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- The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® and Communicating with ISTPs
- About the Strong Interest Inventory®: Career Aspiration and Achievement
- About the FIRO-B™: Team Development – Need for Inclusion
- The 16PF®– The 16 Personality Factors: Factor E – Dominant vs. Deferential
- Group Testing
- Have Brian Speak to Your Group About Myers-Briggs
This month we'll continue with the series on how to best communicate with each type.
Let's "talk" about ISTPs. What are some good ways to communicate with ISTPs? Well, for one thing, they like people who are logical and direct. Like many others, they like people who are brief and concise, and who are precise or accurate in the details they provide. People who describe problems in an objective manner are preferred over those who take a more emotional approach. Many ISTPs like realistic, achievable goals, but do not want to be dictated to about how to reach them. They usually prefer to see a link between what people are telling them now and what has come before. Likewise, they prefer information to be presented in a sequential manner: first this, then that, etc.
Things to avoid when communicating with ISTPs include presenting information that is illogical or emphasizes the emotional. They often prefer to avoid personal subjects, particularly at work. ISTPs rarely enjoy long, drawn-out meetings with endless discussions. Likewise, they usually do not like to talk about abstract concepts or distant goals. Many ISTPs dislike strict guidelines or rules, particularly if they make no sense to them. Others avoid emotional, excitable, or verbose people. They tend to be suspicious of people who are too excited about a new idea or theory, especially since it’s unproven. Finally, many ISTPs dislike close supervision or people who tell them how something "should" be done.
Next month we'll look at communicating with another type.
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One interesting thing about the theme codes on the Strong is how they can predict career achievement or career aspiration level. As with all statistics, these studies describe groups, and cannot predict how any one individual in a group will behave. So if you're a highly accomplished person in the low group, it doesn't mean there’s something wrong with the data or with you. It means simply that many people in the group will tend to follow the pattern.
So who are the high aspirers? From high to low, it's Enterprising, Social, Artistic, Investigative, Conventional, and Realistic people. The achievers tend to go in the same order, so there is a relationship between what people aspire to and what they eventually achieve.
Achievement in creative areas follows this pattern (high to low): Artistic, Investigative, Social, Enterprising, Realistic, and Conventional.
Accomplishments in any field are more likely when a person's interests and his or her field are in alignment. In other words, an Enterprising person would likely do better in an Enterprising occupation than in a Realistic one.
Most teams follow predictable patterns of development that are related to the FIRO-B. In many cases, the need for Inclusion is the first need to be addressed by the group. As the team begins to form, there are typical questions and issues you might have to deal with.
For example, a question many people have with a new team is how they will contribute. They wonder if they have a real value to the team, how they fit in, or if their views and opinions will be considered or valued by the group. Likewise, we tend to wonder if others will face these issues as well. We often ask ourselves if the work will be fairly divided, or if we will have to do more than others.
Some ways you can deal with these questions when you find yourself as part of a new team include asking others on the team what they believe they can contribute. You might make an extra effort to include everyone in the initial discussions, while trying not to make yourself seem too important. However, you should likewise make your views known, particularly on those issues that matter most to you. You will probably want to find out why others were asked to join the team. It's likely they having something valuable to contribute or they might not need to be part of the group. In the best case, your team will soon come to agreement about its purpose and goals.
The next 16PF scale for discussion is the Factor "E" scale, which is Dominance. What exactly does this scale measure?
This scale shows how much you want to exert your will over others or how much you are willing to accommodate their desires. This factor is really about dominance and not just assertiveness. The difference is assertive people try to protect their wishes and rights, or set boundaries of acceptable behavior, dominance means trying to make other people do what you want. If you score on this scale, you simply be assertive, although most high scorers tend to forceful, pushy about getting what they want, and easily give their opinion or state their wishes, even when no one asks. High scorers tend to be critical of others and can easily give directions to people.
Low scorers, in contrast, tend to be people who give in to the demands of others. Many times the motivation is a desire to avoid conflict. These people tend be rather cooperative. They often report if people do things they disagree with, they simply ignore it.
Factor E is the most important factor in the
As with all the 16PF scales, major insights come from the interactions among the 16 scales, and not from each scale in isolation.
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: