MBTI Outcomes the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

MBTI Outcomes

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality inventory instrument was first created by Isabel Briggs Myers and her mother Katharine Briggs. The main aim was to make sense of the apparently random and myriad of personality traits found in human beings. Based on the theory of psychological types identified by C.G. Jung, the Indicator attempts to prove that there is quite a large amount of order and consistency within the personality types that can be identified (Myers & Briggs Foundation, 2012). The MBTI offers a range of 16 personality types, each with its own regulating factors. When a person is aware of his or her specific personality type, this understanding can be usefully applied to all one's interactions with others. The most important interactions occur in the workplace and in one's personal relationships with friends and family members. A person for whom the personality type was identified as "ISFJ," for example, has specific strengths and weaknesses that can be managed to improve these relationships.

The letters ISFJ refer to "Introverted," "Sensing," "Feeling," and "Judgment." There are many strengths to this personality type, both at work and at home. An ISFJ person, for example, is quiet, but also friendly, responsible, and conscientious. They are extremely reliable and committed to meeting their obligations. They are also extremely thorough, painstaking, and accurate. In the workplace, this means that they do well in tasks that require analysis, a large amount of focus, or a great degree of accuracy. Because they are quiet, they may do less well in leadership positions, although this is not necessarily the case. Markley (2012), however, confirms that ISFJ people have trouble delegating, because of an overdeveloped sense of responsibility. Delegation is a primary leadership requirement, so an ISFJ person in a leadership position will need to work on such a trait.

In general, improving workplace relationships will require the ISFJ person to consider the relative weaknesses related to this personality type. Of course some weaknesses will be experienced to a greater or lesser degree, and each person will need to honestly and critically assess his or her own degree of shortcoming in each category.

Some weaknesses that ISFJ people can work on to improve their workplace relationships include a tendency to feel unappreciated by their colleagues (Markley). One of the main reasons for this is the sense of introversion. They are willing to work long hours and commit to a job until it is completed, but they are quite unwilling to accept any accolades for this. There is an inherent sense that they somehow do not deserve these for work that they regard as their normal day-to-day duty. This often causes others to take them for granted and in turn, the person can feel overworked and resentful. To improve this, awareness is the first step. The second step is understanding that this kind of work ethic is indeed unusual and deserves praise. Furthermore, it is vital that the ISFJ person recognizes the need for rest. For this, it is important to cultivate an understanding that needing to rest does not mean a lack of commitment to a task. Cultivating self-knowledge regarding his or her physical and mental limits will help the ISFJ employee to also cultivate better relationships with co-workers and a greater sense of enjoyment in the tasks assigned.

In addition to recognizing weaknesses, the ISFJ person can also improve his or her work relationships by focusing and increasing the areas of strength. This kind of person, for example has a great need to serve others, while also being able to recognize the needs that others have. As such, his or her function in a team can focus on mitigating conflict situations. His or her inner sense of friendliness and service can then be used as a catalyst to defuse conflict situations within teams, helping them to function better and more effectively.

The same strategy can be used with interpersonal relationships. Understanding and working on interpersonal weaknesses in the ISFJ person can help to improve friendships as well as family and romantic relationships.

One major weakness such a person needs to be aware of is an extreme dislike of conflict and criticism. Being inherently warm and friendly creates an aversion to situations where less than friendly feelings might be involved. Once the person is aware of this, he or she could handle conflict situations with a better sense of what is going on in his or her own mind. Communication strategies could also be improved to create a less severe conflict environment.

In romantic relationships, one weakness is that ISFJ people tend to find it difficult moving on from failed relationships or moving into new territory if it is time to do so. To improve this aspect, the person could look towards existing family or friendship relationships for support and advice. This will also, by association, strengthen the relationships in questions.