attempt to identify your own working style should begin with an effort to understand your own personality traits. You can start by learning more about the different personality types, to gain insight into how certain personality traits can impact your work style and interpersonal relationships at work. There are also many different career aptitude tests that you can take to help you see how your personality and work preferences align with various career and job choices.
Review your previous jobs
Once you have a better understanding of your own personality, you should sit down and analyze your previous jobs – with an eye toward identifying the work styles you adopted in those roles. What type of approach did you prefer? When were you at your most productive? How satisfied were you with your performance in each position? You should conduct the same analysis for your current job too.
Find your passion
Next, you should work to identify your passion. Everybody has certain tasks, responsibilities, or missions that they truly enjoy. What are yours? Do you like to be challenged at work, and thrive in situations where you need to resolve problems? Are you a team player who is at their best in a collaborative and supporting environment? Do you prefer focusing on the little details of your job or the big picture issues that drive change and innovation?
Track your preferences
If you’re unsure about the answers to those types of questions, commit to keeping a journal or other record of how you feel each day at work. Make a note of the things you do and the approach that you take during those activities. Which duties and interactions give you pause? Which ones make you excited and energized? What work style seems to help you optimize your productivity?
Figure out your strengths and weaknesses
You’ll also need to take time to consider your strengths and weaknesses. That information can be extremely useful to know as you try to identify the best working style for your career needs. Chances are that you have strengths that align well with multiple working styles but prefer one approach to managing your workday and environment. Becoming more familiar with your areas of strength and weakness can help you to adapt to others’ work styles and avoid conflict or other workplace challenges.
Don’t be afraid to experiment
If your preferences include elements from several different working styles, it is okay to cultivate those strengths and use whichever approach best fits any given work environment or situation. That flexibility can help you to align your work style with those of your colleagues and create better team cohesion that enhances collaborative efforts. Remember, there are no right or wrong choices when it comes to work style. The best style to adopt often depends on your personality, the needs of your team, and your company’s workplace culture.
Make sure that your work style is helping you further your career goals
Today’s workplace is diverse enough to provide opportunities for a variety of working style choices. However, it is important to understand your own work style and how it may affect your ability to fit in with colleagues and different company cultures. Learning more about the different types of work styles can help you to know when and how to adapt your style to ensure that your approach aligns with your employer’s needs.
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Written by
Ken Chase, Freelance Writer
During Ken's two decades as a freelance writer, he has covered everything from banking and fintech to business management and the entertainment industry. His true passion, however, has always been focused on helping others achieve their career goals with timely job search and interview advice or the occasional resume consultation. When he's not working, Ken can usually be found adventuring with family and friends or playing fetch with his demanding German Shepherd. Read more resume advice from Ken on ZipJob’s blog.
