How To Identify Each Productivity Style And Work More Effectively

You’ve probably heard about the whole left-brain/right-brain concept at this point. Ask almost anyone and they’ll tell you that lefties are analytical geniuses and righties are the Picasso’s of the future. Furthermore, they’ll likely have a strong sense of belonging to one of the two categories. Given that scientists have studied the differences between the left and right brain hemispheres from as far back as 1940, it’s not surprising that it’s become common knowledge at this point.

However, recent research has suggested that the simple division of right-brain and left-brain is too simplistic a description of our cognitive styles. The majority of scientists in this area now agree that cognitive style is a much more complex phenomenon with a combination of variables that can be applied to varying degrees in each category. Whilst it is undisputed that there are massive differences in how people deal with and process information, these differences can no longer be categorized so simply, i.e. in the right-brain/left-brain concept.

Since research in this area has developed, researchers have embraced the idea of a multidimensional cognitive style that takes into account the complexity involved in the human thought and behavior process.

One of the most widely recognized multidimensional models — Herrmann’s Whole Brain Model — was developed in 1979 to further the concept of right/left-brain thinking with a focus on conceptual vs experiential thinking. This model uses 4 quadrants illustrate the thinking preferences of people, which influence everything from communication to management styles and decision-making.

1. Quadrant A: logical, quantitative, and analytical. This individual is extremely task focused and prefers to deal only with concrete information and facts.
2. Quadrant B: organized, planned, detailed, and sequential. An individual who thrives on organizing facts, and careful, detailed review.
3. Quadrant C: emotional, feeling-based, highly interpersonal. Very focused on intuition and emotional thought processes. These people tend to be friendly, empathetic, and trusting.
4. Quadrant D: conceptual, holistic, synthesizing, intuitive, and integrating.These individuals focus more on integrating facts and patterns. They are imaginative, adventurous, and embrace change.

So How Does This Apply To Your Personal Productivity Style?

At its very basic definition, your personal productivity style is the manner in which you work most efficiently. The way you work is usually so ingrained that you don’t really think about it; it’s more of an unsystematic approach. However, we can detect patterns in this approach by looking at your cognitive style (see above), i.e. how you perceive, process, and manage information. With that in mind, it makes sense that your cognitive style leads naturally to your productivity style.

Think about your own working style and colleagues that you work with or have worked with in the past. How do those styles differ? For example, are you an early bird or a night owl? Do you prefer to use color-coding to organize your tasks? Do you work best alone or when you’re collaborating with a team? Do you prefer to work on the big picture or get down into the nitty gritty of each project plan?

If you want to be as productive as you possibly can be, you need to figure out where you fall in the productivity style spectrum. To make this even easier, Carson Tate — author of “Work Simply: Embracing the Power of Your Personal Productivity Style” — has identified 4 specific areas of productivity styles that strongly correlate to the cognitive styles we referenced earlier in this article. And don’t forget, it’s just as important to figure out what other productivity styles you’re dealing with within your team also.

The 4 Productivity Styles

1. The Prioritizer

The Prioritizer is fact-driven. This individual will only focus on the actual facts and will refuse to waste time on anything they deem unnecessary to the task they’re focused on. They like to get straight to the point and have no time for wishy-washy discussions. These workers aren’t a fan of idle chit-chat and tend to keep communications brief. These individuals are dedicated to completing each task/goal and will continue to work until this has been accomplished.

If you have a Prioritizer in your Buckets Project, it’s best to interact with them by leaving clear Notes and mentioning them in Cards/underneath specific Checklist items that make it very clear what you’re referring to. These are people like to have all of the relevant details centrally located so that they don’t waste time searching for information. Consistency is key for Prioritizers. They’re very analytical and strive for efficiency, so any disruption to that will lead to frustration.

