Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator - MBTI - I am INFJ|INFP|ISFJ - I can't decide

Since the warfare course ended, i've been attending a gamut of workshops in coaching, leadership, management, learning organisation etc etc...so today i had this workshop on understanding personality types, decision making and resolving conflicts.

Under the first portion, were introduced to this MBTI thingie (very familiar if you have gone for some sort of pastoral care and career guidance-PCCG thing). it's something about 16 typical personality types of which one should approximate yours and somehow it shouldn't change throughout your life (not true) and will determine many choices you make and stuff. blah...

what was interesting to me was how general the test was. but it provided some surprising insights. you can take the test online if you want. click here

Somehow I ended up somewhere in between INFJ and ISFJ. Took the online version of the test and came up with ISFP which I thought was more like myself. sorta. try it, it's fun! You'd be surprise (not me, but others) when you tell others that you are an Introvert.

Nothing much for the decision making workshop....some tips on controlling meetings or some shit like that.

resolving conflicts workshop was rather fun. it's following a model, Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI). What happened to C and M? I dunno.

anyway, the model explains that in conflicts, usually you will end up in one fo five situations depending on the level of your assertiveness and cooperativeness:

Placing these dimensions of a grid shows five main clusters of conflict styles:

1. Competing (high assertiveness - low cooperativeness)
2. Avoiding (low assertiveness - low cooperativeness)
3. Accommodating (low assertiveness - high cooperativeness)
4. Collaborating (high assertiveness - high cooperativeness)
5. Compromising (medium assertiveness - medium cooperativeness)

so, supposedly collaborative outcomes are the best cause you end up having high in both areas. So I did some questionnaire and what I got was that my primary mode is Collaborative. Yay! (yes, I'm just like the other 1,278,2873,290 who took this test but hell, we still have wars and shit). My secondary mode is Avoidance. Which is actually super weird, or logical, in a way. I'm Pisces. Comprehende? So when I am facing a conflict, in order to resolve it, I will strive to collaborate. If not, fuck, I'll just dig a hole and hide in till winter is over. Fact is sometimes stranger than fiction and i think this description fits me to a T actually.

But in order to be super well-like and stuff, you need to recognise this fact. Alot of people love themselves to most. So the best way to be loved by others is to be like them. Exactly like them.

Looking back at the peer appraisals that I got during the course, somethings begin to make sense....their comments....

During the coaching workshop, we were passing around a piece of paper to do a written appraisal for each other. Basically write down the first thing that comes into your mind.
Guess what I got?
Examples (real ones by the way):

He is our Thai boy. Hardworking, serious and humourous. A good friend I don't want to explain the Thai part. Let's just say I do a wicked rendition of the Tiffany Show Girls.

Party person who is also a very analytical person

Gay, deep thinking. Silent Brokeback continues to influence the batch...Deep...thinking....lucky not deep something else. See the obvious paradox? Party person who is silent?

HA HA HA Funny and lots of quick witted comments

Quick and witty

A mysterious & intelligent person. He is quite unconventional but quite mystery [sic]! Hehe. Mysterious? Looks like a case of Mulder and Scully.

A very funny and interesting person =)
sure, and so are you.

Black & White/Dangerous/HIStory/Thriller what the hyell?

Good Buddy


Very unique! Unique in humour, opinion, point of view
perhaps unique was the favoured euphemism for wrong or unacceptable

Really wacky ideas and not afraid to speak his mind sure sure.....

So who figured me out? So am I extravert or introvert? My guess is, if everyone can really figure out everybody with tests like these....alot of conflicts would not have arose at all.

I'd like to end this entry with this thought - Is the term "single choice" an oxymoron? Hobson's choice, anyone?

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