Communication and Collaboration

Communication and Collaboration: Working with Different Intelligences and Personality Types

Communication and Collaboration: Working with Different Intelligences and Personality Types

Working with other people can be an interesting mix of conflict, learning new ways to look at things, and learning how to work in a team; ultimately building a knowledge base for future use. Every person has developed different intelligences, or problem solving abilities, as well as different personality types, making it critical for the team’s success that everyone work together and learn from each other.

A Harvard University professor named Howard Gardner developed the theory of Multiple Intelligences. Gardner theorized that there were eight intelligences and every person develops each one to a different degree; thus each person has a strongest intelligence and a weakest intelligent with six other intelligences ranging somewhere in between. Three such intelligences are Interpersonal, Verbal-Linguistic, and Logical-Mathematical (Sabin, 2005).

If a team contains a member who has an Interpersonal strength, that person can relate well to others in the group, read the mood of the group, and help foster an atmosphere for teamwork. Interpersonal types tend to be good teachers and will help the team collaborate (Sabin, 2005).

A member whose strength is Verbal-Linguistic brings the ability to communicate well with others, through both speaking and writing; communication is vital to the success of a team. This member is good at teaching others, rewriting notes or minutes of a meeting, and can explain to others the syntax and meanings of words (Sabin, 2005).

The Logical-mathematical member will use inductive and deductive reasoning and share their thoughts with others in the team. If calculations are needed for the project, this is the person to which the team can turn. This person can be tasked with developing any charts and graphs needed for the project as well (Sabin, 2005)....