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- The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® and Careers for ISTJs and ENFPs
- About the Strong Interest Inventory®: The Applied Arts, Writing, and Culinary Arts Basic Interest Scales
- The FIRO-B™: 360-degree Review and Manager Ratings
- Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode (TKI): What's Wrong with Compromising?
- 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 ISTJs. I selected bus driver as a career to illustrate good job characteristics for ISTJs. Now many ISTJs will say something like, "I never wanted to be a bus driver." That's fine. The point is to show why bus driver is a good fit for ISTJs.
What is it that makes bus driver a good choice? Think about what the job entails. There is a fixed schedule to follow. The route is laid out in advance. No on-the-spot decisions about where to go. The job requires attention to detail - traffic, passengers, weather conditions, the mechanical condition of the bus, and more. There is little need for intense personal contact. Most personal interactions will be brief and follow a well-known schema. People will purchase tickets and ask how to get to a destination, or other travel-related questions. A bus driver is unlikely to get involved in long discussions on the meaning of life at work. The job entails a great deal of responsibility for the safety and welfare of the passengers. A bus driver will often wear a uniform. This eliminates the question of what to wear to work and the expense of creating a wardrobe. A uniform conveys some authority and respect among the public. The work day is fixed. When a bus driver leaves work, it's over. There's little need to think about tomorrow or what I should have done differently today. Today is finished. Tomorrow will be much the same. Decisions are made using logic, i.e. obeying traffic laws. In many instances, the correct actions are known in advance. It's just a matter of doing the right thing at the right time, such as stopping at red lights and driving at green lights. Feelings are not as important when navigating through rush hour traffic. Attention to detail and following established procedures are.
Now let's contrast this profession with one that is appealing to ENFPs: journalist. What is it about journalism that makes such a job a good match for ENFPs?
Again, let's consider what's involved in the work. There is often a great deal of variety. One day you could be writing an article about the President coming to town, the next day it could be a fire, and the day after that it might be the local unemployment rate. This requires the journalist to be well-read in a wide range of subjects or be able to quickly learn enough about a subject to write an interesting piece about it. The job involves writing, which is inherently a creative process. While we might use the same words over and over, the way we put them together creates a unique piece of work. Journalists often work under tremendous time pressures and deadlines. This increases the adrenaline, since many ENFPs enjoy the rush of deadline pressure. It's when they do their best work (or so many say). The deadline pressure is important for another reason: it gets them moving. Many ENFPs can get so wrapped up in the interesting things going on around them that they can forget to actually write the article. Having some external pressure is actually better and more liberating than having no one pushing for completion. If told, "Just give me that article whenever you finish it," many ENFPs would never finish. Being told, "I need it by 4 o'clock!" is actually more likely to motivate them to complete it. It's likely they'll be furiously typing away at 3:55, as opposed to finishing at 10:00 and turning it in at 10:30 after a second or third review. Journalists often have a lot of interaction with a wide variety of people from all walks of life - just what many ENFPs love. They can never be sure what their work day will be like. They might start out preparing to write an article about retail sales when a fire breaks out at the local school. Having to drop everything and do something new immediately is a great thrill for them. It keeps them from getting bored, which can be a great challenge. Spontaneity and variety make the job interesting. Having someone hold them accountable for completing tasks is a good thing.
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 Applied Arts, Writing, and Culinary Arts 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 Artistic General Occupational Scale. Many people who struggle to find suitable work are high scorers on the Artistic 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 Applied Arts BIS. The six professions with the highest scores on this scale are Medical Illustrator, Art Teacher, Commercial Artist, Architect, Fine Artist, and Photographer. In contrast, the lowest six professions on this scale are Farmer, Business Education Teacher, Agribusiness Manager, Banker, Bookkeeper, and Life Insurance Agent.
On the Writing BIS, the highest scoring professions are English Teacher, Reporter, Public Relations Director, Technical Writer, Sociologist, and Minister. The lowest are Farmer, Agribusiness Manager, Plumber, Auto Mechanic, Athletic Trainer, and Vocational Agriculture Teacher.
