Home / Echelon Publishing / Echelon Consulting / FAQs / Contact Us / Learning Log / Shopping Basket

Purpose and benefits

Many people airily ascribe fraught working relationships to “personality clashes”, but there may be no such thing! What we call a “personality” clash may, in fact, be something quite different. Each one of us has our own unique mix of attributes and beliefs that make up our personalities. Familial and societal influences contribute to the mix too. If we clashed with everyone who was different to us, we’d be clashing all the time. Mostly, though, we’re able to accommodate—and enjoy—differences in expression because they don’t threaten or undermine us. We can still maintain our own “mix”. Indeed, our life can be richer and more exciting when we see the world through other people’s eyes.

What is termed a “personality” clash, then, is often a jarring that occurs when someone challenges a deeply-held value or belief which, if challenged, threatens “who we are”; the person we present to the world. So, we fight to prove that we are “right” and, because the beliefs we hold are such an intrinsic part of us, we fight hard. What we are really doing is seeking confirmation that “we are right” and “they are wrong”, and trying to make sure that we don’t have to change anything about ourselves.