Reflecting on your working style

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is a questionnaire-based tool for personality assessment. It was originally developed to help match women to jobs during the Second World War, but is widely used today in management, teaching and training. It is based on the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung’s 1921 book ‘Psychological Types’ (English edition, 1923).

MBTI identifies sixteen different ‘personality types’ based on the preferences that people have for focusing on:

• their inner world vs. the external world (‘Introvert’ vs. ‘Extrovert’)
• the stimuli they receive (ideas, information, sensory experience) vs. their interpretation of the stimuli (‘Sensing’ vs. ‘Intuition’)
• the logic behind a decision vs. the impact on those affected (‘Thinking’ vs. ‘Feeling’)
• getting things decided vs. leaving things open to new input (‘Judging’ vs. ‘Perceiving’).

The Enneagram

The Enneagram is a means of mapping the psychological energies that underlie how we work and interact with others. It originated in early monastic communities but was popularised in the early 20th century by the philosopher G.I. Gurdjieff. Today it is used by both businesses and religious communities as a means for understanding interactions between people.

The Enneagram begins by mapping three separate, but linked, areas of human consciousness: the head, or the powerhouse of reasoning, intellect and logic; the heart, or the centre of emotions, dreams and nurturing impulses; and the gut, which is the zone of ‘gut reaction’, instinct and intuition. Each person is said to have an equilibrium or ‘comfort zone’ within one of these regions of the map.

Unlike MBTI, the Enneagram provides a dynamic picture. The influence of each centre of energy on a person will vary according to the external stresses and influences they experience every day. These influences create nine distinct regions of the map. The common behaviour patterns associated with each region help illustrate why some people work in diametrically opposite ways, why conflicts can arise in the workplace and how to deal with them.

The Lockwood Social Styles Questionnaire

The US consultancy firm Lockwood Leadership International’s Social Styles Questionnaire describes four different preferred ‘social styles’ or ways of working:

• the ‘Analyst’ – likes detail, accuracy and logic, and needs to be sure they are right
• the ‘Driver’ – is focused on results and needs to achieve them
• the ‘Facilitator’ – is people-oriented and prefers to reach decisions by consensus
• the ‘Expressor’ – likes ideas and the process of persuasion.

Often, the people we work best with are those who share the same social style. Tensions can arise when we have to rely on a co-worker with a different social style, whose approach and motivation is different to our own.

We will be more effective researchers if we can find ways of valuing and learning how to work better with the different social styles of our colleagues. Strength comes from diversity, and the most effective teams have a good complement of all social styles and energies.