Being Task Oriented Without Running Over People

Paul Bramson, keynote speaker and CEO at The Paul Bramson Companies

People’s different personalities can at times make them much more habitually task oriented or relationship oriented instead of balanced.

The two can struggle to co-exist, not understanding one another or if they do, dislike the other person’s approach to completing work.

A question is do those who are far less relationship oriented realize how they can come across to other people with their communication behavior?

There are signs that someone can be so overly focused on accomplishing a particular task that they do so at the expense of seeing others as human beings with reasonable emotional, psychological and conduct expectations.

“A simple example of someone overly focused on task accomplishment is when they are over-attached to their to-do list and their only goal or focus is checking off everything on that list without talking to others,” says Paul Bramson, a keynote speaker and CEO at The Paul Bramson Companies, a professional training company.

“They are closed off to any and all suggestions, conversations, collaboration and questions,” he says, adding how such people come off to the receivers of such interactions, “They just want it done. The individuals they work with feel disconnected because they are essentially order-takers.”

If this a behavior that someone periodically falls into under stress or thoughtfulness — or it’s habitual — it can be a blind spot. Noticing how others are receiving them emotionally and psychologically is important.

Bramson talks about how improvement can begin taking place so people feel respected and relationships can remain healthy.

“Open your eyes with some semblance of self-awareness,” he says. “Does the world see you as you see the world? You would need consistent feedback from your leader, advisor, trusted loved one or coach to give you this candid feedback.”

There is a recommendation Bramson offers for a more reliable way to balance accomplishing tasks and showing others, with words and other actions, that how they experience our interactions is important to us.

“Let them do their jobs and engage in consistent check-ins to see where they feel they need support,” he advises. “Task-oriented people can come across as micromanagers and force people to shut down.”