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Friday, June 24, 2011

One of my favorite slight score counseling strategies

Written by Catherine Rains
One of my favorite counseling strategies for helping a student with a slight score is to have them live a full day in each dichotomy.  For instance, if they have a slight score for Extraversion/Introversion, I would have them read a thorough description for Extraversion (preferably in the Introduction to Type® booklet) and then ask them to live a full day exhibiting all the behaviors of this preference. I later have them do the same thing for Introversion, and again, live a full day behaving as this preference. Afterwards, I have them come back to debrief the experience and ask them: 1) which one was easier to do 2) which took little thought to accomplish 3) and which one did they have to put a lot of concentration into.  Obviously the one that took little energy or thought would usually be their true preference.
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Thursday, June 23, 2011

Strong Assessment Interpretation Hints - When Students Don't Like Their Top Occupations

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Written by Jim Larkin

"What if I don’t want to do any of these top 10 Occupations?"
Have you ever heard a student say that when you are going over their Strong Interest Inventory® (Strong) results? I’ve heard that one before. The thing we need to do as Career Counselors is draw the students’ attention away from specifics, this or that occupation, and move them over to trends. Look at the top 10 occupations and draw out General Occupational Theme trends. The Strong assessment lists only 122 occupations per gender. In no way does it intend for the student to choose from only those occupations. The Holland Dictionary of Occupations contains thousands of occupations—all of them assigned with a General Occupational Theme code. Our goal is to help the students identify a few Themes that they can then focus their search on.

The Strong Interest Inventory® Manual: Revised Edition offers another approach:

“…scores indicating similar interest in [for instance] “Production Worker” suggest an interest in the production and processing of tangible goods that might be linked to other occupational areas such as engineering, supply chain management, or construction… no interest inventory can provide scales that will measure the respondent’s interests in every occupation or academic major. Thus, generalizing the OSs to additional occupations and majors of the same type can greatly expand the usefulness of the instrument.” (Pg. 171)

Another approach takes advantage of programs such as O*NET™. On this site you will find listings for thousands of occupations that provide job descriptions, typical work tasks, work environment, expected pay scales and even projected job availability. By using the job descriptions, you can pull out specific tasks that appeal to the student and begin to see another trend. So, instead of identifying other occupational areas, like the manual suggests, you can find trends within those appealing tasks. By putting these tasks together on a list you can then start to create job descriptions and look for jobs that most closely reflect their dream job. You will also notice that O*NET assigns GOT codes to the occupations. One caveat here, the codes associated with jobs on O*NET relate to the tasks, not interests. So, GOT codes on the Strong assessment will not necessarily match the codes on the O*NET. Just something to keep in mind.

So, next time you hear “I don’t want to do any of those jobs!” you can start this simple process that may use “those” jobs to help you find the right one. Good luck!
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Friday, June 17, 2011

Reading the Preference Clarity Indicator (PCI) Chart


Photo credit: furiousgeorge81 on Flickr.
Written by Jim Larkin  

A common gray area in understanding an MBTI® report relates to the Preference Clarity Indicator (PCI) chart. I’ve heard some people talk about their results saying, “I’m in the middle on the E/I scale, so I can go either way.” When I hear this, I start to feel the heat rise around my collar. The first thing I want to do is ask them who interpreted their results for them! After I calm down a bit I let the individual know that it’s not so much that they “can” go either way, it’s that they will go the way they think they’re supposed to rather than making a conscious choice. “What’s the difference?” they’ll often ask. The difference is actually pretty important so let me try to explain, in case you are also wondering.

