The Personal, The Professional
Who are you at work, and who are you at home?
Do you picture different versions of yourself?
Would your friends, family and colleagues describe you differently?
Most of us will have experienced some distinction in how we behave, how we are perceived, even details like the way we dress and the language we use, between our work environment and our personal lives.
Free Trait Behaviour.
That’s the technical name for this personal-to-professional dance we’ve been doing.
Free traits are the qualities or characteristics we can change or manipulate, as opposed to Fixed traits which are seen being entrenched in us by adulthood.
Free trait behaviour is basically ‘acting out of character’, also described by Brian R Little, research professor of Psychology at Carleton University, as ‘culturally scripted patterns of conduct carried out as part of a person's goals, projects, and commitments independent of that person's inclinations (fixed traits).’
For instance, someone who is fundamentally introverted but is required to communicate or network a lot in their job, may behave more extrovertedly at work to build rapport. Conversely, someone who is naturally exuberant, but works in an industry that values strict ‘professionalism’, may act more reserved.
In recent years and months, it seems that the days of strict boundaries between work and home are behind us.
We wonder what that means for these distinct personas of ours, as they are forced to live in closer proximity, overlapping more and more...
Do they easily merge into one?
Do they even get along?!
But let's go back to where the big shift began...
Leaps in modern technology have made us perpetually connected, always accessible to each other. With phones in pockets, email and instant messaging at our fingertips, we have more of a tendency to work when we’re not at work.
We’re switching between on and off duty modes with the opening of an app.
Then came Work From Home. Our offices literally came to stay, in our living rooms and spare bedrooms. The spaces where we spend personal time with our partners, children, pets. Where we occupy that ‘home’ persona.
These new ways of working, as well as an increase in self-employment, freelancing and careers outside the traditional 9to5 office setting make it harder to separate our professional and personal roles. These separate identities of ours have been thrust together like never before.
What does it all mean?
The question that faces us then: Is all this for better or worse?
Professor Little suggests that any ‘free trait behaviour’ comes at the potential cost of exhaustion.
No matter how effective it may be towards our particular goals, if we engage regularly in ‘free trait extroversion’ for example, we must make up for it by nurturing our first nature; that introverted craving for the quiet you need to recharge.
If the above sounds particularly like you, then you may find Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain an interesting read. But we digress.
On the reverse, if you are a naturally sociable person who thrives on conversation, but are required to work in focused solitude, the free trait behaviour of independence would be a drain on your energy, and the way to recharge it: socialising during breaks in a busy communal area.
Could shucking off our ‘work personas’ be a good thing?
Here are three ideas to chew on:
Avoiding the Free trait Drain.
If we conflate our work and home personas into one, our first nature and ‘free trait’ behaviours meet on comfortable middle ground. There would be no need to drain and recharge ourselves in the first place.
That means energy left over to be better spent elsewhere - enough for football with the kids, as well as the extra push toward your quarterly target.
Alter the job to fit the person, not the other way around.
When we do away with the routine of adapting, chameleon-like, between these facets of life, and ‘bring our whole selves to work’ (as we like to say at Orbis), it follows that we re-mould our way of working around our personality, rather than vice versa.
Ultimately, if the needs of the job are irrevocably at odds with the needs of the personality, maybe it’s a different job that is right for you. A rethink could be in order.
Become a better Team.
In addition to the benefits of avoiding energy drain and finding better harmony between self and work, bringing our home personas or ‘first natures’ to the workplace could make for a more stimulating office environment.
The qualities we’ve been toning down or leaving at the door, like our sense of humour, individual views and beliefs, unique ways of problem-solving and our social side could actually help support and inspire colleagues, spark debate and new ideas.
Research suggests that a good team requires a range of personality types (up to sixteen of them, in fact), so conforming ourselves into a similar group might not be beneficial to our targets.
In sum, the boundaries between the personal and the professional have crumbled.
There’s no longer a need to ‘play the part’, now we can come to work as ourselves.
Many offices are already seeing the benefits. As for the individual, it’s time we shook off one more unnecessary pressure and get comfortable with being true to ourselves, wherever we are - you never know where it might take you.