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- The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® and Careers for ISFJs and ENTPs.
- About the Strong Interest Inventory®: Teaching, Social Service, and Religious Activities Basic Interest Scales
- About the FIRO-B™: Coping Styles
- Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode (TKI): What's Wrong with Collaborating?
- Group Testing
- Have Brian Speak to Your Group About Myers-Briggs
In this newsletter we'll look at two types and specific jobs for both. The purpose here is not to list all the jobs that might be interesting. Instead, we're going to focus on what about the jobs is appealing to both types. I picked opposite types to illustrate the differences and why one career could appeal to one type yet be a poor choice for another.
We'll start with ISFJs. I selected nurse as a career to illustrate good job characteristics for ISFJs. If you're an ISFJ and never wanted to be a nurse, that's okay. The point is to see what characteristics of the job make it appealing to this type.
What are some of the aspects of nursing that appeal to ISFJs? Well, nurses often work in large, stable organizations with a clear hierarchy, plenty of rules to be learned, and in support of people. Nurses provide care and comfort to those in need. The work can be less prominent than that of physicians, which appeals to ISFJs and their desire to be number two and out of the limelight. Nurses often have a lot of patient contact, but it's in a structured and limited way. The ISFJ nurse usually does not have to reveal a lot of personal information about him- or herself to the patient. The conversations with patients tend to follow a set pattern and to repeat (e.g. how are you feeling). Nurses have to learn a lot of standardized procedures and facts about medicines, treatments, courses of diseases, and more. There is often a right way and a wrong way to perform a procedure, so the ISFJs will quickly learn what works and what doesn't. This is factual, here-and-now information, as opposed to some distant theory. Having a good knowledge of facts while paying careful attention to details, combined with a warm and personable style is an advantage in nursing. Likewise, the structure and schedule appeal to ISFJs. Many ISFJs are good organizers, and have a strong sense of duty and commitment. They frequently like the idea of a fixed start and finishing time for work, instead of a "work until it's done" kind of schedule. However, their sense of duty will often compel them to do just that: stay until the job is finished. Many ISFJs are quite loyal, respect tradition, and frequently are the people who keep things running smoothly behind the scenes.
Now let's contrast this profession with one that is appealing to ENTPs: photographer. What is it about this job that makes it a good match for ENTPs?
Well, many photographers are self-employed, which has inherent appeal to ENTPs. If you're the boss, you don't have to do lots of things you're forced to do as an employee, such as go to long, boring meetings. Photography is a combination of art and science. There are few rules. Many ENTPs are non-conformists who chafe at rules and structure. Sure, there are laws of physics one must adhere to for properly exposed pictures, but the photographer has tremendous freedom in composing the picture. So the creative, improvising, rule-breaking part has free reign in many kinds of photography. Many ENTPs like technology and gadgets. Photography is full of both. Photography can provide variety and excitement, depending on the field. Wedding photography is probably lower on that scale, while advertising likely has a lot more. Many ENTPs enjoy interacting a great deal with people from all walks of life. Being independent and competent is often a goal for ENTPs. Innovation is quite appealing to them. Unlike our ISFJ friends, ENTPs generally dislike details and prefer to leave them to someone else. Instead, they tend to be more action-oriented and focused on the outside world of ideas. Starting new projects energizes them, and they are quite comfortable with complexity.
The message to consider in both these cases is the pattern these careers illustrate. The specifics of the individual job can vary. It's more about the kinds of things a person has to do, the setting, the amount of structure, and the people you work with than about job A or B. We'll look at the other personality types and careers in the coming months.
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About the Strong Interest Inventory: The Teaching, Social Service, and Religious Activities Basic Interest Scales
The Basic Interest Scales (BIS) on the pages 1 and 2 of the Strong Profile show how your interests match those of people working in various careers. Your BISs show the things you like to do, as opposed to just interest you. This month we'll look at three BISs on the Strong and which careers they match. You'll notice these three BISs are all from the Social General Occupational Scale. We'll look at the jobs that match these BISs to give you a better idea of where you might enjoy working.
Let's start with the Teaching BIS. The six professions with the highest scores on this scale are School Administrator, High School Counselor, English Teacher, Social Science Teacher, Physical Education Teacher, and Foreign Language Teacher. In contrast, the lowest six professions on this scale are Agribusiness Manager, Plumber, Interior Decorator, Auto Mechanic, Farmer, and Medical Technician.
For the Social Service scale, the highest scorers were High School Counselor, Minister, Child Care Provider, Home Economics Teacher, Social Worker, and Nurse. The lowest scores were found among Physicists, Plumbers, Geologists, Mathematicians, Chemists, and Auto Mechanics..
On the Religious Activities BIS, the highest scoring professions are Nurse (LPN), High School Counselor, English Teacher, Home Economics Teacher, Foreign Language Teacher, and Social Science Teacher. The lowest are Auto Mechanic, Advertising Executive, Marketing Executive, Geologist, Physicist, and Computer Programmer/Systems Analyst.
