Work It Out: Clues for Solving People Problems at Work

Rating:
Summary: A practical and enlightening guide
Review: For an independent free-lance consultant like me, Work it out is a must ! It is an extremely useful book providing case studies which are clearly laid out and diagnosed in a comprehensive and enlightening way. They are great guidelines for professionals. Furthermore, Sandra Hirsh offers some useful guidelines on the team-building and coaching processes that are also extremely interesting and practical.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who is not only involved in the Human Resource field, but for those who are responsible for managing teams or for the curious among you who find the human complexities fascinating.

Rating:
Summary: Understanding and appreciating differences in each other
Review: For several years I facilitated workshops using the Myers Briggs Type Indicator and found them very rewarding. When I picked up a copy of Work it Out, it greatly broadened my scope. This book gives wonderful, real-life examples of situations that we can all relate to and understand. Sandra discusses many different cases and scenarios in the text that will shed light for many of those who are stuck and wonder what is going on in a relationship with a fellow worker. There are valuable sections on team-building and coaching that have been especially useful to me and "type clues" throughout the book that are great "aha" moments for even a seasoned MBTI user. Wonderful text to understand and appreciate differences in anyone we work with! Should be on the shelf of every MBTI user.

Rating:
Summary: Understanding and appreciating differences in each other
Review: For several years I facilitated workshops using the Myers Briggs Type Indicator and found them very rewarding. When I picked up a copy of Work it Out, it greatly broadened my scope. This book gives wonderful, real-life examples of situations that we can all relate to and understand. Sandra discusses many different cases and scenarios in the text that will shed light for many of those who are stuck and wonder what is going on in a relationship with a fellow worker. There are valuable sections on team-building and coaching that have been especially useful to me and "type clues" throughout the book that are great "aha" moments for even a seasoned MBTI user. Wonderful text to understand and appreciate differences in anyone we work with! Should be on the shelf of every MBTI user.

Rating:
Summary: Using Work It Out
Review: I employ 10 folks in a computer development "geek" shop. A long-time student and user of Temperament or Type -- I was pleased with this book in that it presents the premise of Type in an easy to read style that represents realistic work environments; situations that I believed my staff would understand. I bought a copy for each staff member -- and as a team, we are working our way through the book chapter-by-chapter; one chapter each week. 30 to 45 minutes of each Monday morning Staff meeting are devoted to discussion of the issues in the "current" chapter; what each person's "type" value is, and how those values contribute and frustrate the values of others. We are six weeks into this project. Conflicts issues between staff that used to cause friction and frustration are simply melting away as the chapters drop away. Staff openly discuss disagreements as conflicts in Type; and allow each other to have different views. Staff that would never read anything ... are reading this book in advance, usually over the weekend on their own time, to be prepared for Monday staff meetings. Team members that were often late to staff meetings in the past ... are "on-time". Whether the excitement will sustain itself after the book is completed is clearly a "management" issue -- but this book has captured the interest of a diverse group of computer "geeks", administrators, and managers. And while the company's profits are determined over sustained selling and development cycles ... the productivity output of the staff is up and we've not missed even an internal delivery commitment in the past three weeks; a virtual impossibility in years past. The book is proving to be a very powerful tool for my company.

\\ Richard Eastman
The Eastman Group, Inc.
www.eastmangroup.com

Rating:
Summary: Using Work It Out
Review: I employ 10 folks in a computer development "geek" shop. A long-time student and user of Temperament or Type -- I was pleased with this book in that it presents the premise of Type in an easy to read style that represents realistic work environments; situations that I believed my staff would understand. I bought a copy for each staff member -- and as a team, we are working our way through the book chapter-by-chapter; one chapter each week. 30 to 45 minutes of each Monday morning Staff meeting are devoted to discussion of the issues in the "current" chapter; what each person's "type" value is, and how those values contribute and frustrate the values of others. We are six weeks into this project. Conflicts issues between staff that used to cause friction and frustration are simply melting away as the chapters drop away. Staff openly discuss disagreements as conflicts in Type; and allow each other to have different views. Staff that would never read anything ... are reading this book in advance, usually over the weekend on their own time, to be prepared for Monday staff meetings. Team members that were often late to staff meetings in the past ... are "on-time". Whether the excitement will sustain itself after the book is completed is clearly a "management" issue -- but this book has captured the interest of a diverse group of computer "geeks", administrators, and managers. And while the company's profits are determined over sustained selling and development cycles ... the productivity output of the staff is up and we've not missed even an internal delivery commitment in the past three weeks; a virtual impossibility in years past. The book is proving to be a very powerful tool for my company.

\\ Richard Eastman
The Eastman Group, Inc.
www.eastmangroup.com

Rating:
Summary: Great read, entertaining and insightful
Review: If you're looking for clues on how to solve your people problems at the office, Work it Out may provide just the help you need. Hirsh weaves workplace difficulties into mini mysteries to illustrate our different communication, data gathering, time management and decision-making styles. Written with humor and candor, Work it Out is sure to provide you with valuable lessons learned from easily recognizable workplace situations.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent and practical!
Review: Sandra, this book of your is a very timely blessing. The beginning of your book does an excellent job of succinctly explaining type, including deeper issues such as dominant and inferior function, before moving on to the practical applications of the rest of the book. You bring in a lot of theory yet with brevity and much clarity. You do an excellent job of writing to a non-type community in a way that still holds type principles to a high level, i.e. not "dumbing it down". By the way, I actually bought the book because recently I have been doing a lot of couples counseling and workshops. I have always viewed marriage as the original work unit so I enjoy applying organizational principles to marriage. In particular, your work is so people-friendly that I like using it in the context of marriage. As a counselor, I found your coaching tips to very insightful and will be adding your coaching suggestions to my own work.

Rating:
Summary: Work it out: clues for solving people problems at work
Review: Work It Out, Clues for Solving People Problems at Work was written as a "how to" guide for working out personality conflicts in the workplace. Hirsh and Kise make use of the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MTBI) and give practical advice to professionals who are interested in an effective, team oriented work environment. The book is written in a witty style that brings the text alive by use of narrative. Pragmatic uses of graphical images highlight the important points. A discussion of type preference is followed by an explanation of how different types fit together and are manifested in the workplace. The book concludes with an explanation of each of the 16 different combinations of personality types and how they can be better understood. Understanding type better emphasizes the strengths of team players, by understanding what they prefer, not dwelling on what they do not.