How Managers Can Tap Into Personality Diversity to Boost Team Creativity

The need for fresh ideas and creative thinking is higher than ever in today’s fast-moving business world. But innovation doesn’t come from just one person with a brilliant lightbulb moment. The most creative results are often inspired by a team effort, built on the mix of unique ways people think, work and solve problems.

Research shows that diverse thinking styles and problem-solving approaches can lead to stronger innovation outcomes. Diverse teams—provided they can work through their differences —are often better equipped to question assumptions, challenge the status quo, and develop more adaptive solutions. 

While many managers prioritize diversity in experience, education or expertise to spark innovation, one key factor is often overlooked: personality. How people approach communication, decisions and teamwork plays a powerful role in whether fresh ideas take off or fizzle out.

That’s where personality assessments like the 16 Type System, Enneagram, DISC and Big Five can bring valuable insight. These tools give teams a shared language to understand and appreciate the different ways people think and operate in the workplace. When managers can proactively recognize those differences and use them intentionally, they’re more likely to inspire true innovation.

How Comfort Zones Limit Creativity

It’s natural to gravitate toward people who share our communication style, pace or problem-solving preferences. Even well-meaning managers can unintentionally build teams that lean toward sameness. This is known as affinity bias, and it can help teams build rapport and collaborate smoothly, since members often share similar approaches. But the drawback is groupthink, where teams become prone to reinforcing existing opinions, leaving blind spots unaddressed and creating tunnel vision.

Affinity bias doesn’t just happen in hiring—it plays out in day-to-day collaboration, too. Managers may give more airtime to the fastest talkers or assume the quiet team member has less to contribute. But in reality, that quieter person may be the one who notices critical details or offers an insight that shifts the entire strategy. Without intentional awareness, it’s easy to overlook or undervalue the creative strengths that show up differently across personality types. And that’s where innovation stalls—not because the ideas aren’t there, but because they weren’t invited, heard or recognized.

The Personalities Behind Creative Progress

Innovation works best when different kinds of personalities are invited to play to their strengths. Here are four roles that often show up on creative teams, along with the personality traits that might influence them. You’ll find personalities that fit each role in every major personality system:

1. The Idea Generators. These are your big-picture thinkers who are full of “what if” questions. They love brainstorming and exploring new, uncharted territory. This group may include Myers-Briggs ENFPs and ENTPs, Enneagram 7s and people with high Openness on the Big Five.
2. The Critics and Editors. These folks spot the gaps, ask the hard questions, and want to get things as accurate as possible. They are often Enneagram Ones and Sixes, high Conscientiousness in the Big Five, Clarity types in DISC and Judging types on the 16-type system.
3. The Doers. Focused on getting things done, the doers are practical, action-oriented and keep the team moving forward. Examples include DISC Drive or Support types, and Enneagram Three and Eights.
4. The Bridge Builders. These team members tune into group dynamics, making sure everyone feels heard and connected. They build harmony and keep the peace. This group frequently includes Enneagram Twos and Nines, DISC Influence or Support types, high Agreeableness in the Big Five.

While recognizing these general categories can be insightful, it’s important to note that these aren’t fixed roles, and one person might shift between them depending on the situation. But knowing who naturally leans where can help managers build and facilitate more balanced, effective teams.

How to Leverage Personality Diversity

If you are a manager, people leader or team lead, here are six steps you can follow to make your team’s creative process stronger:

1. Check your own style. Notice which types of thinking you naturally value and encourage, and which you are most likely to overlook. A little self-awareness can go a long way to help you stretch your style or appreciate other personalities.
2. Encourage use of one (or more) of Truity’s personality tests. Review the available assessments and consider which one would bring the most valuable insights to your team. Have everyone take that assessment, but make sure to first explain a clear purpose for doing so.
3. Map out the team’s strengths. Map out the test results for the collective team to get a sense of how your group likes to think and work. Look for patterns or gaps—do you have lots of idea people but no finishers? Set aside time to discuss the patterns with your team and make an action plan.  
4. Tweak your meeting process. It’s easy to rely on the loudest and most talkative team members, but that pattern will likely lead to similar thinking and predictable results. Consider how you can introduce a variety of communication methods to engage different personalities. For example, let people write down ideas before speaking. Pair off in twos and then share ideas back. Or use a round-robin format where everyone takes an equal turn. 
5. Match people to phases. Not everyone loves every part of the innovation process. Assign roles based on strengths—let the ideators inspire the brainstorming, have your critics vet the ideas, commission your doers to build and implement the plans, and let your bridge-builders navigate communication.
6. Celebrate different types of wins. Praise can go beyond the typical accolades for the “best idea” or other obvious contributions. Celebrate the person who asked a tough question, who kept the conversation flowing, or the one who brought everyone back on track after progress stalled.

How to Navigate Conflict in the Creative Process

When you bring together a mix of different personalities and perspectives, it’s normal for some friction to arise. This isn’t necessarily a sign that the team is failing—in fact, it may be quite the opposite. If you are truly intent on pursuing innovation, and leveraging diversity in that process, it will likely take extra time and effort for diverse teams to coordinate, communicate or reach consensus because of differences in perspectives or styles. However, those same differences—while causing some loss in efficiency—often produce richer discussions, more thorough problem-solving and, ultimately, more creative or higher quality outcomes.

The key for managers is to recognize that some healthy debate or tension is a natural part of innovation. When managed well, it can spark new thinking and lead the team to breakthroughs they wouldn’t have reached otherwise.

If you’re in a leadership role managing a committee, team or department, it may help to stay attentive to potential signs of conflict.  These can vary, but might include missed deadlines, repeated misunderstandings, hesitation to commit to a direction, hushed side conversations after meetings, or even overly polite interactions that mask disagreement. You might notice body language shifts—like eye rolls or silence after a teammate speaks—or a sudden drop in participation from someone who’s usually engaged. These cues don’t always look like open arguments, but they can signal that team members are struggling to align. Spotting these early can help managers intervene with curiosity rather than correction.

Here are some actionable tips to employ to help the team move from conflict to creativity:

1. Remind the team of the shared goal: innovative solutions benefit from diverse thinking. 
2. Reassure them that some conflict is a natural and necessary part of the creative process, not a problem to avoid. 
3. Encourage open and respectful communication, making it clear that differing opinions are valuable rather than personal attacks. 
4. Establish ground rules for giving and receiving feedback to keep discussions constructive. 

Real innovation happens when managers embrace the messiness of diverse minds working together. By understanding and valuing how personality shapes creativity, managers can guide their teams from scattered ideas to shared success.