What can people leaders learn from the Dunedin Project?

As leaders in the corporate world, we tailor our interactions with coworkers based on their personalities. Some of these alterations are based on our perceptions of them and our understanding of what type of personality type they are. Until now, I have only known types such as Type A, TypeB, Introvert, Extrovert, The climber, The people pleaser, INTJ, INTF, etc. However, knowing the types of people and some tools to help work with them better can go a long way in establishing a good working relationship.

This is where the Dunedin project findings are very relevant to workplace interactions. This morning, I stumbled upon several articles about the Dunedin project. This study was originally conducted in the nineteen-seventies on thousand and thirty-seven children who lived in or around the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. The studies were conducted on the same subjects at ages three, five, seven, nine, eleven, thirteen, fifteen, eighteen, twenty-one, twenty-six, thirty-two, thirty-eight, and forty-five. It is worthy to note that the researchers interviewed not just the subjects but also their family and friends. Thus the Dunedin project holds significant value owing to its long duration, the breadth of observations and the fact that it identified changes in thousands of subjects as they aged. 

The study reveals that people's temperament is intrinsic, it’s not something that we can learn or unlearn. Even though our personality type is set, any positive or negative experiences during the early stages of our childhood will determine how we live our lives and whether we are able to cope with stress and difficult situations.

You can’t change a person, but you can change their behavior.

The Dunedin Study first identified five personality types in preschool children. These types appear to be set and have persisted in study participants, even becoming more pronounced, into adulthood.

The following are the personality types as identified by the Dunedin Project:

Well-Adjusted

Well-adjusted is the most common character type with 40% of the population falling into this category. People with well-adjusted characters are flexible, resourceful, and fit in well socially. They are open to new experiences.

This is your ideal employee. Typical managerial techniques should allow you to work well with these types of employees and help establish a great working relationship. A key trait is here for managers to practice engaging such employees' hearts to motivate and boost performance.

Confident

The second most common type is confident with 28% of the population falling into this category. They will be fearless, bold, courageous, and not afraid to take on challenges in life. They take pleasure in new experiences.

These are the risk takers and go-getters of your organization. Create a fail-safe environment for them. Allow room for experimentation, hone-in on iterative and fail-fast & fail-safe behaviors. Provide air-cover for these individuals while they take risks

Reserved

This character type makes up 15% of the population. They are more quiet, timid, and less outgoing than confident and well-adjusted character types. They’re not frozen by their uncertainty, however, they will need to make an effort to engage in conversations, particularly when they are in a new or unknown environment.

They typically thrive in familiar environments and so try to keep them banded with people they have worked with.

In the technology world, my observation is that this percentage is even higher. Reserved individuals tend to “hang back” and watch things for a bit before getting involved. As a leader, you must make deliberate attempts to seek input from them. They are often a little shy and are more comfortable in smaller groups. During org changes, such factors might also need to be considered to allow for consistency and familiarity for these employees to excel. In unavoidable circumstances, allow some time for such individuals to get adjusted to new environments

Under-controlled

This character type makes up 10% of the population. They struggle with self-control, are highly strung, are irritable, and are closed to new experiences. They don’t cope well with novelty or change. These individuals are impulsive, usually quick to anger, and struggle with self-control. They can be impulsive and sensation seekers. 

Dunedin's research showed that those who had firm, consistent, and sensitive parenting with structure and routine developed self-control habits that over-rode their “Under-controlled” personality behaviors.

While this type of people might not be as prevalent in work environments, I admit, I did encounter such individuals in my professional life. Considering how impactful self-control can be, employers/leaders should institute self-control practices. One such useful practice is B.A.S.I.C (Behavior Affect Sensation Images Cognition). Understanding B.A.S.I.C reactions of such employees and identifying coaching opportunities give a great opportunity for the employee to identify their hot-button triggers. This practice should ultimately be developing a positive B.A.S.I.C modality profile to counter the undesired response tendencies to hot-button situations.

Inhibited

This character type makes up 7% of the population. Their shyness interferes with their ability to live. They are exceptionally slow to warm up. They are fearful, anxious, neurotic, and closed to new experiences.

They tend to be fearful, anxious, highly strung, closed to change, and overcome by shyness and social awkwardness to the point where they “hide from the world” and frequently struggle to maintain jobs.

While employing similar techniques such as for Reserved and Under-controlled characteristics, leaders should engage in more 1x1 conversations, team building activities catered to shy people, etc. Leaders should explore roles where they can excel based on their characteristics.

Ultimately, one has to realize that if someone is born with an under-controlled or inhibited personality it doesn’t necessarily mean the outcomes will be negative. If that person has been in a nurturing environment and taught the important trait of self-control (which is learned, rather than fixed), they can still live a productive corporate career.

Some helpful references/links on this topic: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5