I recently attended a seminar as part of Sheffield’s MADE festival, designed to help discover your ‘shape’. I’m not talking apple, pear or hourglass here – rather square, circle, triangle, squiggle or rectangle! Here at MK, we often use the expression relating to square pegs and round holes – this ‘test’ is a similar principle: understand yourself and those around you, and better productivity will be the end result (hopefully).

First of all, the group of 15 or so attendees were asked to think about which shape they identified with most, without any prior knowledge of the associated traits (I should confess though that I researched online first – typical ‘circle’ apparently…).  As the session progressed, it became more apparent which shape everyone was – even taking into account how high and evenly they placed a piece of paper on a wall!

This and indeed many of the popular personality tests can seem self-indulgent, and we often see in them only what we want to see but if used correctly and with the genuine aim of improving dynamics in the workplace, they can be very useful. Here is a brief summary of each of the shapes – which shape are you?

Squares: Hard-working, determined, patient, prefer a methodical approach, has an analytical approach, likes a plan

Triangles: Make the best leaders, focused, confident, goal-oriented, fast learners

Rectangles: Curious, many interests, confused, unpredictable

Circles: Great people skills, empathetic and sympathetic, more creative than logical, emotionally charged

Squiggle: Creative, innovative, not concerned with constraints of reality, enjoys a state of harmony, not concerned with details