If someone scores in the “Mid-zone” on the PCI, they are not clear in their own mind about their preference. It is not necessarily that the preference is not there; typically it’s that they have just not been coached to understand that they have a preference or that they are allowed to have their own preferred behavior. On many fronts throughout life we are coached that we should be one way or another. We should be more socially outgoing. We should pay more attention to details. We should be this way or that way, regardless of what might come naturally to us if we were given a choice. Where do these “shoulds” come from? From well-intended people who probably share the preference they are promoting: socially outgoing parents who want their children to be more social, detail oriented teachers who want names, dates, and places rather than context and big picture answers, piers who want us to be like them. In most cases, there is no malice intended, but in a lot of cases what is happening is behavior that is natural to a growing child is identified as inappropriate, unacceptable or “different”.

As an Introvert (INFP) born into a family of 3 extroverted siblings and an extroverted father, I have some firsthand experience with this phenomenon. (Fortunately I had my own room from about 12 years old on.) As a young newly-wed I found it taxing to keep up with my extroverted (ENFP) wife. Fortunately, she was introduced to the MBTI® assessment in her MFCC program. She began to understand the difference between the two sides of the E/I scale and began to encourage me to take time to myself. Then I began to ask for that time and we’ve learned, over nearly 30 years, to work really well together around expectations of time together and time alone.

Knowing my preference has allowed me to consciously choose to act out of preference knowing that I will be able to have time later to express my preference. The conscious choice has saved a lot of tension when, in earlier times, I would act out of preference out of obligation rather than choice, and then I would be resentful because I had no understanding of the impacts of my “choice”. Knowing preferences does not mean you are bound to act within the realm of behavior identified with that preference. It does allow you to make conscious choices that can save a lot of energy drain and can promote greater health in yourself and in your relationships.
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Thursday, June 16, 2011

Have students verify their own results

Written by Catherine Rains
 
Another method for helping students verify their type is to have them take the MBTI®Complete, which provides an accurate, self-guided, online interpretation of the MBTI® assessment.  How does this work?   First, a student will respond to the 93 MBTI items. Before getting their results, they will go through a thorough online validation process beginning with guessing their type.  They will then receive their reported type and be prompted to select their best fit type. This will result in a 3-page MBTI profile report of their validated 4 letter type. The MBTI®Complete helps a student look past the roles they play at home or school, allowing them to think about their REAL personality and select their best fit type. Besides being a very accurate way to obtain true type, it also reduces the time counselors need to spend on basic MBTI interpretation and validation, allowing more time for applying MBTI results to career development and student success strategies.
Next week, tune in for a counseling technique for helping a student verify their type.
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Thursday, June 9, 2011

Ever tried using Step II with students reporting slight results?

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Written by Catherine Rains
So you’ve established mindset using the suggestion from my last blog entry on taking the MBTI® assessment from a “perfect world” perspective. Yet your student still gets a slight result.  Now what?
I have a couple suggestions.  First, my favorite strategy:  Instead of having them take Form M, have them take Form Q in the first place, which allows you to get both Form M and Form Q reports. When you see one or more slight results on a student’s report, run a second report that shows their facets within each preference.  Called the MBTI® Step II™ Profile – Form Q (I will refer to it as Step II here), this report clearly illustrates a student’s individuality within their type by breaking down the four preference pairs into 5 additional components of each pair, for a total of 20. For instance, I am an ENFP, but I’m unique for my type because I am also early starting and methodical in my approach to being a P, which has always given me a slight score for this pair.  When I saw this after taking the Step II, it made me realize that I am indeed a P, but I express P in a unique way that behaviorally can look like a J.  Step II is also excellent for students who don’t want to be “boxed in” to a single type, or for older students that have already taken Form M and feel the MBTI is therefore an “old hat”.  The Step II takes the MBTI assessment to a whole new level and provides a very in-depth look at a student’s personality, helping them to buy into their results, and very often verify a preference pair that has a slight result. To take peak at this report, follow this link. 

