Personality Matters Blog
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MBTI Step II Facets: Practical–Conceptual & the Importance of Ideas
While delivering a training program recently, I was getting excited about the “miracle” of the theory behind personality type. I felt like I was in my wheelhouse expounding on the power of type and the implications of these ideas. As explained in the MBTI® Step II™ Manual, “[Conceptual people (like me)] are not content…just to make inferences. Inferences give birth to ideas, and ideas are what excite them” (p. 30). I was brought back to reality when a pa...
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MBTI Step II Facets: Realistic–Imaginative
A colleague came into my office one day and asked me, “Why would someone send another person flowers?” I was a bit surprised by the question. She continued, “They seem like such a waste. I mean, they are really expensive and they are going to die.” I thought about it for a minute, not sure at first how to respond. I love to send and receive flowers, so I tried to explain that the cost and short life span of such a gift are not the point. Clearly not getting my message across very well, I deci...
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The Importance of the Order of the Sensing–Intuition Facets
When interpreting MBTI® Step II™ facet results, practitioners sometimes forget about the significance of the order of the facets. When it comes to paying attention to things, Sensing–Intuition (taking in information) people start by using a Concrete, Midzone, or Abstract approach first. They then go down the list of the remaining facets, in order: Realistic-Imaginative, Practical-Conceptual, Experiential-Theoretical, and Traditional-Original. (If you want a great team exercise i...
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MBTI Step II Facets: Tough–Tender
A couple of months ago, a participant in a training program told me she thinks of his Tough behavior in terms of removing a small bandage. She said Tough behavior is like removing that bandage in one quick pull. For her, pulling the bandage off slowly only prolongs the pain. This firm approach can be effective as long as it doesn’t cross over the line and become stern. Tender behavior certainly does not intentionally prolong pain. Instead, people who report Tender believe that a kinder an...
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MBTI Step II Facets: Critical–Accepting
Be prepared for some push-back from clients who report Thinking in-preference Critical on the MBTI® Step II™ assessment. The bullet-point descriptors on the MBTI® Step II™ Interpretive Report can be more direct (some say harsh) for this result than for any other. I’ve had a client get a bit argumentative about the descriptor “are argumentative.” And a participant in an MBTI® Certification Program this week sprinted across the room to the Accepting side ...
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MBTI Step II Thinking-Feeling Facets: The Importance of Facet Order
If you want to start this series from the beginning, take a look at the first few blogs here, here and here. When interpreting MBTI® Step II™ Interpretive Report results, practitioners tend to forget about the importance of the order of the facets (see MBTI® Step II™ Manual, pp. 22–23). We know that the first T–F facet, Logical–Empathetic, is the starting point for decision making, with the remaining facets (Reasonable–Compassionate, Questioning&n...
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Team Building with the MBTI Step II Thinking-Feeling Facets
There is just so much depth with the Thinking–Feeling facets that many people only begin to explore. During the MBTI® Certification Program, I take participants through several decision-making stages—T–F facet by T–F facet. A participant asked me this week how I keep things from getting out of hand when I go through this process with working teams. She realized that it can be a powerful experience for teams and things can get a bit heated. While I don’t feel esp...
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MBTI Step II Facets: Can We Be Too Accommodating?
If you missed it, you can see the first blog post in this series here and the post on the other side of this facet, Questioning, here. I often ask people who report Accommodating on the MBTI® Step II™ Interpretive Report if they are too accommodating. Usually, the reply is a straightforward and accommodating “yes!” Accommodating people tend to pick their battles when faced with differences of opinion. As a result, they are sometimes seen as “wishy-washy” ...
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MBTI Step II Questioning Facet: In-Preference and Out-of-Preference
If you missed the first blog in this series, check out the overview here. Or you can watch this video that covers all 20 MBTI Step II facets. As I mentioned previously, we're going to cover the Thinking-Feeling facets first starting with Questioning and Accommodating. This facet in particular deals with how a person responds to differences in a point of view. Questioning in-preference can come off as a bit harsh at times. I tell a story in my MBTI® Certification Program about a participant w...
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MBTI® Users Conference—Networking and the Step II™ Receiving Facet Challenge
The conference is in full swing. Walking from session to session, I’ve come across people I have worked with in past trainings over the years. I always worry at these events that someone will come up to me and call out my name, but I won’t remember theirs. I work with so many people each year, it is hard to commit everyone’s name to memory. Just yesterday, as I waited in the hotel lobby for my room to be ready, I noticed someone looking at me. Her face was very familiar, but I wasn’t sure why. ...
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MBTI® Users Conference—A Step II™ Day
Like last year, I facilitated a full-day MBTI® Step II™ workshop. I had an engaged group of participants with varying levels of personality type knowledge, which can get tricky to facilitate. I didn’t want to go too fast and lose people just learning about type, nor did I want to go too slow and bore those who already knew a lot. However, the one thing I’ve learned over the past couple of years is that many people could use a basic MBTI type refresher. For anyone needing a ...
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Celebrating a 60th Wedding Anniversary—Step II Facets in Action
After a nice lunch in Kona (Rebel Kitchen…delicious!) we finally reach the turnoff for Waikoloa Beach. Finally. As we drive up to the entrance of the Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa, I see Cindy (the first-born sibling in our family) walking out to greet us. Mom, Dad, and Terri visit with Cindy a couple of times a year. Sadly, I haven’t seen Cindy in almost 30 years! Kevin has never met Cindy. Time flies for sure, but I realize I need to do more to see my big sister. We hug and are a...
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Free eBooks to Help Optimize Your MBTI® Step II™ Training
As you work with individuals to help them improve essential components of their professional development, it is important that they understand how to combine different aspects of their individual MBTI® Step II™ facet results and learn the most appropriate ways for them to flex their preferences. Here are two complimentary ebooks that offer ideas and tips for using Step II results to increase your people’s self-awareness and understanding: "How to Manage Seemingly Contradicto...
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Optimize Your MBTI® Step II™ Training With a New Tool
Helping people deepen their MBTI® experience by applying Step IITM insights is an important part of what you do. Upgrade your practitioner toolbox with our new workshop facilitation kit, “Introducing MBTI® Step II™ Results.” Designed to align with the refreshed Step II reports and save you prep time, this kit includes everything you need to deliver a high-quality introductory Step II workshop: Workshop-ready: comprehensive, ready-to-deploy presentation slides and ...
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Celebrating a 60th Wedding Anniversary—Out-of-Preference Planful
Our state of bliss is then interrupted when Terri tells me that Cindy's flight has been delayed until tonight. Now, I've spent a lot of time planning this trip. In fact, I'm quite the planner. This surprises people when they learn I prefer Perceiving. My MBTI® Step I™ preferences are INFP. However, on the MBTI® Step IITM assessment, I report Expressive, out-of-preference. I also report out-of-preference on Planful, which is about leisure and long-term life events. Leisure is definitely a big p...
Global Marketing
Celebrating a 60th Wedding Anniversary
Sitting at the departure gate in the Kona-Keahole airport in Hawaii still feels like being on vacation. The cool Hawaiian breeze and the many palm trees close-by can fool you just a little bit into not feeling sad that you are leaving. But I feel sad every time I leave these islands...every single time. I have to convince myself "I'll be back" or I know I will start to cry. Being in Hawaii is such an escape from so many of the stresses of life. While I work to honor who I am, I also spend too m...