The Planner

The Planner is someone who is solely focused on task accomplishment. You’ll usually find a planner doing the bulk of assigning and organizing tasks in projects and double-checking they are completed in the correct way. They are super fans of the to-do list and strongly correlate a completed to-do list with a successful day’s work. Planners aren’t a fan of meetings with no set agenda or concrete action plan as they’re very deadline focused. Further to this, they get agitated when plans change mid-process.

If you have a Planner working with you in Buckets, ensure that they are well prepped on how to assign tasks and effectively distribute work to the team; this is where they excel and it’ll mean less time spent figuring out who’s doing what so that your team can focus on the tasks at hand.

Planners can assign a task to any Buckets member/members by commenting on the Card or within a Checklist item and assign deadlines to these tasks using Reminders. If the user has their Notifications set up to receive these updates, they will be alerted via email or in the Activity Shelf. All completed tasks should be ticked off a Checklist or the entire Card should be moved on to the next workflow stage/archived once completed so that the user can redirect their focus to the next task.

The Arranger

The Arranger is very supportive in the workplace and highly intuitive. This individual will want to reorganize any plan or strategy that isn’t leading towards the end goal. The Arranger enjoys building relationships, teamwork, and collaboration, and will work with others on the team to redirect their efforts if they aren’t proving effective.

The Arranger will be reluctant to move away from their preferred way of working in Buckets, so make sure that you understand what that is before progressing with the Project. Ask what features they prefer to use and in what way and then use those features consistently. This is the key to ensuring you work together effectively. In fact, consistency is the key to the success of any Project, which you can learn more about in our previous post: “The Importance of Consistency in Project Management”.

The Visualizer

The Visualizer is the “big picture” thinker in your team. They are idea-oriented, innovative, creative individuals. They always look at the big picture of each project but they’re not very detail oriented. People with this productivity style prefer to be presented with information that’s displayed visually (the name gave it away, right?) as they like to look at things with a broader perspective.

The Visualizer in your Buckets Project will need to have an in-depth understanding of what their work entails. Working on a number of tasks at a time will keep them more engaged and they can easily manage these by using the Buckets Filter. Breaking tasks up into sub-tasks and different sections will give the Visualizer a better understanding of exactly what needs to be completed. The end goal here is to clearly present them with the big picture so that they can get started on their work.

Embracing Each Productivity Style Within Your Team

As I mentioned in the intro, it’s super important to learn how to best communicate with colleagues whose productivity styles differ to yours. Communication is easy when 2 similar productivity types come together — such as Planners and Arrangers — but almost every team out there (especially startups) is going to have people who fall into every category of productivity style. And this is what can cause friction in an organization.

So, for example, how does a Visualizer communicate with a Prioritizer? Carson Tate says that it simply boils down to adapting your communication:

“The Visualizer is really focused on the why: Why not? Why does this project matter? Meanwhile, the Prioritizer is focused on the what. What’s the outcome, what’s the data.”

So in order to communicate with the Prioritizer in this situation, the Visualizer has to focus on the “what” and keep the communication short and focused, i.e. tell them what the facts are and nothing more. This won’t feel natural to the Visualizer, but it’s the best way to get the attention of the Prioritizer. If the Prioritizer opens an email or Buckets Card that kicks off with a paragraph of what they deem irrelevant information, their attention will be lost instantly.

Once you’ve figured out how to communicate with your colleagues more effectively in this manner, you’ll save an immense amount of time and energy on unnecessary misunderstandings and repetitive instructions. Time and energy that can then be redirected into something much more productive.

Make Buckets Work For YOUR Productivity Style

The key to making Buckets work for every kind of productivity style is to adapt both your usage and the interface according to your individual needs. For example, color-coding tasks will help a Visualizer or an Arranger to organize and prioritize their work because they’re highly visual, but that won’t work for a Prioritizer at all as they literally just want to get the work done now. It’s all about leveraging the adaptability we have in Buckets and creating a system that works for you.

And now for the fun part! You can find out what your productivity style is by completing this assessment on the Carson Tate site. Let us know what your result is in the comments section!

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