Features
Knowing me, knowing you...
Personality profiling has proved a recent hit for 360 in the training room but it's been around for decades, some would even argue centuries. Here associate trainer Sandra Bull venturues her own thoughts on why it remains relevant.
Cynics often dismiss personality profiling or psychometric testing as "touchy-feely mumbo-jumbo". Indeed, some of my nearest and dearest and I frequently clash on the subject with me firmly in the pro camp.
The work of Isabel Briggs Myers and her mother Katharine Briggs to create the Myers Briggs Type Indicators system in the 1940s and 50s is perhaps the best-known (and arguably most widely-reviled) form of personality profiling. Based on Jung's theory that people fall into different archetypes strongly influenced by their unconscious mind, Myers and Briggs developed four measures that define the way people prefer to source their energy, take in information, make decisions and orient their lives. The system drives out 16 different personality types that can be defined by their four letter codes.
For the MBTI naysayers, people are subject to moods and whims that can affect their behaviour and decision-making. It's impossible, they say, to pigeonhole people using this narrow approach and MBTI is nothing more than a professional form of astrology. Call me an 'N' if you will (it is part of my MBTI profile, after all) but I look for the wider patterns, the repeated behaviours, the traits that have held people back both professionally and personally. And for me, irrespective of one's own profile (I'm an ENFJ, in case you're interested) I believe there is a less prescriptive, more holistic benefit that applies both to workplace learning and personal experiences.
Let me give you an example. I once worked with a boss who was difficult to track down, appeared to positively loathe regular update meetings, who was always coming up with grand new schemes but never finishing them and for whom lateness appeared to be a pathological condition.
To say that we clashed would be an understatement of seismic proportions. I'd often literally chase her round the building to tie her down to a meeting or decision. I'd stress over the number of different projects I was handed and how to complete them. I found her lateness rude and offensive.
Our breakthrough was thanks to MBTI. As part of a wider management development programme, we learned that we had but one letter of our four-letter code in common. This insight didn't change who we are but it did provide the vision to understand where the pressure points lay. I believe MBTI defuses the emotion from difficult encounters. My ex-boss and I remain firm friends years later and we still revert back to MBTI-speak at difficult times, often light-heartedly accusing the other of being too 'P' or too 'J'. I have witnessed these 'lightbulb' moments in the training room when working through MBTI with delegates who often identify wives, brothers, boyfriends (and with some encouragement work colleagues) using the system.
We exist in a high-pressure era where workplace litigation relating to stress and bullying has become commonplace. Conversely, the concept of work/life balance has become a modern management buzz-phrase with companies pouring time and money into chasing accolades for employee-friendly policies. There are demographic influences afoot too. As employers fish in an ever-smaller pond of talent, building a complementary and harmonious team is vital. For me, all these factors have a common theme. The vast majority of the workplace strife I have witnessed has not come from lack of skills or knowledge but from a poor understanding of inter-personal impacts and why people behave the way they do.
So whether it's Plato, Jung or Myers and Briggs who should take the credit, I believe the root benefit of personality profiling is to improve self-awareness and to celebrate our differences. And anyone who disagrees is clearly an ISTP!
What is MBTI?
MYERS BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR is a tool widely used in the workplace across the developed world to determine personality type and preferences that govern an individualˇ¦s behaviours. Based on concepts originated by psychologist Carl Jung, the system was devised in the 1940s and 50s by mother and daughter team Katharine Briggs and Isabel Myers. Participants are measured on four scales to drive out a four-letter code that describes their type. These measurements are achieved through an extensive questionnaire, which is then analysed by a trainer accredited on MBTI.
The first scale is Introvert/Extrovert and relates to the way we are energised. Es like interacting with people and develop ideas through discussion. Meanwhile, Is like quiet for concentration and develop ideas internally. The second scale is Sensing/Intuition and governs the way we prefer to take in information. Ss are practical and standardise their approach, building to conclusion by collecting facts. Ns (because I has already been taken by Introvert) look for patterns and meanings, following their inspirations by looking at the bigger picture. Next comes Thinking/Feeling, which influences how we make decisions. Ts are logical, firm-minded and consistent and not adverse to providing criticism when appropriate. Fs focus on people interactions, and use values to seek a consensus.
Finally, we come to Judging/Perceiving, which is about how we prefer to orient ourselves. Js are committed planners, focused on completing tasks and hitting deadlines and feel comfortable with structure and schedules. Ps look for flexibility and spontaneity, like to leave things open as long as possible and focus on enjoying the process.
Course of action...
If you want to know more, or would like your teamn to undergo MBTI profiling, 360 Training is happy to provide accredited supported. Contact us on training@360training.co.uk or call us on 0845 373 1473.
