Minimize Personality Conflicts at Work: How to Adapt Your Business Styles to Your Colleagues'
Erin Lashley
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Do you have a particular coworker with whom you just don't get along? You're not alone. Maybe the two of you are simply wired differently in terms of your business styles. Jim, a 27 year old call center agent, had this to say about the woman across the aisle from him at the office: "She's been worki 
ng with me for two years and I still don't know a thing about her. I mean, I'm not trying to hit on her, but a little friendly banter makes the day go by more quickly. Why does she have to be such a snob?"
Lauren, a 34 year old administrative assistant for an employment agency, finds her colleagues' email habits extremely irritating: "They actually send around these fruity little inspirational messages every day. It's very Chicken Soup for the Headhunter's Soul. Why does my inbox have to be clogged with messages that aren't directly business related?"
According to management consultant Ronna Lichtenberg in her book Pitch like a Girl, most people fall clearly into one of two categories when it comes to relating to colleagues. Lichtenberg calls these categories "pink" and "blue." Although she uses the stereotypes of the nurturing woman and the aloof man, who are traditionally represented respectively by the colors pink and blue, the colors are just a shorthand method of making the deeper meaning of the lesson stick in people's minds.
Obviously, as in the examples above, sometimes business styles do not conform to traditional expectations of either gender's personalities. Jim, a classic pink, needs to connect with coworkers in order to work comfortably; blues such as Lauren prefer to keep interactions limited to work discussion.
Lichtenberg writes, "Many of the worst fights are between pink women and blue women. A pink woman sees another woman and expects connection- after all, she's another woman, right? For whatever reason, it's not the blue woman's thing to connect, so she either doesn't even notice the pink's friendly nature or doesn't respond."
Lauren, a 34 year old administrative assistant for an employment agency, finds her colleagues' email habits extremely irritating: "They actually send around these fruity little inspirational messages every day. It's very Chicken Soup for the Headhunter's Soul. Why does my inbox have to be clogged with messages that aren't directly business related?"
According to management consultant Ronna Lichtenberg in her book Pitch like a Girl, most people fall clearly into one of two categories when it comes to relating to colleagues. Lichtenberg calls these categories "pink" and "blue." Although she uses the stereotypes of the nurturing woman and the aloof man, who are traditionally represented respectively by the colors pink and blue, the colors are just a shorthand method of making the deeper meaning of the lesson stick in people's minds.
Obviously, as in the examples above, sometimes business styles do not conform to traditional expectations of either gender's personalities. Jim, a classic pink, needs to connect with coworkers in order to work comfortably; blues such as Lauren prefer to keep interactions limited to work discussion.
Lichtenberg writes, "Many of the worst fights are between pink women and blue women. A pink woman sees another woman and expects connection- after all, she's another woman, right? For whatever reason, it's not the blue woman's thing to connect, so she either doesn't even notice the pink's friendly nature or doesn't respond."