MBTI

The MBTI® can be applied to business, educational and career guidance settings. It has broad practical application, including:

Developing Leadership Potential
Developing Effective Teams
Managing Change
Improving Communication and Teaching Methods
Problem Solving
Resolving Conflict.

Developing Leadership Potential

Self-awareness is fundamental to good leadership. An understanding of the impact that personal style has on people’s motivation and commitment is essential. The MBTI helps managers assess their strengths and weaknesses, their preferred style of problem solving and also how their style relates to that of others.

Developing Effective Teams

Using the MBTI, teams can evaluate their strengths and weaknesses and also clarify biases in their working practices. For instance, does the team over emphasise logical assessment at the expense of considering personnel issues, such as morale? Or does it focus too strongly on strategy and not enough on implementation? By assessing these biases, teams begin to appreciate the importance of valuing different approaches and perspectives.

Managing Change

Individuals of different Types tend to experience change and the process of transition in quite different ways. Building awareness of these different reactions can help managers and organisations support their staff and themselves through the trauma of organisational change.

Improving Communication and Teaching Methods

The MBTI can be used to communicate with people from different Types and analyse and improve teaching methods. It provides a framework for understanding differences in learning styles, and hence for creating learning situations which will appeal to different Types.

Problem-Solving

The MBTI gives an insight into potential strengths and blind spots in problem solving, encouraging individuals and groups to improve the breadth and depth of their analyses.

Resolving Conflict

The MBTI is very helpful in self-evaluation as it explicitly emphasises the positive contribution that each Type can make. It can also help in dealing with conflict in relationships as, having identified the differences, it focuses on valuing those differences, giving a clear way of understanding them and enabling people to work together more effectively.

See Sample MBTI Brochure (PDF Format - 156kb)

The MBTI questionnaire describes an individual's personality preferences. It represents these in four dimensions:

Extraversion or Introversion
- Prefers to draw energy from the outer world of activity, people and things Prefers to draw energy from the inner world of reflections, feelings and ideas
Sensing or Intuition
- Prefers to focus on information gained from the five senses and on practical applications Prefers to focus on patterns, connections and possible meanings
Thinking or Feeling
- Prefers to base decisions on logic and objective analysis of cause and effect Prefers to base decisions on a valuing process, considering what is important to people
Judging or Perceiving
- o Likes a planned, organised approach to life, and prefers to have things decided Likes a flexible, spontaneous approach and prefers to keep options open

The various combinations of these preferences result in 16 personality 'types'. Each is associated with a unique set of behavioural characteristics and values. These provide a useful starting point for individual feedback, self-exploration and group discussion.

Back to the top