How COVID-19 Changed Personalities at Home Office

If you have not read the book “Surrounded by Idiots” already, please read it. This book is super cool, the language is easy to understand, and it is extremely likely that you will find so many things you can relate to. For those who have not read it, here is a quick summary about the characters:

(Note: i am using “he” and “him” whenever referring to someone, just like the author in the book. Girls please do not get offended, this is only for simplicity)

Red: fast thinker, dominant, bossy character. A red person would not necessarily ask your opinions, but he would rather make decisions on his own. Red people are task oriented and extroverted. If you have ever had a boss who is not afraid of getting into conflict with anyone, that boss is a Red. Reds live in the moment, they are direct. Their perception about the “time” is always instant. Decisions should be made immediately. On the positive side, Reds are usually good at shifting into the next gears, moving projects that are stuck, and getting things done.

Yellow: thinks about the far future, disorganized, good communicator and fun to be with. Yellow people are really good at creating visions, however they are not good at transforming the visions into strategy. Yellow people get bored quickly if you go into the details. Yellow people are innovative. Reality is not holding them back. They have problems with managing their daily schedules, because they have a very fuzzy perception about “time”. If you have ever met a guy who is always late by at least an hour, that guy is a yellow. Yellow people are extroverted, and people oriented. They love social life, and being in the center.

Green: greens can be perceived as “lazy”, but this is not always true. Their perception about “time” is unique: they are never in hurry. If a task that could be done in 5 minutes by a Red, it can happen that a Green is spending 2 months doing the same thing. Green people are introverted, and people oriented. If you know a girl who loves painting, and she can spend months painting the same picture, she is a Green. They are good at focusing on one thing, if they are motivated in that thing. They are the ones who make sacrifices for the community.

Blue: so called “cold blue”. When they are talking to you, they have poker face. Face muscles do not move. This can be interpreted like they have no emotions, but that is not true. The guy on the news channel, he is Blue. They do not like small talking, they go straight to the point. They always want to make the best decisions, so they would spend a lot of time collecting inputs, doing researches, asking for feedbacks, etc. A Red person would call this behaviour “Analysis Paralysis”, and a Blue person would be labeled as someone who can not make a decision. In fact, they can, and they also consider how fast the decision should be made (eg. not instantly). I would not be surprised if NASA would employ a lot of Blue employees. If you have ever got annoyed by a person who was asking for more details when you already collected everything to make a good decision, that person was a Blue.

Lets see how pandemic Home Office affected these guys

Red: they have become ever more Red.
Task oriented Reds got disconnected from face-to-face discussions. How would this affect their human relations? Even more decisions made, and with that, even more conflicts generated. Red people were all over the place at the office building. When they need to be at home for so long time, they realize that the only way to not get bored is to shift gears up, and do even more work. Or hobby. Or learning. Or anything that keeps themselves engaged with something real. You may not want to be a direct report of a Red boss during the pandemic. In case you have a Red boss, dont be surprised that he has become a workaholic — assuming that he was not workaholic before, already. If you meet a Red guy who is pushy, do not get offended, this is their natural way of surviving crisis situations.

Yellow: they have become Blue.
What happens to an exroverted / people oriented guy who can not go out for a drink with his buddys, and he can not tell them how fantastic new ideas he has? Yes, he becomes a demotivated “cold blue”. In their case, the environment is pushing them and their imagination back to their rooms, with limited space. And they are suffering. I would not be surprised, if there was so many ex-Yellow people today fighting with depression. They used to live and dream above the sky, with no feet on the ground. Now their feet are on the ground, and they are facing with constant threat. If you meet a Yellow guy today, spend some time with him talking about bright ideas and better future, put him back to his comfort zone.

Green: they have become even more Green.
Green people are good at staying in their comfort zone. During the pandemic, fortunately they do not even have to commute, or in general they do not meet other people at all. Before COVID-19, they have been shy and worried about so many things. During the pandemic, they live in constant fear and they are threatened. I have met a Green guy who got offended simply by attending a meeting, where participants had different point of view. He did not say a word during that one hour meeting. After the meeting, he was raging on the team’s slack channel, arguing about almost everything that we discussed with the others. This was his way of releasing his fear and anxiety, at least for a day. If you meet a Green guy today, try to avoid introducing changes, so that he can stay at his comfort zone.

Blue: pretty much the same as before, they remain Blue. Super Blue.
Winners of the pandemic are Blue people. They used to work for the salary, and nothing has changed. They used to keep a safe distance from others, and now the distance is guaranteed by social distancing. You may not notice any behavioural change in Blue people. They are 9-to-5 workers who are focusing on the tasks they are assigned to. They are constantly looking for better ways to collaborate and contribute. Their analyzing skills are extremely powerful during the pandemic. If you meet Blue guys these days, make sure they get in touch with Greens and Yellows. They can help a lot.

Oh, and … if you want to know what happens to a <insert color here> when he is drunk, read the book. I found that interesting btw, but I do not want to spoiler.