Understanding your partners with the Myers Briggs Type Indicator

Originally published in GP magazine .

Written for GP magazine around 2007. This is the version I submitted - the published article may have been edited.

In my article on situational leadership I discussed how different leadership styles should be used on different subordinates to get the most out of them. For example, delegate to people who are capable of independent work and instruct those who need supervision. However there is more to understanding people, to manage them effectively and to get them working well in teams. Unsurprisingly their ideas, concerns and expectations play a part, as does their personality type, which can fundamentally change the way they think and act.

In business it is very common to discuss the MBTI or Myers Briggs Type Indicator. It is often quoted on CVs and done at team-building events to get an idea of how the group will interact. It is based on Jungian psychology and splits personality into four polar indicators, of which you tend to be one or the other to varying degrees.

These are listed below with their key questions:

Extrovert (E) –– Introvert (I): Where do you prefer to focus your attention?

Sensing (S) –– Intuition (N): How do you acquire information?

Thinking (T) –– Feeling (F): How do you make decisions?

Judging (J) –– Perceiving (P): Which lifestyle do you prefer?

Each is a scale and you may be at one end or you may be in the middle. There are several ways of working out your type. You can just understand the types and pick where you are along the line, or there are books and online questionnaires that you can fill in, with lots of questions that calculate what type you are.

“Gifts Differing - understanding personality type” is the classic book on the MBTI, written by Isabel Briggs Myers with her son Peter Myers. It is very readable and explains a lot about the significance of the different types, though you can’t use it to work out your type. It looks at all the types and combinations of types and includes a lot of information on how these affect decision making and even career choice. There is an interesting section on which personality types end up in which medical specialities and, interestingly, I am ENTP, which is a common type for general practice.

However MBTI is more than just trying to understand yourself; it is particularly relevant in trying to understand others. Ever wonder why your partnership meetings are dysfunctional? It could be because you all think in different ways and like information presented in different ways. To get your pet project through you may need to understand your partners better and adapt your presentation. It also helps you understand patients, staff and managers at the PCT, all of whom may fit certain types that you aren’t.

Another fascinating book that is related is Nurture by Nature by Tieger and Barron-Tieger. This applies the MBTI to understanding your children and helping you adapt your parenting to match - very useful for my four children.