Should you be a Nurse if your highest BIS was Religious Activities? Not necessarily. What it means is you and Nurses share this common interest. However, there is more to choosing a career than just one BIS. This is where the Occupational Scales come in. Here your likes and dislikes are compared to those who are working in various professions. The Occupational Scales are better predictors of which professions are likely to be good matches for you.
When your General, Basic Interest, and Occupational Scales all match, it's likely you'll find it easier to choose a satisfying work path. Those who have widely different interests on the three scales will probably struggle more to find a good fit. You might discover your work life is greatly different from your private time.
Different people use different coping strategies to help them overcome tough situations. Is there a relationship between how people cope and their scores on the FIRO-B? Yes, according to a study of 12 coping styles people use.
In the interest of brevity, I'll only mention the top two strategies for each of the six scales and the difference between the high and low scorers. Low is a score of 0-2, while High is 7-9 on the FIRO-B.
For Expressed Inclusion, the high scorers picked "Have a variety of tasks that I can get involved in" 93% of the time as one strategy to deal with stress. Second on the list was "Talk to someone close" at 73%. For low scorers, the highest was the same for 85%, while second place was "Think about my options" at 64%.
For Wanted Inclusion, only one item showed up for both high and low scores: "Talk to someone close" at 67% for high scorers and 57% for low.
For the Expressed Control scale, high scorers used "Think about my options" most frequently (73%), while "Confront the problem" was second at 68%. For low scorers, the results were the same, but the percentages were different (67% and 52%)
On the Wanted Control scale, high scorers tended to "Rely on religious beliefs" and "Get upset or angry, but don't show it" at 48% and 40%, respectively. The low scorers had a different pattern: 61% stated "Confront the problem" and 34% said "Rely on religious beliefs" are strategies they use.
For Expressed Affection, a similar pattern emerged as for Control: high scorers reported "Talk to someone close" 72% and "Confront the problem" 58% of the time. Low scorers said "Confront the problem" and "Talk to someone close" 51% and 50%, respectively.
Finally, the Wanted Affection scale had only two items for both groups: "Talk to someone close" and "Rely on religious beliefs" were chosen by 66% and 43% of the high scorers, while the low scorers had reported 48% and 30%.
Interestingly, people who scored high on Expressed Control reported the most stress regarding work. Those with high scores on Wanted Affection showed the greatest stress regarding finances. High scorers on Wanted Control stated the most stressful events for them involved intimate relationships and finding the right work/home balance.
Once again, we'll look at one of the conflict handling styles and discuss some of the cons. This time, compromising will be our subject.
As a quick review, here are some of the positive aspects of collaborating: it strengthens relationships, can improve communication among the parties involved, can increase the quality of the decisions made, and can resolve long-standing conflicts that have been previously avoided.
Still, as with the other styles, there are disadvantages as well. First and foremost, it takes a great deal of time and effort to fully engage in the process. You'll have to concentrate and pay full attention to the other people you're working with. Creative problem solving is hard work. It might appear to be easy, yet truly meeting everyone's needs is a tall order.
Secondly, openness includes vulnerability. Others might take advantage of your frank and straightforward style. If you are flexible about reaching a solution, your counterpart could use this aspect of your style against you.
Of course, real collaboration requires dealing with the real issues, even those that are quite sensitive or rarely spoken about. In fact, it might be most important to deal with these issues rather than the surface issues. People will often argue about many topics, and never mention the subject that is causing the most distress. However, true resolution likely means addressing the hidden causes of conflict. Emotions could be very high and feelings can be hurt in discussing issues people have been avoiding, particularly if it's been going on for some time.
Openness requires flexibility and the willingness to see the other's point of view. This can be quite demanding and present a challenge to your previously held beliefs. Many people struggle with truly accepting far different viewpoints. Think about the death penalty, for example. Many people have firm beliefs, one way or the other on this topic. How many people are truly open to hearing and possibly accepting another viewpoint?
In summary, because collaboration is such a demanding way to negotiate, it can serve you best when the issues are most important. Less important issues might be ignored or settled with a quick compromise, but if the issue is vital, collaboration could be the way to go.
As always, it's not a matter of using one conflict management style in every situation. The skill is using the appropriate style when needed.
As some of you know, it's easy to test your group online. There is a discount for groups over 10 people. We can set you up and have your people take their tests in a short while. Their results will come via e-mail, as for regular clients. If you'd like to find out more, just send an e-mail with the number of people and which test(s) you'd like. Write to or call (858) 571-3931. Past clients have included U.S. Post Office, Bank of America, Dow Chemical, Kaiser Permanente, and others.
Looking for a speaker or trainer for your next conference or workshop? Why not include a presentation about Myers-Briggs, personality types, conflict styles, leadership, or team building? Include testing your group online as part of your program. Call or write to find out how you can have a fun, practical, and insightful presentation for your group. Call (858) 571-3931 or write: