How to Leverage Your Skills in Your Company: an MBTI perspective

A hands-on guide, and why it is worth trying to do so!

My name is Clement, I am a 30yo data scientist in Paris. I defended a PhD in Statistics three years ago and after ending some personal projects I officially entered the job market. Four months later I was fired from my first job and decided to go to an official MBTI coach to try to make sense of what had happened and what my next steps should be. I was not aware of all these concepts but they eventually became more and more meaningful to me. Two years later I went back to see the MBTI specialist again to make some conclusions about this trip to the other side of the world. Thus this post is addressed to anyone curious about psychology and management in general.

Before diving deeper, please be aware that I am not a professional coach myself neither an experienced manager. I am just another fellow often saying to himself « I should leave this company right now, I can’t stand it anymore », though a little bit less now!

The Myers Briggs Type Indicator

According to Wikipedia, it is an « introspective self-report questionnaire indicating differing psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions ». Well, I am not here to support this specific test against some others nor to prove that it is scientifically supported.

Instead of focusing on the test itself, I will go through the four dimensions it uses to describe people’s preferences and see what it means on a day-to-day basis. Indeed the test aims at classifying the usual workflow of individuals in four different categories. It is like questioning oneself on wether we are left or right handed, but about psychological habits. Don’t strive to play tennis with the right arm if you are left handed!

Finally it may not be clear that a company favors one single profile over the others. Actually I have never heard someone saying « we in the company want to work as ESTJ ». However considering the expected outcomes, reporting, organization, etc. it becomes clear to me that it is meaningful to say so.

Introversion/Extraversion

The first dimension of the MBTI talks about your main source of energy. Do you prefer resting alone (I) or do you tend to meet people as often as you can (E). Do you consider spending an afternoon alone a good opportunity to focus on your personnel needs or a long and stressful journey to the evening?

We are talking here about your deep relationship with others. It is not about being generally speaking introverted (someone not speaking to the others) or outgoing (the nice guy talking to everyone around) it is about your true source of vitality. Do you need to be alone to be able to reach out to others or do you need to be with the others to handle lonely times?

The company is a strong E because every single activity is meant to be done in a team. Hourly reporting with colleagues, technical refinement in groups of two people, etc. It’s almost impossible to work alone.

Tough time for an I who needs to be alone to think and innovate! The solution: learn to say no and to postpone meetings. Create availability slots in your schedule and don’t accept interruption outside these slots!

Sensing/Intuition

This second dimension talks about your relationship with the physical world. It is a debate between experimentation (S) and conceptualisation (N). Do you tend to get information from the responses you receive from your surroundings through tiny actions or do you prefer conceptualizing general rules and try to apply them once you are satisfied with your concepts?

A general image to depict this dimension is the one of a man doing a puzzle. Is he trying every single piece one against the other or does he observe all the parts and then does the job once and for all?

An S company tends to favor the realization of small pieces of works. It encourages you to study small problems before tackling the main one. The main idea is that examining small pieces one after the other will drive you to good general conclusions.

Most of the time, as a N, you will somehow freeze when facing such a behavior because for you, it makes no sense to proceed this way. You need to first figure out how it should be on a large scale and then realize the job. The S will think you are unable to start something, a kind of perfectionist that never delivers a thing! The solution: ask for a detailed presentation of the problems or topic in advance in order to be prepared and be able to make up your mind before the every meeting!

Thinking/Feeling

Do you like numbers and figures? Are you that guy quantifying everything to justify or discard options? Then you are definitely a T person. It is not about rationalization or scientific mind. It is just how you define the metric of your activity. How you evaluate it. On the other hand the F person will follow a very personal sense of quality based on personal views, thought or sensations about the subject at hand. This can still be shared though it can be viewed as lacking objectivity. But are numbers always right ?

The T company will ask you to quantify every single piece of work you do. Not only every single piece of work but also every single action you undertake for the company. Indeed, as they say, “no benchmark no problem”. If it is not quantified it does not exist. And if you have done some improvements you should be able to produce a plot of some kind to show them.

The F person will get lost in this jungle of numbers. Is it better because the figure increases? No, it is because well, it’s much better isn’t it? The solution: count everything! You may not know why you do so when you do it but it will help you communicate your progress. Eventually, in all these numbers there will be some growing figures!

Judging/Perception

This last section may the the toughest one because it deals with duration and collaboration. J and P are like two people going along together but one making a lot of baby steps at high frequency and the other making giant leaps from times to times.

Guess what the J thinks about the the P? He is unpredictable, it is hard to understand what he does, if he actually does something! The J will miss a progressive and analytical evolution that can be followed easily. Indeed, he most likely will consider the P as a magician who does not want to understand what he does nor share his recipes with others.

Last but not least: because he is unpredictable he does not seem to go fast, he even makes J nervous because this last one estimates constantly where he can go with the remaining time and its baby steps without understanding that you are not using the same vehicle! The solution: add baby steps in between your giant leaps! Don’t be stuck with the veracity of these small steps but favor the plausibility of them. To you there is no such steps but without them, you cannot communicate and lead Js.

Conclusion

As Jung explained, you are never stuck into your current four main characteristics. Certainly not because depending on your profile your all life is supposed to be a journey toward your “dark side”, namely the opposite of your natural preferences.

Two years ago I guess I have chosen the strongest path and I have to say that I am quite happy with it so far. Tough but interesting! I hope you enjoyed this feedback and hopefully found it useful.

And you, what MBTI does encompass your organization? Have you face similar issues with different profiles? Have you either change your company or improved your communication skills? Please don’t hesitate to share your personal story and experience as well below!