Flocking together

Everyone's heard the phrase, "birds of a feather flock together," and interestingly we had our second intern roundtable on this subject. "How to co-exist with other birds" was the topic, and after taking personality profiles we were given our bird-type. There were four types of birds: eagles, peacocks, doves and owls.

What do these bird types mean? Each bird has different characteristics, and the test we took helped draw a decision on what type of worker we are, and how those types of workers fill a niche in the office.

I am a peacock:

"Social peacocks are direct and supporting, exhibiting characteristics such as animation, intuitiveness and liveliness. Peacocks are fast paces. Peacocks' primary strengths are their enthusiasm, persuasiveness and delightful sociability. Peacocks are idea persons. Peacocks are true entertainers. Many peacocks are in occupations such as sales, entertainment, public relations, professional hosts, trial attorneys, social directors on cruise ships, hotel business and other glamorous, high profile careers. Peacocks design and use their space in a disorganized cluttered manner, but they know if something is missing."

Those are just the first line from each paragraph describing peacocks. Most of that feedback is positive, but there are downsides to peacocks.

"They can also be viewed as manipulative, impulsive and excitable when displaying behavior inappropriate to the situation. Their actions and decision are spontaneous, and are seldom concerned about facts and details trying to avoid them as much as possible. Their primary weaknesses are getting involved in too many things, impatience and their short attention spans which cause them to become bored easily. They influence other and shape their environment by bringing others into alliance to accomplish results. They tends to work quickly and enthusiastically with others."

Interesting, huh? I think I fit a lot of these categories, both negative and positive. There are some things I don't agree with, but hey, that might be because I don't notice. We were told several times in our discussion that a lot of these are general characteristics, and that we as individuals won't have every specific area.

The last paragraph describes what I, as a peacock, probably need to work on to make myself better in an office environment. "Peacocks need to: control their time and emotions; develop a more objective mindset; spend more time checking, verifying, specifying and organizing; develop more of a task-focus; and take a more logical approach to projects and issues." I know at least one of those hits me dead on: spend more time checking and verifying. There's a reason I'm not a mathematician!

My cubeighbors Kara and Brittany are birds of a different feather.

"The wise owls are both indirect and controlling. Owls tend to be perfectionist, serious and orderly. They like organization and structure, and dislike too much involvement with other people. Their primary strengths are their accuracy, dependability, independence, follow-through and organization. The greatest irritation for owls is disorganized, illogical people."

Kara called it. She knew that her results would come back that she is a control freak; however, in a business setting I think that she is a huge asset. She does take time to see things through, and despite her results she is not someone to dislike involvement with other people. She just dislikes stupid or "illogical" people.

We decided that Brittany is a hybrid, hence her tag. Her results came out that she is an eagle, but she has toooooo many peacockish tendencies to not have flirted with another species.

Eagles are: "controlling and direct. They accept challenges, take authority and go head first into solving problems. Their weak traits include stubbornness, impatience and toughness. They are fast-paced and are impatient with delays. It is not unusual for an eagle to call you and, without saying hello, launch right into the conversation."

Eagles seem to be the most hard-nosed of all the birds. They don't put up with much, but they get stuff done. Brittany definitely has a lot of the work ethics of an eagle, but she becomes borderline peacock because she is friendly, outgoing and works well in a social environment.

The dove is the last category, and our cuborhood doesn't have any doves nests. But for anyone who's interested: "the diplomatic dove is supporting and indirect, relatively unassertive, warm and reliable. They take action and make decisions slowly. They tend to be the most people-oriented of all the four behavioral styles. They focus on getting acquainted and building trust. They are irritated by pushy, aggressive behavior."

All these birds have different qualities, but that does not mean that they won't work well together. It's the approach and understanding a different bird that makes the work place flow smoother with each of these types. According to a chart that was in our packet, peacocks:

• work excellently with doves, and socialize fairly with them
• work poorly with other peacocks, but are socially perfect
• work well with owls, but not well in a social environment
• work borderline fair/poor with eagles, but are socially pretty good with them

It's important to understand how to read people and what type of workers they are. Reducing conflict in the work place by being proactive and knowing how to, or how no to, approach someone can help getting tasks done easier. Understanding what kind of bird you are, however, and how to tame some of your characteristics that may bother someone else, can be step one.

Help yourself and then you can help others. Lead by example. Do work.

**The name tags were created by Kara and hang on the outside of our cubes. My middle name is not Lynn, you're right in thinking that, but apparently it sounds better and I'm not a girl who's favorite color should be pink. Says the owl.**