"People, people who need people are the luckiest people in the world." Back in the 1970s, Barbra Streisand made these lyrics famous in her song "People."

Being the luckiest people in the world sounds like a good lot in life.

But what about the other types of people out there, the ones not mentioned in the song? Surely, they must have something going for them, too.

And indeed they do. At the Illinois Organization of Nurse Leaders' October conference, I learned about the different types of people we encounter in the workplace.

During his presentation, "Team Members Who Lead: How Effective Leaders Behave," Doug McKinley, founder and president of the McKinley Group, took us on a journey through The Peoplemap System, a personality test developed in the 1990s by psychologist Michael Lillibridge and corporate life coach Andy Mathis.

The Peoplemap System identifies four distinct personality types: leader types, people types, task types, and free-spirit types. Participants take a short questionnaire to determine which type they are, and then the program builds on understanding the strengths, weaknesses, and communication styles of all the personality types.

The Peoplemap System aims to provide practical information that can enhance our day-to-day interpersonal interactions.

I've taken personality tests like the Myers-Briggs Indicator and the Enneagram in the past, and, while they were fun, I was never able to incorporate the findings into my daily life. My Peoplemap experience was different. I felt I came away with useful knowledge to help me better understand my peers and myself.

As luck would have it (according to Streisand), I turned out to be a people type. People types like to connect through close, supportive relationships and have the ability to understand others at an emotional level. We are good listeners and like helping others, but we need to work on being assertive and handling conflict rather than avoiding it.

Even more interesting than my own profile were the attributes of the other personality types. I could think of people I know who are confident, take-charge leader types; super-organized, dependable task types; and fun-loving, creative free-spirit types.

By recognizing their types, I can improve our interactions by using the communication styles they prefer. Now I know leader types want me to get to the point and avoid unnecessary details, while task types want me to emphasize facts and data and be thorough when completing a job. Free-spirit types value spontaneity and the opportunity to share creative ideas without judgment. My fellow people types want to share their feelings and to work in upbeat environments.

Although people naturally fall into one type or another, all of us bring valuable talents to the workplace. Taking the time to understand ourselves as well as others leads to better teamwork, improvement in interpersonal interactions, and enhanced communication. By working together we can accomplish more than by working apart.