What do you think of when someone says......

"strong personalities" = hard headed / difficult to work with

Assertive and not shy would be a positive way of saying it, but "strong personality" has a negative connotation in most usage I've heard. 

Stong Personality - Over bearing - micro manager in the work environment I have dealt with in the last 30 years of working.  Usually don't work well in group type of projects.

I suppose. I think some good leaders can be.. but probably thinking of the positive things, and there are other descriptors for that... ya, in a work environment it is probably a PC way of saying jerk. If I heard it at work that is probably how I would take it.

I can see it referring to general jerk behaviors, but if it was described as "weak personalities", is that any better? It could be that the office is filled with people who know what they think and are not afraid to express it. They tolerate conflict and challenges. That can be better than an office where the senior person does not tolerate different opinions or voices being heard.

I would want to know more - do they get along with one another? Do they eat lunch together? Is there a high or low rate of turnover of staff? Those are clues to the more positive or negative connotations of a broad description of "strong personalities".

sounds like 95% of triathletes to me.

That's interesting that the overwhelming majority see it more on the negative side.  I have always thought of it in more positive terms.  Leader, confident, principled, assertive, outgoing, self sufficient, independent, tends to draw attention or be noticed, the people who can make a decision and move forward with it.

To put it in context, I used it to describe our office.  Someone took offense to it and understand my intent to be that on the negative side.  The full statement I used was in reference to interviewing candidates for a job opening we just filled, I said "We have an office full of strong personalities here and I really don't think it's a good idea to add another one.  I'm looking for someone that has a softer personality type.  I just think it's better to have a full range of personalities."  Basically I was saying that we are all pretty assertive and principled people and I think we'd be better off bringing in a bit of a push over or a follower (basically didn't want people butting heads).  We've had some personality clashes in the past and I'd just like to keep it to a minimum.

But after the above comments I can see how that could be misunderstood.

This is how I see the term strong personality.  Maybe because I am one, but I don't see it as a negative.  Quite frankly, I find those WITHOUT strong personalities to be difficult to work with because they never really have an opinion.

Ya, that's the problem with "strong personalities"... they don't always play well with others.

Obviously, there is not a Websters definition to go by here. You were just trying to get a meaning across. I could see how to most people the term would be taken negative just like this thread has shown.

But to put it in context... what I want in an employee is a hard worker, that has some principles, that is not going to sit back and coast, take some initiative... but for all that I would not wrap that up to mean "strong personality".

Just like was said above, I would not want a "weak personality". That does not sound all that great either.

I think it can be good or bad.. it really depends on how the group gets along. If everyone gets along then cool... but dealing with "difficult people", that's never fun. And probably more times than not, "difficult people" have "strong personalities".

I think how much of a follow up description is said about this person would tell you whether the comment is positive or negative.  

When praising someone, there probably are some examples cited.  If there is no elaboration, it's likely to be negative.  

I was actually taken aback at how many people thought the term had negative connotations. I work on a labor and delivery unit and we have always said that to be an L&D nurse you have to have a "strong personality". We refer to ourselves that way and when the unit coordinator is interviewing new nurses, we have often discouraged her from hiring those who seem to be quieter, weaker type personality types. We just know from experience that those types just don't tend to make it in L&D.

What I don't think we are at all are- jerks, overbearing, pig headed, control freaks, micro managers, hard to work or get along with and any other negative terms I've seen in this post.

Our unit is cohesive, fiercely loyal, knowledgeable,  and we are excellent care providers. We are great patient advocates and we know our stuff. My husband often refers to my coworkers and I as feisty and he's correct. We aren't afraid to stand up to a doc making a bad call, to voice our concerns to an administrator if the need arises and stand up for each other and our patients. We also know how to handle criticism, learn from mistakes and not get our feelings hurt when we are being challenged. This all makes for much safer and better care for our patients. There isn't one of us who is afraid to say - hey wait why are you doing that? or what the heck are you thinking? etc. And we don't break down if we are the one being challenged.

I have worked on this unit for over 19 years and if it tells you anything there is only a handful of nurses that have been there less time than I have. We joke that some of us have worked together longer than we've been married to our spouses.

Do we sometimes overstep the bounds and get overbearing, become a jerk, act pig headed- sure we do- that does come with "strong personalities" but is that Who we are?- no way. And there's always another "strong personality" right there to say- hey you're being a jerk- lol.

We are all very social people, are friends at and outside of work, get along well with others and really know how to party. That's another L&D requirement- lol.

So I don't think anything negative about the term "strong personalities". I am one, I work with quite a few others and quite proud of  it. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Shelly