Uses of MBTI

• Understand yourself and your behavior• Appreciate others and their contributions• Make constructive use of differences

What Does It Do?

• Identifies preferences, not skills• Open possibilities, not limit options• All preferences are valuable• All preferences can be used by each person

IMPORTANT!!!!!

• Everyone is unique• Everyone uses every preference sometime• We can all improve communications• Relationships will improve with practice

Myers-Briggs

• Extravert• Sensing• Thinking• Judging

• Intravert• Intuitive• Feeling• Perceiving

Terms• Extravert IS NOT “talkative or loud”• Introvert IS NOT “shy or inhibited”• Feeling IS NOT “emotional”• Judging IS NOT “judgmental”• Perceiving IS NOT “perceptive”

Extravert - Introvert

• How you get and use your energy

Extravert - Introvert

• E – People, activity, talking (external world)– Readily takes initiative– “Act first, think later”– Enjoys a wide variety and

change in people and relationships

– Very approachable– Develop ideas through

discussion

• I – Thoughts, feelings, writing (internal world)– Think/reflect first, then act– Needs “private” time to

reflect– One-on-one relationship or

conversations– Great listeners– Enjoys focusing on a

project

Sensing (S) – Intuitive (N)

How do you take in information?

Sensing (S) – Intuitive (N)

• S – Facts – real & tangible - now– Carefully thought out

conclusions– Lives in the present– “Do something” rather

than “think about it”– Fantasy is a dirty word– Common sense solutions

• N – Possibilities – Inspiration - future– Use personal feelings to

make decisions– Comfortable with fuzzy

data– Inventing new possibilities

is automatic– Sometimes considered

absent-minded

Thinking (T) - Feeling (F)

How do you make decisions?

Thinking (T) - Feeling (F)

• T – Decision through logic and truth– More important to be

right than liked– Viewed as unemotional– Focus on tasks – Provides objective and

critical analysis

• F - Decision through emotion– Follow hunch to make

quick conclusions– Sensitive to feelings of

others– Toxic reaction to

disharmony, prefer to accommodate

– Takes things too personally

Judging (J) - Perceiving (P)

How do you organize your

life?

Judging (J) - Perceiving (P)J – planned, orderly, reach

closure quickly– Get things done– Punctual– Likes to use a list, make

plans– Structure and order– Works best and avoids

stress when keeps ahead of deadlines and not given too much information at one time

• P – flexible, spontaneous, stay open– Lives for the moment– Works well under pressure

and deadlines– Creative– Multitasks– Avoids commitments, it

interferes with flexibility

Tips for Extraverts

• Style can overwhelm intraverts• Recognize the need for written communications

Tips for Intraverts

• Be assertive• Let others know where you are and what

you need• Ask for time to respond• Recognize the need for face to face

communications

Tips for Sensors

• Your helpful questions and useful details may cut off others’ sharing of ideas

• Ask others for their ideas and perspective• Allow time for brainstorming

Tips for Intuitives

• Others may need to do a reality check on your ideas or compare them with past experience

• While brainstorming, think of what it will take to make the idea work

Tips for Thinking Types• Personal connection and acknowledgement

are necessary to Feeling types to commit to a project

• Your idea of a “lively difference of opinion” may represent a “conflict” tp Feeling types, creating tension

Tips for Feeling Types• Logical structure and clarity are necessary for

Thinking types to commit to a project• T types may see your relationship-oriented

approach as obscuring your commitment to planning and completing tasks

• Let others know if their style is bothering you

Tips for Judging Types• Recognize that structure is restrictive to P

types - limit to essentials• Allow time for deliberation and decision• Hold others responsible for results, rather

than dictating the process• Use asking tones, rather than insisting tones

Tips for Perceiving Types

• Recognize that your exploratory style may seem like a waste of time to Judging types

• Set deadlines for your own results and decisions

• Follow through on your commitments