20 Tips to Help Thinkers & Workers Get Along

You’re such a perfectionist. You have to have everything just right. It’s your way or no way. Have you ever heard these terms in reference to yourself? Or maybe you’re the one handing out those comments?

I hear this from time to time, more often that should be.

Well, here’s the thing about being a “perfectionist”, they, we, me, rarely get anything perfect. We rarely do anything perfect, and things surely aren’t done perfectly. Ask my husband!!

Yes, I do like things to be done right and now. And prefer them my way, because that’s as far as my vision goes sometimes. You can consider me a Worker. I always need to be doing something. I rarely sit and smell the flowers (not really a strength!)

This trait of being a perfectionist, isn’t truly an accurate description. The type-A or, the Worker, personality sees the big picture. Has vision after vision for any task, no matter how insignificant or huge it is.

We see the overall idea of what it should be like. We can see the end result.

What most don’t realize, that is often the extent of our “perfectionist” ways.

Most with this type of personality, are not great detailed people, or great finishers (check my craft closet, I could start a new business of “I start the project & you finish it”).

And those that are the detailed people, the Thinkers, are driven bonkers by our lack of details and plans.

This is my husband and me. I have the one with the ideas, big visions, big plans. He’s the one that needs to research every single details before he can even consider one of my big ideas.

As you can see this can cause a little tension. I want things now and don’t want to take the time to figure out the details, we’ll just figure it out along the way. He has to have a plan to have a plan. We are both right in our thinking. We just had to learn that we just need to get to solutions in different ways.

We had to learn to accept these qualities in each other. I have to be more patient and he has to accept that I’m a big idea person.

It really goes quite well together. I come up with the idea and how to get it going, and keep it going. He has the detailed plan to actually accomplish the goal.

If this is you, then you will need to learn to work together to accomplish great things, and fight less.

Maybe this is you and your boss at work, or someone you volunteer with at church. Learn to work within each others strengths and become a true team that can accomplish more together than separated.

10 Tips for the Idea-Person, The Worker:

1. Write down your ideas.
2. Present only one at a time to the Detailed-Person
3. Let the other person know of your idea, what your thoughts are on it and what you would like to accomplish. Then wait. Let them think on it. This could take a couple of days or even a couple of weeks, if its a huge idea.
4. Don’t change your idea constantly. Us idea people have a million-thoughts-a-second running through our heads. Our vision can start with the making of a new lollipop and end up with the vision for a new sports car.
5. Be patient. I know, this is so hard!
6. Review the process that your counterpart has come up with. Think on it for a day or two before commenting or having anything negative to say about it.
7. Talk the details out together. If you don’t understand something, ask what it means. If you want something changed, explain what you mean in detail and decide together how to change it.
8. Review the plan the Detailed-Person has come up with and come to agreement with it.
9. Can you do what they suggest? (Can you suck it up and let someone else lead the process?)
10. Stick to the plan, don’t deviate, unless necessary and get it done.

10 Tips for the Detailed-Person, The Thinker:

1. Don’t panic every time your Idea-Person comes to you with a new idea.
2. Listen fully to the idea, even if it doesn’t make sense, seems out of this world or impossible.
3. Write down their vision.
4. Don’t bash them for their ideas.
5. Come up with a detailed plan of what it would actually take and do to accomplish this. BUT, don’t take too long.
6. Present your details and wait a couple of days to hear back.
7. Don’t be offended if the Idea-Person doesn’t understand your details or thinks they won’t work.
8. Talk them through it, explain why the details are important and that they are how this project can be accomplished.
9. Be willing to make some changes. But don’t take too long making those changes or coming up with a new plan.
10. Write out the plan, the details, the timeline, the schedule. Let the Idea-Person know what they need to do and get moving.

Photo Credit: (c) Can Stock Photo