Type B Personality at Work – All That You Need to Know

Did you meet a type B personality at work? Or, are you considering hiring one? Wondering how they usually perform professionally?

Well, that’s great because you reached the perfect spot to know everything about their professional attitude. This think-piece will help you understand what drives a type B employee to work harder, how dedicated they are, and how they’ll help your business or office prosper.

But if you’re a Type B yourself, this is your chance to know a bit more about yourself. This will help you understand your professional capabilities.

So, let’s find out what awaits you here…

Type B Personality at Work

Every type of personality deals with their work and stress differently. Being a higher-up, if you’re not aware of how a Type B employee works, you might misunderstand and offend them unnecessarily. You might even lose a precious and diligent worker only because you don’t know their working style.

So, let’s make sure you don’t lose a great employee here…

1. They can coordinate well within teams

People with a Type B personality work the best in teams. They like to interact with others, discuss different points of view, bond, and create the best possible solution or idea collectively.

Especially if team members just don’t know how to approach a task or hesitate to express their opinions, a type B individual’s presence can help them out.

Since type Bs are outgoing and openly communicate, they can initiate a meeting among themselves smoothly and give everyone a chance to showcase their skills. Type Bs are infamous for helping people grow closer.

So, supervisors must make sure to put a Type B team member in every group to help the teams function smoothly. This is especially important among new teams where members don’t know each other well.

2. They need someone to manage or lead them

Though people with this personality type might be good leaders, it’s not right to put them in leadership positions without evaluating their skills well.  

Even if they’re great at interacting in groups, it might sometimes go out of hand. They might distract others with their socializing tendencies. So, they need a leader to control their talkative and outgoing nature. If there’s excess chit-chat in the team, their productivity will crash.

On the other hand, B-types are also easy to get distracted by others and their own creative imaginations. They might lose interest in their task and start thinking about a more interesting project. Moreover, since they’re known for procrastinating, they need someone to keep them in line.

So, whether a type B employee works solo or in a group, they always need someone to keep an eye on their progress, help them in time management, and prevent them from being distracted or distracting others.

3. They can motivate others in stressful situations

Most people assume that type Bs don’t feel stressed in tough situations. They feel as stressed as everyone else in the room, but they don’t let it affect their rationality or actions. If compared to type A personality traits, their brain reacts differently to stress.

They are better at managing stress. They can stay optimistic even when they know things are messy.

Individuals with Type B personalities can deal with stressful work much better. Since they’re laid back, they can deal with any problems at work peacefully without feeling overwhelmed.

They can also calm others in the team and help them focus on the brighter side. This helps the entire team feel less stressed, approach their duties with a clear mind, and diminish the chances of making mistakes.

4. They’re flexible with any kind of change

Changes in the workplace are the most common thing and most dreaded by their employees. Especially due to growing technology and problems in the professional world, work practices and systems get continuously updated.

It’s hard to keep up with new things. But type B folks always have an open-minded, flexible, and optimistic attitude towards changes.

So, if your workplace undergoes lots of change, a type B person in all teams and departments is a must-have. They can show everyone the pros of the change and help them get accustomed to their fun-loving nature.

But if a workplace has fewer teams and more solo workers and implements frequent changes, they must hire type Bs more. This will help them conduct an easier process of change.

5. They can be great mediators within groups

In workplaces, conflicts within teams are quite common. The difference in opinions and views along with ego issues makes it tough to work things out and approach the common goals of the team.

In this place, a team member with a type B behavior pattern is an extreme necessity. They can help in conflict resolution without taking sides.

They may or may not be the best leaders but they know how to maintain team unity. They’ll let each side speak up for themselves and help them reach a middle ground.

If they can’t do it by themselves, their type B co-worker can help them. They’re also great listeners so they can figure things out and align their perspectives.

6. They might impact others’ efficiency if offended

Though type Bs are good at managing stress from work, they can’t deal with the stress of being felt left out, ignored, or uninvolved. When it’s said “B-types thrive in group settings”, take it seriously.

They need to be involved in group tasks and projects. They feel appreciated when they’re included. Otherwise, millions of questions about their self-esteem and likability race through their mind.

Am I being a bother? Do they dislike me? Are my skills lacking? Did I offend them?

They won’t lash out at others but will obsess over these questions. They might even feel demotivated due to that and miss important targets and deadlines. Others will eventually notice their gloomy mood and feel worried because the most optimistic one lost motivation.

Since they won’t be in the mood to cheer others and others might think it’s okay to miss targets, the entire workplace productivity might go down. So, supervisors must try to keep them involved in group tasks.

7. They’re the perfect fit for creative work

Folks with type B personality traits can dream a lot more than any other personality type. Their imaginations know no bound. The greatest difference between a Type A and a Type B person lies in this trait. Type B individuals can spend hours or even weeks on creative projects.

Especially, if the project needs to be original and out of the box, a type B person is your solution.

So, if you’re hiring and you find a person with a B-type personality, make sure you hire them in a department that demands creativity. If you’re a B-type yourself, try to understand your passions before choosing a career path.

However, their dreams get out of hand and are unrealistic sometimes. So, they always need someone to check in and make sure things are under control, realistic, and progressing.

8. They also have great convincing skills

Folks with Type B personalities can feel a person’s emotions and concerns. They understand what the other person seeks… whether it’s security, consolation, reassurance, motivation, or just a listening ear. So, they can use this skill to understand the person on the opposite side deeply.

