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Showing posts with label flex type. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flex type. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

One more word about “guessing” type - Part 2


Written by Catherine Rains

From my post last week, I’m certainly not suggesting that we flex to every person we meet, but rather when appropriate to the situation.  Flexing to someone else’s type is simply a tool that helps me to communicate more effectively with others who do not share my dominant and auxiliary functions.  I would be communicating the same message whether I use my dominant and auxiliary or theirs, but my message might be better understood if communicated in the type language of the person in front of me.  

It’s important to remember that we all have access to all four functions; however some of the functions will be easier for us to use than others.  I easily and most often use my dominant (1st) and auxiliary(2nd), but I also effectively use my tertiary(3rd) and inferior(4th) if it’s more appropriate depending on the situation and the person with whom I’m talking.  Sometimes I choose to flex to my 3rd and 4th because I think the person in front of me could hear my message clearer if I communicated in their native type language (their 1st and 2nd) rather than my own 1st and 2nd.  Good type development is the ability to use all four functions appropriately, but not with equal skill, depending on the situation and the type of the person in front of you.

The process of using flexing type was best described by Isabel Myers herself –

“Once a man has full control of his first and second functions . . . he knows not only their strengths but also their deficits, not only how to use them but also when not to use them because the opposite function or attitude is more appropriate. Then he can, in some measure, control the use of these . . ., crossing over at need from that which is natural to that which is appropriate.”
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Wednesday, July 4, 2012

One more word about “guessing” type - Part 1


Written by Catherine Rains 

Talking about “guessing” type can be controversial in the type community because it can imply that we are deciding for someone else what they have a preference for, almost like a party game.  My intention in “guessing” type is very different. It is a tool to help me be more effective working with ALL types of people, without them ever having to take the assessment.  If I can observe patterns of behavior (often the function that they are extroverting), then I can create a hypothesis about what their type could be and decide whether I can be more effective by flexing my preferences to what I think theirs could be.  Guessing is not about deciding for someone else what their type is, but rather it’s a tool to help me use type to be more effective in my everyday interactions with people.  

Whether a person is showing me their best fit type or not, my “guess” still gives me a leg up when working with someone new as it gives me a basis from which to begin our communication process. Do they want to get right to business and stay on task, or is building a personal connection more important before we talk business.  If the communication appears to be strained after I guess and begin to flex (assuming we have different preferences), or if my message isn’t being heard/received, then I can flex to the opposite preference to see if that works better. 

Next week I will discuss appropriate situations of when to flex type.
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Friday, March 30, 2012

So why bother guessing type?

Written by Catherine Rains

Even though I don’t always guess accurately (although I’m pretty darn good!), my guesses help me to quickly form a hypothesis as to how I can be most effective with the person in front of me, or with the group I’m working with. For instance, if I observe behavioral cues that indicate a new client might prefer Thinking, I will flex my Feeling preference to Thinking so that my communication with them will be more effective. So I will get right to business at the beginning of a meeting with someone who prefers Thinking, rather than establishing a personal connection first, which is what I prefer with Feeling. If my guess is wrong, and they really have a Feeling preference after all, they will usually divert our business discussion at some point to establish that personal connection early on in the discussion. People who prefer Thinking also want a personal connection, but they usually want this after the purpose of the meeting is fully addressed.

Guessing type helps us to be more effective in working with all types, rather than just our own*. Knowing what a person prefers shows us when and how to flex when the situation indicates that the opposite of our preferences would be more appropriate. 

So when do you flex to your opposite preferences? I would love to hear your stories about when you flex to be more effective in both your professional and personal lives.

*It is important to understand that you cannot assess a person's type based merely on type cues; having the person take an assessment and giving them a proper interpretation is always recommended. The point of the blog is to try to understand how to pick up on certain type cues when in the absence of giving someone an assessment and self-verification, such as in a job interview.
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Thursday, March 22, 2012

Guess my type


Image source: http://www.hsccsikszereda.com/
 Written by Catherine Rains

I was recently teaching the MBTI® Certification course in Kansas City, and after 2 hours together on the first day of the course, I asked the group to guess my MBTI preferences. Much to my delight, they guessed 3 of the 4 letters wrong. They might have guessed incorrectly because some in the room were just beginning to learn type, however many in the group already knew type quite well prior to the first day and they guessed wrong as well. They couldn’t pick up my type because I was only showing them one of my preferences, which is the one they picked up correctly. I was purposely flexing my type to the opposite of my preferences because it was appropriate to do so. In that situation, I needed to present complex material in a verbal, enthusiastic, concrete, linear, objective, timely and structured manner because that is what was required of me for those two hours.


So did the class fail at guessing type? Actually they demonstrated that they could already pick up type accurately, assuming the person they were guessing was showing their true type. When I am asked to guess someone’s type, which often happens when people find out I teach type, I always begin by saying I can accurately guess assuming they are showing me their best fit type. All I can really do is look for behavioral cues that would indicate a person’s preferences, and if they aren’t behaving in a way that would indicate their type, I will also guess incorrectly. So when guessing type, we need to be careful because all we can really do is look for behavioral cues, and then make a guess based on what we are observing.

So what is the value in guessing type? We’ll explore this question next week, but I would love to hear your perspective on this in the meantime. What do you think?

*It is important to understand that you cannot assess a person's type based merely on type cues; having the person take an assessment and giving them a proper interpretation is always recommended. The point of the blog is to try to understand how to pick up on certain type cues when in the absence of giving someone an assessment and self-verification, such as in a job interview.
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Type Stereotype #2 – Thinking preferences don’t care about people

Written by Catherine Rains
Obviously this is a stereotype that Feeling preferences sometimes have about Thinking preferences when they perceive that people’s feelings aren’t being considered during the decision making process.  This inaccurate stereo type is based on the observation of what Thinking preferences do FIRST to make a decision, which is to consider the people factor as just one of many components to be considered, looking at the decision to be made in an objective manner.  To make the best decision possible, however, Thinking preferences also need to consider the people and values involved, but it’s the second thing they consider, rather than what comes first and naturally.  Type stereotypes often come about because we are observing what people do first, and if this is what they only do in making a decision, the stereotype could end up being true!  But again, to make a truly good decision both Thinking and Feeling preferences need to consciously flex to the opposite of their natural preference to make sure that  all the factors are considered in the decision making process.
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