MDD Tactics

Moving right along, the next process we need to look at is, how do you make decisions?  You will either have a preference for Thinking (T) or Feeling (F).  Again, we need to remember the meaning of these words in a Myers-Briggs context. 

Thinking preference means you will use logic to make decisions and you will likely base your decisions on laws and principles or logical analysis.  Having a feeling preference means you are more likely to weigh values to make decisions and you will decide what is most important for people.  These two preferences go through very different decision making processes. 

Again, the main behaviours related to each preference:

Thinking

Use logic to make decisions

Seek honesty and truth

Need to be competent

Analyse and critique

Firm and tough minded

Focus on justice and fairness

Questioning – focus on Why?

Seek logical reasons

Focus on goals and tasks

Consider principles and consequences

Feeling

Use personal values to make decisions

Seek personal approval

Need to be appreciated

Empathise

Persuasive and warm-hearted

Focus on mercy and compassion

Accepting – focus on Who?

Seek harmony with values and others

Focus on people and relationships

Consider the impact on people

So when coming to a decision, some of us use logic and analysis, some of us use personal values and empathy.  Now can you see why you may not always agree with decisions that some people make?

So, next up is the preference that determines how you prefer to gather and process information.  The preferences are for either Sensing or iNtuition (shown as S or N – the I is used for Introversion in the first preference). 

Those with a preference for Sensing focus on past or present experiences and what they experienced through their five senses.   Those with a preference for iNtuition focus on patterns, future possibilities and the meaning behind ideas. 

Here are the main behaviours related to each:

 Sensing                                                                               

Perceive mainly through the 5 senses                   

Focus on facts and details                                           

Trust concrete experience                                          

Realistic and observant                                                                  

Prefer practical matters                                               

Use a step-by-step approach                                    

Focus on the present or the past                             

Seek stability                                                                    

Build up to the big picture                                           

Need to see the parts to understand the whole               

iNtuition

Perceive mainly patterns and connections

Focus on possibilities and hunches

Trust theory and abstract concepts

Imaginative and innovative

Prefer the imagination

Use a random approach

Focus on the future

Seek change

Begin with the big picture

Need to see the whole to understand the parts

Again, imagine what happens when these two preference try to have a conversation.  The person with the Sensing preference is likely to have trouble following the thought process of the other, while the person with the preference for iNtuition is likely to get frustrated with the Sensing preference getting, what they see as, “bogged down” in details.  There would be times when they are both likely to feel like screaming “Just get to the point!”  Getting to the point is a very different process for them both.

My apologies for being so slack!!  Sometimes life really does have a way of interfering with our plans!

So back to where we were …….  we established in my last couple of articles that the first dichotomy looks at where you get your energy from and that each of us has a preference for either Introversion or Extraversion.  But what do they mean from a Myers-Briggs point of view?

The question here is where do you get your energy from.  It is really not about how outgoing you are (or can appear to be!).   Remember that anyone can learn to skills other than their own natural preferences.  This is, again, about where do your natural preferences lie. 

A person with a preference for Extraversion gains their energy and gets re-energised by the energy of others.  They like to have other people around them and love interacting with others.  Someone with an Extraversion preference is likely to be excited at the prospect of attending a party with lots of people they don’t know and is likely to go away from that party with a whole bunch of new friends.

The idea of attending that party filling you with fear?  Not excited at the thought of spending the night making small talk with people you don’t know?  They may be typical responses of someone that has a preference for Introversion.  This usually means that you would need time alone to re-energise at the end of the day. 

These preferences also have a huge impact on communication.  Someone with a preference for Extraversion is much more likely to need to “think out loud” while the person with Introversion as a preference is not likely to verbalise something until they have internalised it and gone over and over it in the mind first. 

So imagine what happens when these two preferences try to have a conversation!  The Extraversion preference may say something like “We should do X”.  The introversion preference hears that and thinks a decision has been made, after all, for them, they would not say something until they are 100% sure of their conviction to the issue and would have thought it all through before speaking.  They then can’t understand why the other person “changes their mind”.  But for the person with Extraversion as a preference, just because they said it does not mean they had finalised the thought, they were just thinking out loud, or as I heard it called in a workshop recently, they were just Extraverting! 

So many times, understanding someone’s preference can help incredibly in communicating with each other.

One important thing to remember when we talk MBTI is that each of the words used to label preferences may have different meaning from a psychological point of view, or from a MBTI point of view than what they do in every day common use language.  We need to be careful to not make judgement calls about what we think the words mean, before we fully explore them in a MBTI context. 

The other important point to clarify is that just because a person has a preference for one does not mean they cannot learn or use the preference within that pair.  Just as most people have a natural preference for left or right handedness, so we have preferences or tendencies related to our personality.  Imagine trying to write with your non preferred hand.  You can do it if you have to, can’t you?  You prefer not to use it, and the result is often clumsy, sloppy and untidy.  But what happens if you keep at it and you practice using that non preferred hand?  You will probably find you get better at it over time.  So it is with our natural personality preferences. 

 Tomorrow we will talk about where you get your energy from……

Welcome to the second of my series of articles about MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator).  This is a topic I am passionate about and am constantly disappointed to hear how it is misused and misunderstood.  I find it particularly difficult to be in conversations with people that go something along the lines of:

 “Oh Myers-Briggs, is that the one with the letters?  I did that years ago, I was ABCD or something like that.  But is also said I was BOTH introverted and extroverted”. 

Anyone that knows even a little about MBTI understands that a key concept is that the instrument is about identifying PREFERENCES and that each of us have a natural innate preference for one choice only across each of the four dichotomies.

• What is the direction & focus of your personal energy? – Extraversion OR Introversion
• How do you prefer to gather information? – Sensing OR iNtuition
• How do you prefer to make decisions? – Thinking OR Feeling
• How do you deal with the outer world? – Judging OR Perceiving

Next week, I will post an article about each dichotomy and what each preference means.  Until then, have a great weekend and be nice to each other!