This helps them say the things others want to hear. For this, the other person feels a connection with a Type B and becomes easier to deal with. They can convince the other person better into believing them. They’re also patient, so even if it doesn’t work in the first go, they still try until they succeed.

So, Type B personalities are great speakers. They can help seal tough business deals, represent businesses, and even build strong business alliances with their amazing convincing skills. They can help bring great change to their employers, so judge a type B’s strengths carefully.

9. They can deal with difficult people

They’re extremely cooperative which helps them deal with stubborn people better. B-types are calm and understanding and they’re not prone to let their emotions out easily.

When someone says something mean to them, they can control their verbal reactions, facial expressions, and body language. Especially, if the other person is a client or customer, they know they can’t afford to lose them and they don’t get hurt by their mean behavior as they don’t know them in person.

With their calm and respectful demeanor, a B-type can patiently communicate with them and find a solution to their issues.

So, being a hiring expert, seek B-types to deal with customers and clients. If you’re a Type B yourself, evaluate your communication skills under tough situations to find out if you can deal with these situations.

10. They have great listening skills

A person with Type B behavior patterns has great listening skills and memory. So, even if they enter a meeting without a notepad and pen, they can remember the important things.

They can extract the gist of the topic and summarize it easily. So, if you want someone to keep notes of important meetings, you can count on a Type B person.

Moreover, during meetings, if the team proposes different strategies but can’t reach a favorable situation, a type B can help. Just by listening to each person’s opinions, they can jot down the probable positive and negative effects.

This can help the entire team save time in unnecessary research on the pros and cons of each idea. They can compare the probable effects and choose the most suitable idea sooner this way.

11. They’re quite dedicated to their passions

Based on personality types, it’s majorly said that A-types are more hardworking, dedicated, and goal-oriented than others and B-types are inferior to them academically and professionally.

However, it’s rather presumptuous to say so. Every individual has certain strengths and passions. If they find their passion and approach them, they can make heads turn.

For instance, a study conducted on 500 medical students found that 9 out of 10 students were B-types while the rest were Type As.

From this, you can say that if a Type B person is interested in something, nothing can stop them from achieving the heights. So, make sure to get them interesting projects.

12. Coworkers might misunderstand them

Type Bs don’t contain themselves in strict routines and timeframes. Their way of doing things is a bit different. Specifically, their laid-back attitude and carefree approach make others think they aren’t committed or driven towards their work.

Due to their relaxed attitude, supervisors allot them lesser tasks, and even lose their minds when they take things slow. This causes a huge issue in their professional growth and the supervisor feels disappointed in them.

So, B-types must be given tasks with flexible deadlines if they can’t stick to them. However, this is no reason to not hire a type B employee as their work quality is supreme.

13. They need to be more open to their bosses

Not all B-type employees are the same. They may have different strengths and weaknesses. For instance, B-types don’t take the stress. They have different ways to cope with it.

When some B-types face excess work, they don’t pay heed to the burden at all. Instead, they continue working at their own pace and don’t mind if they miss deadlines.

On the other hand, some B-types work better under pressure and stress out of their fear of public humiliation.

Lastly, some of them take it slow the entire time, i.e., procrastinate. But when the deadlines are close, they multitask and do smart work. It’s hard to tell if all procrastinating and multitasking B-types can maintain a strict work quality during this time.

14. They must try to match their pace with others

Most B-types work in their own flow. They don’t care much about deadlines and schedules and try to make things work in their own way.

However, everyone might not be open to that… even if they produce fabulous results. Especially, if a Type B person gets mentored by a Type A person, or joins a team with many type A coworkers, they must learn to adapt to them.

So, in these situations, a Type B person must try to mirror the schedules of the A-types.

Sure, nothing is wrong with a B-type’s performance if they can be punctual and provide good results. But, others might get offended and it’ll hamper professional peace.

They might frequently get in clashes with type As. So, if you have a B-type in your team and you’re an A-type… or if you’re leading a team of one B-type and lots of A-type, give heads-up to the Type B. This will help them progress in their profession.

If you’re a B-type yourself, try to coordinate with others to make things work better.

15. They won’t compromise their personal time for work

B-types become unavailable once they’re done working. You can’t expect anything from them once they’re off the clock. If they have something important pending, they won’t skip that.

However, family and socializing time are truly important to them. They’ll do anything to not get disturbed during that.

So, if you have a type B team member or subordinate, give them all the important tasks you need to get done by them first and then allot the tasks that can wait.

Don’t hold them back with important tasks 10 minutes before their duty gets over. If they get forced into working and ditching loved ones, their work performance declines.

Suppose, you have a Type B supervisor and while working overtime you found an issue. Reach out to someone else that’s reliable. They may not lash out, but they’ll have a bad impression of you.

A word from ThePleasantPersonality

B-types work differently… they might not be workaholics but they know how to reach their goals. They might not go all out until they get sick to chase the destinations, but that’s their charm.

They can take care of themselves and their work. Instead of asking them to pull all-nighters, ask them to stay updated on their work. Don’t tell them how to work… tell them what results you want.

Moreover, don’t force them to overwork as that might decline their work quality.

Being a type B yourself, try to understand your strengths and weaknesses in the professional field and work on them accordingly.

Article Sources

1. https://www.wellandgood.com/type-b-personality-traits-work-success/
2. https://www.hiresuccess.com/help/understanding-the-4-personality-types
3. https://www.thomas.co/resources/type/hr-blog/type-b-personality