Next week, tune in for my second most favorite way to help a student verify type.
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Monday, June 6, 2011

Using MBTI® Type to Understand and Deal Effectively With Conflict

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Written by Karen Gonzalez
 
Conflict: to come into collision or disagreement; be contradictory, at variance, or in opposition; clash (source: dictionary.com) 

We have all dealt with conflict in one way or another – whether it was regarding a mild issue or something that has escalated into a bigger issue causing a cluster of emotions such as stress, anger and maybe even quarrel. Though some people seem to deal with conflict much better than others, it is healthy for everyone to learn that we all have our ways to deal with conflict in order to assuage any negative outcomes that may arise if not recognized. According to Introduction to Type®and Conflict, "although it may appear to be about a simple, straightforward issue, more often than not conflict exists because some core element of trust, beliefs, authority, or passion is being challenged.”

I need to point out that when we talk about conflict, we are not just talking about obvious situations such as sibling rivalry or a couple arguing about one not pulling their weight in doing the house chores. Conflict is present all around us and if we don’t know how to deal with it, we could be ticking time bombs when a situation that we don’t know how to overcome arises. While arguing (or possibly yelling) with a sibling can be seen as the norm for some, we can’t exactly react the same way with our co-workers or bosses when a conflict arises in the workplace. Using your knowledge of the Myers-Briggs® (MBTI®) assessment is a way to learn to identify your own conflict triggers and how to manage them as well as those of others around you. According to the booklet, “by incorporating type awareness, and particularly awareness of how people of the sixteen different personality types tend to present themselves in a conflict, we can better strategize how to approach conflict, communicate when in conflict with others, and resolve conflict situations.”

Using type for conflict management can help you be more productive in your work settings and in your personal relationships. Introduction to Type® and Conflict discusses how understanding personality type can guide you in conflict situations by helping you discover how both are linked and by teaching you a model for harnessing type awareness in conflict management. There is a process for beginning the discovery of your own type and the exploration of two specific preferences (for your type) will show you the relationship with conflict. Helping you to not only manage conflict for yourself but being able to navigate through conflict with someone whose preferences differ from yours is what you will learn for better positive outcomes of conflict in the future.   

Each section in the booklet covers the following categories for each type:
  • What they contribute 
  • What they need from others 
  •  How others may see them 
  •  Under stress they may 
  •  Conflict generators 
  •  Blind spots 
  •  Areas for development
For the next few weeks, I will be pulling a few insights from the booklet for each of the 16 MBTI types on “conflict generators”. Here is the first one: 

ISTJ:

ISTJs feel that conflict is something that needs to be dealt with so they can get on with life, therefore they need to reach closure or resolution during conflict situations. Conflict generators for them include: Challenges to their authority; People who “waste time” by talking too much-particularly about personal matters; lack of follow-through on decisions. 

“Like” us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/cppeducation) and follow us on Twitter (www.twitter.com/cppeducation) to get all of the 16 insights that we will be posting!
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Wednesday, June 1, 2011

If it were a perfect world…

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Written by Catherine Rains

How do you establish an effective mindset with a student to reduce their chances of getting a slight result? Let me share what I do. Before each student is given the MBTI® assessment, I take 3 minutes to tell them how to look at the MBTI items they are about to choose from. I say something like this: “You are going to be presented with pairs of opposites, and you’re going to be asked to choose which one you prefer. Whenever you look at the two and you can’t decide because you do both depending on the situation, say to yourself - If this were a perfect world and it didn’t matter how much money you made, who your partner was, what you wish you were like, what your parents expect of you, what you are required to do at work or school, where you go to church, what your hobbies are, etc. - If you had your druthers, which one just sounds the best, sounds easiest? Almost gives you a feeling of relief. Which one would you do first in most situations, even though it might not be the one you do most often or in certain situations?” By establishing this kind of mindset you help students to see that they can like both items, and still have one that they prefer over the other. Or have one that is easier, takes less energy, even though they might be required by the roles they play as student/ daughter/son/employee to do the opposite, similar to the concept of having a preference for right or left handedness, even though they can DO both.

Next week's blog – So I’ve established mindset, and my student still has a slight result. Now what?!?
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