You probably don’t have many meetings in your workplace…..but if you do, this may sound familiar.
Sadly, we know it never goes quite the way you want. Because Manoli bursts into the room saying he had a brilliant idea in the shower this morning.
The meeting was already 5 minutes late. Alfie had arrived with an agenda and a plan to finalise the proposal by 11am so had jumped straight into strategy.
Within minutes the conversation had gone from client strategy to podcasts, AI, branding ideas and whether the company should “totally rethink the whole business model.” Alfie’s eye was visibly twitching.
Although Apples and Mangoes are both fast thinkers and action takers, Apples like logical, fact based strategy. Mangoes like possibility and opportunity. While Apple is planning to get the train firmly on the tracks, Mango is already halfway across the country in a hot air balloon.
Bella injects gently that everybody needs to be heard. Alfie hears, “We are now delaying the meeting even further.”
The Banana wanted harmony.
The Apple wanted outcomes.
Bananas often think Apples are too blunt.
Apples often think Bananas take twenty-seven emotional laps to get to a simple decision.
Meanwhile. Laxma has been reading the proposal. “There are three spelling mistakes, the budget assumptions are inconsistent and page four contradicts page seven.”
Boom. The Lime had now brought the meeting to a complete halt over what the Mango called “tiny details”.
Within an hour:
- The Mango thought the Apple was controlling.
- The Banana thought the Apple was intimidating.
- The Lime thought the Apple was rushing.
- And the Apple thought they were surrounded by lunatics.
Which is exactly what happens in workplaces all over the country every single day. All because of different personalities at work.
Most conflict at work is not about competence.
It’s about difference.
Different speeds.
Different priorities.
Different communication styles.
Different definitions of what “good work” even looks like.
The Apple isn’t difficult.
The Mango isn’t irresponsible.
The Banana isn’t weak.
The Lime isn’t nitpicky.
They’re just speaking completely different behavioural languages while assuming everyone else should naturally understand them.
And right now, while businesses are busy panicking about AI, market shifts and productivity, many teams are still falling apart over the basics:
people simply not understanding each other.
That’s why understanding our differences still matters.
Because technology changes fast.
Human behaviour?
Not so much.
