MBTI

an electronic newsletter from Stratevative Learning International AB

Vol. 2, Issue 5, May 2003

MBTI

www.stratevative.com

Using MBTI in Debriefing

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is the most frequently used personality type inventory around the world. This instrument is based on four pairs of opposite preferences: extraversion-introversion, sensing-intuition, thinking-feeling, and judging-perceiving. Your personality type is a combination of the four preferences, one from each pair.

Two of the MBTI pairs are labeled as functions. One of these functional pairs deals with how you perceive the external world. If you have a preference for sensing, you tend to focus on the present reality. You are factual and practical. You experience the world through the five senses and proceed through your activities in a step-by-step fashion. In contrast, if you have a preference for intuition, you tend to focus on future possibilities. You are inspired and theoretical. You trust your hunches and proceed through your activities in an insight-by-insight fashion.

The other functional pair deals with how you make decisions. If you have a preference for thinking, you use your head to apply a system of logic. You are objective and rational, firm but fair. In contrast, if you have a preference for feeling you use your heart to apply a system of values. You are subjective, empathetic, and compassionate.

In processing information and in making decisions, neither preference in each pair is more important or effective. For maximum effectiveness, you need diversity among personality types in a team. Even as an individual, you can improve your performance by systematically asking and answering questions from the points of view of sensing, intuition, thinking, and feeling.

Here's a set of suggested questions that are based on the four MBTI functions. They provide an effective structure for debriefing discussions after a group has gone through an experiential activity:

Sensing Questions

	During the activity, who did what to whom?
	How can we describe the activity in a step-by-step fashion?
	What was the outcome of the activity? How can we describe it in objective terms?

Intuition Questions

	What impressions and insights did you get from your activity?
	How does your experience relate to what is happening in your workplace?
	What would have happened if some of the factors were changed?

Thinking Questions

	What are the advantages and disadvantages of the decisions we made during the activity?
	What factors influenced our behaviors and outcomes in the activity? How are these factors logically related to each other?
	If we were to go through the same activity again, what would be a reasonable course of action?

Feeling Questions

	What were my personal reactions to this activity? How did the others react to it?
	What underlying values came into play during the activity?
	Could we have interacted with greater harmony among ourselves during the activity?

You can add more questions to this list. During the actual debrief, it is not necessary to discuss these questions in a linear sequence. Feel free to jump from one category to another. The important idea is to cover all the bases and encourage inputs from different personality types among your participants.

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