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This month we'll continue the series on types and stress.
Let's start with our friends the INFJs. How can you tell when an INFJ is under stress, particularly at work?
One common way to tell that INFJs are feeling stressed is when they limit their options to just one. They might insist there is only one solution to a problem. Others become extremely critical or angry, often blaming people for their troubles. Some INFJs accuse other people of failing to help, while some will make even the simplest task unnecessarily complex. There can be paradoxical behavior: some INFJs might extravert a great deal, saying harsh things with little regard for the feelings of others. In contrast, some INFJs can become rather introspective and shut themselves off from the world or outside help. Still other INFJs set unrealistic goals for themselves, which just makes matters worse. Finally, some INFJs might eat or drink too much.
What are possible stressors for INFJs? Well, being forced to learn or retain vast amounts of detailed information can often have that affect. Being around too many people, particularly those whom the INFJ considers shallow can be stressful. If the INFJ feels like he or she is under great critical scrutiny, they can feel overwhelmed. Finally, if people are underappreciated or emotional charged conflict is not resolved, INFJs can feel stressed.
In contrast, when ESTPs are under stress, then can lose their sense of humor and become quite sarcastic. Others become disorganized, forget things, and lose their drive and ambition. Some ESTPs isolate themselves from others, feeling as if no one cares about them. They can appear to think only about themselves, or become passive-aggressive, or extremely competitive. Some ESTPs can try to use their intuition and figure out what’s going on, but they often draw the wrong conclusions when stressed. Still others try to overcome stressful feelings by staying in constant motion or action, without considering what it is they are doing.
Things that can cause stress to erupt for ESTPs include having their trustworthiness or abilities challenged. Feeling penned in, with no possibility to act independently or make changes can be stressful for many ESTPs. If people accuse them of not putting in enough effort on a project, some ESTPs can feel misunderstood and resentful. Likewise, when others accuse them of lacking commitment or wanting to play instead of taking care of their responsibilities, ESTPs can feel stressed.
Next month we'll look at two other types and stress.
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This month we'll look more closely at Investigative types. First, let's consider jobs. As discussed in previous newsletters, Investigative types prefer to work with similar people involved in understanding and controlling physical, biological, and cultural phenomena. They prefer to avoid repetitive, social, and persuasive activities. They are least likely to want to engage in Enterprising kinds of activities.
Investigative types tend to value scholarly or scientific achievement or activities. They tend to want independence, and admire personal traits such as being logical, ambitious, and intellectual. Other less important values include being cheerful, family security, or having true friendships. They tend to have liberal goals and values, be open to new ideas and experiences, have a wide range of interests, and an open belief system.
The self-image of Investigative types includes seeing themselves as having scientific or research abilities in addition to mathematical skills. They often believe they are curious, scholarly, analytical, and having broad interests. They enjoy thinking about how to solve problems. They often believe that attempting to persuade others to take particular course of action would be frustrating. Investigative types tend to have moderate to high self-esteem.
When solving problems, Investigative types rely on thinking, data gathering, careful analysis, objective data, and similar scholarly approaches. They tend to ignore personal feelings or social factors. They often enjoy working on challenging problems.
Some adjectives used to describe this type include introspective, rational, precise, curious, critical, analytical, pessimistic, independent, intellectual, radical, complex, cautious, and unassuming.
As before, it's common for people to be a combination of more than one type. No description will match everyone. There are likely to be aspects of the above Investigative types will disagree with. Each person has to decide for him- or herself which parts are accurate.
A person's scores on an Expressed Need can tell us a great deal about how that person will likely behave as a leader. Each of the three scales indicates a particular style that will probably be used by that leader. It's likely the leader will focus on that area where he or she scored the highest. This month we'll look at those who score highest on Expressed Inclusion.
Leaders with this style will probably lead by collaborating with their team members. Some ways this collaboration might show up include making sure everyone has an opportunity to contribute during meetings, sharing information with the group, gathering input from many sources, using the group to determine common goals, breaking down group factions, making an effort to stay in contact with those outside the team, and attempting to create shared team experiences.
Groups where this style will likely work best include recently formed teams, where cross training is needed, or this kind of group has never been brought together before. Others include highly fragmented groups, groups composed of many different levels, departments, functions, etc., or groups with high communication barriers, such as different physical locations.
This style might be less effective in groups that are under great time pressure with little opportunities for coordination or explanations. Groups that have great incentives to be competitive will be unlikely to respond well to this style. Finally, groups that do not reward sharing information or results will generally not do well with this leadership style.
Next month we'll look at another style.
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