Download Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

Myers Briggs Type Indicator
(MBTI)
‘everything that irritates us about others,
can lead us to a better understanding of ourselves’
Carl Jung
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a psychometric questionnaire designed to
measure psychological preferences in how individuals perceive their world and make
decisions.
The purpose of the MBTI personality tool is to make the hugely influential theory of psychological types, as
described by the Carl Jung, understandable and useful in people’s lives. Jung regarded psychological type
as similar to left or right handedness: individuals are either born with, or develop, certain preferred ways of
thinking and acting. Therefore seemingly random variations in individual behaviour are actually quite
orderly and consistent and are a result of differences in the ways individuals use their perception and
judgment:
 Perception involves all the ways we become aware of ideas, people, events, etc.
 Judgment involves the ways we reach our conclusions about what has been perceived.
If individuals differ systematically in what they perceive and in how they reach their conclusions, then it is
only reasonable for them to differ correspondingly in their interests, reactions, values, motivations, etc.
The MBTI sorts some of these psychological differences into four opposite pairs, with a resulting 16
possible psychological types. None of these types are better or worse; however, it is theorized that
individuals naturally prefer one overall combination of types.
The four pairs are shown in the figure.
The MBTI instrument indicates one
preference over another. Someone
reporting a high score for extraversion
over introversion cannot be correctly
described as more extraverted: they
simply have a clearer ‘preference’.
The terms used for each pair has
specific technical MBTI meanings which
differ from everyday usage. For
example, people who prefer judgment
over perception are not necessarily
more judgmental or less perceptive.
The expression of a person's
psychological type is more than just the
sum of the four individual preferences
and the preferences interact through
dynamics and development.
How to Use MBTI
The MBTI is a British Psychological Society approved assessment tool and its use is restricted to qualified
practitioners. It is designed to be a tool to support to individual and/or team development: a tool to
empower the individual.
The MBTI tool is always undertaken on a voluntary basis. The results belong to the individual and are
private and confidential. The MBTI tool cannot be used for recruitment purposes - its premise is that all
types are valuable and measures preferences not aptitude.
For the individual the most common method to undertake the MBTI, is to complete the online
questionnaire (around 40 minutes) and receive personal feedback on a one-to-one session from a
qualified MBTI practitioner (about 1 hour). In this instance, the MBTI tool can be used on its own or, to get
best value, as one tool within a longer-term personal coaching programme.
When developing the team using MBTI, one method is for all team members to undertake the MBTI
individually (online followed by 1 hour individual feedback), which can then be followed up with a tailored
team development session. The aim of the team development session is dependent on the requirement of
the team and may include sharing individual MBTI results, a team MBTI analysis and mapping. This
session could then also look at the dynamics of the team in terms of MBTI and one or all of the following:
communication, culture, change, leadership, stress and conflict.
Benefits of MBTI
For the individual
• Get to know yourself, your colleagues and your team better
• Get to recognise your impact on others
• Helps to influence, build openness and trust
• Provides neutral and affirming language with which to discuss differences - no ‘wrong’ approaches
• Identifies assets/strengths and potential blind spots
For the Organisation:
• Provides a framework in which team members can better understand work-type issues such as
communication, culture, change, leadership, conflict and stress
• Teaches individuals to value and work with the strengths of others
• Can help to increase productivity by aligning an individual’s MBTI preferences to particular team
tasks
• Emphasises the value that can be gained through a diverse approach
To find out more please contact Lorna Prince, OD Partner, HR&OD
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.
Marcel Proust