I am ON FIRE with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator lately!

If you’ve worked with me in the past, you know I use it quite often in individual and couples work – I’ve also facilitated quite a few leadership teams through organizational health processes with it.

Most master’s level therapists are ‘qualified’ to use the MBTI – we get an overview of it in therapy-school.  But the certification training I went through recently was far more than any course I had in grad school!

So what can the MBTI do for you?

First – there are three versions or “Steps” for the MBTI.  I was just certified in Step I and Step II.  Step III is actually still in the research phases – certification training only happens at MTBI headquarters in Florida – you can bet I will be heading there soon to get qualified on the upcoming Step III!

Step I provides your 4-letter MBTI personality preference profile.  Because the administration of the assessment is now computer-based (sorry to all of you who had to self-score the paper version I gave you!), and the different aspects of the assessment are so well researched (very high reliability and validity for you stats-nerds out there), I have access to quite a few robust reports in addition to the preference profile.  We can use the Step I assessment to look at personal development goals, work style and career aspirations along with preferred work environments, communication dynamics at home and work, effective stress responses and overall stress management, preferred learning style, and potential pitfalls or blind spots.  This is really just the beginning – for only being the first phase of the assessment, there is quite a bit of reliable data to extrapolate.

Step II take the Step I results and dives deeper into your unique expression of 5 facets of each of your personality preferences.  We all use each of the eight parts of personality measured in the MBTI at least some of the time – but we prefer one preference in each of the pairs – just as most people have a preference for one hand over the other.  No preference in a pair is better more desirable than the other, but we each have our preferences and may view or react to other preferences differently.  The Step II assessment goes deep into how we relate to our own preferences, as well as the preferences of others.  No two ISTJs or ENFPs are exactly alike – they have a lot of similarities, but they are not identical.  The differences in the expression of these similarities is measured and reported in the Step II assessment.

So how would this benefit you or your relationships?

Individually, as I mentioned, we can review personal development and career goals.  We review the characteristics typically seen in your preferences, and how they impact you and the world you interact with.  The basic profile report discusses your personality preferences in work environments, as well as potential blind spots of those preferences.  We can dive deeper in the 20+ page “Personal Impact Report” and look at your problem-solving approach, contributions to organizations, preferred work environment and learning styles, communication highlights like initial impressions and what you want to hear, as well as your own preference for expression.  The Personal Impact report goes on to discuss how you might give and receive feedback, your strengths and weaknesses as a team member, your decision making style and leadership style, as well as your conflict style.

It. Goes. Deep.

So then imagine the possibilities when you take this data, and your partner or spouse has the same data for themselves, and you compare & contrast.  Those facilitative conversations used to be one of the highlights of my role as a therapist.  Quite honestly, I am elated by the possibilities of discussing these more extensive data sets with couples.  Many couples were able to reach new understandings of themselves, their partner, and their relationship dynamics with a basic MBTI – I am very excited to see how the improved assessment can help couples grow and move forward.

Alright, I feel like I may have gushed enough.  If you are interested in taking the MTBI assessment and all the different self-analysis we can do and self-improvement to be gained, you can email me at DrDan@DanielAFranz.com  – if you have questions or want to learn more, email me, or listen to last week’s podcast on the MTBI.  As always, I am here to help – I may be just a little more excited now to work with you using the MBTI.

Take care.  – Dan