4 workplace productivity personalities

We all have different productivity styles. Learning which style fits each person the best can help to personalize productivity efforts, writes Carson Tate, founder of productivity consultancy Working Simply.

She describes four productivity styles and explains that knowing yours can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses.

1.  Prioritizer. As a prioritizer, you’re logical and use critical thinking to make sure your tasks are done efficiently. You can be controlling and exceptionally focused, but your drive is what keeps you competitive. Your strengths are analyzing data, problem solving and critical analysis.

2.  Planner. Planners like to be organized and detailed. People often confuse planners and prioritizers, but the difference is that planners like to know all the details of a project, while prioritizers focus on the details that will help them complete the project faster. As a planner, you don’t like to deviate from the schedule, and you thrive on agendas and action plans.

3.  Arranger. Arrangers work well on teams and are emotional thinkers. You communicate well with others and prefer a personal touch over data. You love to talk and facilitate interaction between co-workers. Your strengths are selling ideas and understanding others’ feelings.

4.  Visualizer. Visualizers are innovative and thrive under pressure. You prefer to look at broad concepts and tend to overlook details. While you are creative and can have breakthrough ideas, you often derail plans and get bored if you aren’t working on multiple projects. Your strengths are creative problem solving, innovation and the ability to recognize new opportunities.

— Adapted from “The 4 Types of Productivity Styles,” Carson Tate, 99U.