Myers-Briggs Type Indicator for project teams

- The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is one of the best known tools for understanding how people approach problems, make decisions, and interact with others. The MBTI focus on four different categories and it assumes that each of these categories is like a scale, where a person has a natural preference to one side or the other. Introversion or extraversion, sensing or intuition, thinking or feeling, and judging or perception. Each person tends to have a preference for one quality from each category. So when you look at where a person fits across those four different traits you end up with 16 possible personality types. And based on their personality type you can better understand how a person thinks and communicates. Let's look at an example. Say that a person is introverted, so that's an I. If they prefer sensing to intuition, they're also an S. If they prefer thinking to feeling, they're a T. And if they prefer judging to perception, they're a J. Put those together and the MBTI would classify that person as a ISTJ personality type. And ISTJ's tend to be responsible, sincere, hardworking folks. There are lots of sites on the internet that provide descriptions of all 16 personality types. Some of them even give examples of celebrities and historical figures that fit each type. I did a search for ISTJ and read that both Warren Buffet and Queen Victoria share these traits. A couple of other notes about the MBTI. First, remember that each category's a scale. So, for example, you can be a little bit extroverted or a lot extroverted. And second, keep in mind that people can actually change over time and in different situations. Because it's been around for so long there are several organizations that offer training and certification in how to use the MBTI and there are lots of books that you can buy or checkout from the library. A good place to start is The Myers & Briggs Foundation. You could also find websites where you can take the assessment yourself and get an analysis of the results. A free one that I like is at truity.com. So take a look at the information on MBTI and see whether it can help you understand your own personality and how to collaborate with your teams more effectively.