For the Culinary Arts scale, the highest scorers were Home Economics Teacher, Chef, Dietician, Food Service Manager, Dental Hygienist, and Restaurant Manager. The lowest scores were found among Agribusiness Managers, Plumbers, Auto Mechanics, Physicists, Farmers, and Bookkeepers.
Does this mean you should be a chef if your highest BIS was Culinary Arts? Not at all. It means you and the chef likely share interests and probably like many of the same things. This is a lot different than actually enjoying the work a chef does. 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. To use our example, you might be a computer programmer during the week, and spend your weekends cooking for friends and family. It's perfectly fine to live that way. This often happens for those with high scores on the Artistic scale. It's hard for many to find satisfying Artistic work, so they get a job to pay the bills and pursue their true interests outside of work.
Source: Strong Application and Technical Guide
One common use for the FIRO-B is executive, manager, or leader development in organizations. More and more organizations use 360-degree ratings or feedback for the same purpose. The question that naturally arises is "what is the overlap between the two systems?"
Researchers compared the results from a 360-degree review and the FIRO-B for 399 managers in a leadership program to see how they compared. Here's what they found when they looked at the self ratings:
Expressed Inclusion had an influence on leading subordinates, putting people at ease, flexibility, developing relationships, and compassion and sensitivity. Decisiveness was related to Expressed Control. On the other hand, Wanted Control was reflected in trouble directing staff and making strategic changes.
Expressed Affection was related to developing relationships, resourcefulness, compassion, self-awareness, and flexibility. The researchers found an inverse relationship between Expressed Affection and interpersonal problems or directing staff. In other words, those high in Expressed Affection were less likely to have trouble with subordinates.
Wanted Affection was positively correlated to putting people at ease, compassion, and sensitivity. Like Expressed Affection, there was an inverse relationship between Wanted Affection and staff problems.
Interestingly, there were no significant relationships between subordinate and superior ratings and the FIRO-B. The only peer rating that was significant was Expressed Affection and putting people at ease.
From the above we can see that the self ratings have the most significance when comparing 360-degree feedback and the FIRO-B. This makes great sense, as the FIRO-B is also a self-report instrument. Still, there were not that many areas where the two measurement systems overlapped. They do measure different things, so we should not expect a great deal of overlap. Still, the pattern that emerges follows what we have seen in other studies of the FIRO-B.
Source: FIRO-B Technical Guide
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 compromising: it's fast, expedient, pragmatic, creates a sense of fairness, and helps to maintain relationships. All are good and useful in dealing with others, and in many forms of negotiations.
How about the downside? Some of the more common ones include sacrificed concerns. Since people have to give something to get something in compromising, they can be left with the feeling their needs weren't met. Since issues aren't really resolved, they can come up again and again, or lead to mounting frustration with the process. One reason is because people's issues cannot really be compromised. Solutions can be compromises, but people are unlikely to feel satisfied with partial solutions for very long. Imagine a topic dear to you. Perhaps it's mistreatment of children. Would you be willing to compromise and allow some mistreatment of children, as long as most children were treated well? It's unlikely such a solution would please many people.
Related to the above, when people compromise, the solutions reached will probably be unsatisfactory to everyone involved. No one gets exactly what he or she wants, so everyone misses something. Likewise, if we merely find the middle ground, we're unlikely to come up with new or innovative solutions. If my price is $10 and your offer is $6, the temptation will be to say $8. Yet each of us will feel dissatisfied. Perhaps there are other solutions we haven't thought about, such as $10 and with a longer guarantee or some other added value.
Again, since compromising involves meeting in the middle, we may believe we have reached consensus or agreement when it's not the case. In the example above, if we go away with the $8 solution, we may believe the other party is as satisfied as we are. It's rarely that simple. We might misinterpret the other party's reaction to our offers. In other words, we might erroneously believe we are closer to the other person's position than is true. Since compromising is often used for a quick solution, it's even easier to fall into inaccurate beliefs about what was agreed to. Since real negotiation takes considerable time, compromising is often used to get it over with. The lost time has a cost, which can involve misunderstandings and issues that appear to be resolved, but are not.
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.
Source: Introduction to Conflict Management
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.
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