Myer-Briggs Type Indicator

How well do you know your people? More specifically, what are their strengths or areas of opportunity? Understanding what makes your employees tick is part of being an emotionally intelligent leader. As we’ve discussed previously, EI leaders kill it at workplace culture because they make the investment in getting to know their team. As an aspiring talent leader, you don’t have to be a mind reader to get a sense of your employee climate. In fact, the Myers Briggs test is a great place to start.

The Myer-Briggs type indicator (MBTI) is a personality assessment that scores individuals, assigning them 4 letters. The Myers-Briggs Foundation explains the 4 functions as:

• Favorite world: Do you prefer to focus on the outer world or on your own
This is called Judging (J) or Perceiving (P).

Why it matters

Once your team has received their scores, they are provided a summary that explains their personality type—this is where the fun begins.

• The team learns about themselves: Self-development is important in both personal and professional realms. The MBTI provides a glimpse in the mirror to its test takers, often revealing key information. For example, an employee may find that public speaking is not something they enjoy or excel at, but they discover they enjoy analytics and love creating technical documents. These discoveries empower employees to own their careers, taking steps in the workplace to make meaningful contributions. Not only will your team learn about what works best for themselves, they learn about each
In short, it’s fun getting to know your coworkers on a deeper level. Your team can excitedly share their results with one another, often having “aha” moments with each other’s profiles. This is important because it provides a context on how your team can best work with each other. If Kate knows that Ben is great at face-to-face communication, she can rely on his strengths in working with a client at the office. On the other hand, if Ben struggles with creating presentations but Kate shines in that area, they can play to their strengths.
• You become a better leader: To become an emotionally intelligent leader, you have to drop the “me” and adopt “we”. The MBTI helps with that journey because it presents you with a guide on how to best communicate with your team. Through an employee’s results, you may find that they are sensitive to criticism or prefer to be praised privately. It’s attention to those small but significant details that turn managers into leaders.

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