Myers Briggs and the lock down experience: is there a link?

As a C-suite leader, I have relied heavily on the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) as a self-assessment and self-awareness tool.

MBTI acts as a 'personality inventory' and, through a series of questions, generates a unique 4 letter personality type and report which is believed to be approx. 90% accurate.

There are 16 personality types in total.

**Copyright: Wikipedia**

A mother and daughter team

When developing MBTI, mother and daughter team Katherine Briggs and Isabel Briggs-Myers wanted to make the insights of personality type theory accessible to both individuals and groups.

**Copyright: Management Pocketbooks**

Myers and Briggs successfully made the theory of psychological types described by Carl Jung easier to understand and more directly applicable to our lives.

MBTI has, quite literally, transformed my leadership over the years and has had a similarly positive impact on the teams that I have led, many of which were complex, matrix and cross-functional in nature.

Interestingly (and quite independently of me), my son took the MBTI test when he was in his early teens and found that it really helped him with a team task that he had been set at school. Through taking the test, he became more aware of his preferred style as well as those of his fellow school mates. This meant that the team was more effective in collaborating and leveraging all aspects of the individual team members' preferred style, successfully completing the team task with considerably more impact.

Essentially, MBTI insights reveal preferred styles and 'ways of being' and serve as a useful mirror for us as individuals.

So how does MBTI relate to our experiences in lock down?

This week marks the 17th week of lock down in the UK. Throughout the lock down period, I have seen a consistent theme slowly, but surely, emerging.

"Are you outwardly or inwardly focused?"

With relatively few exceptions, those who are outwardly focused (an MBTI 'E' type - extraverted) have found the imposed isolation of lock down far more challenging than those who are more inwardly focused (MBTI 'I' types - intraverted).

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'E' types are outgoing, enjoy talking and get their energy from being out and about with people.

Conversely, 'I' types generally prefer more reflection and solitude and find that being around lots of people drains them of their energy.

My son and several of my friends and family members are 'E' types. All of us, without exception, have found the lack of social engagement with others to be a particular challenge during lock down.

Our energy levels have actually decreased as a result of not being around lots of people to raise our energy. We have all felt an acute sense of isolation and have welcomed the slight easing of restrictions permitting us to socialise with more people outside our home.

To put this in context, I have been to our local (covid-compliant and covid-secure) pub 5 times within the space of 10 days!

On the other hand, a representative number of my close family and friends are 'I' types.

Their experience of lock down isolation has been markedly different to 'Es'.

On the whole, the isolation has come as a source of relief given how draining 'Is' find engagement with lots of people.

By way of specific example, one of my close 'I' friends does not enjoy being hugged at all and has told me that she is dreading lock down restrictions easing for this reason alone. She has enjoyed not having to hug people during lock down.

"How do you prefer to make decisions?"

I have also seen an interesting link between 'T' types (whose preferred style is to make reasonable, level-headed, rational decisions) and 'F' types (who prefer to make decisions based on pleasing others and being empathetic).

My son and I are both high 'F' types which has presented challenges during this lock down period.

We both reached a stage where we realised that watching the news and religiously following all the facts, data and other information relating to Covid-19 became overwhelming and unbearable. It was impossible for us to detach ourselves, our empathetic preferences coming to the fore. Processing this information came at huge personal cost to our overall sense of well being. In addition to this, the constant worrying about various family members working as doctors within the NHS became crippling for us both.

Conversely, a friend of mine is a high 'T' and is the person I have consistently turned to throughout this period when I need rational, level-headed advice to offset my 'F' tendencies.

'F' types have a tendency to be very emotionally driven when making decisions so I have very much valued regular doses of my friend's 'T' type decision-making to maintain clarity and focus.

"How do you prefer to take in information?"

The 2 types here are S types (who prefer concrete facts and details) and N types (who prefer concepts and big picture thinking). I have seen less of a direct link between these 2 types and their experience of lock down but could it be the case that Ns have coped better with the ambiguity surrounding the pandemic than Ss?

"How do you prefer to live your outer life?"

J types prefer to have matters settled and P types prefer to leave their options open.

Again, I have not personally seen a direct link between Js, Ps and their lock down experience but I do wonder if perhaps Js have found the uncertainty of Covid-19 a tougher challenge than Ps.

It is important to remember that all MBTI types are created equal - there is no 'best type'.

Further, there are always exceptions.

For example, a friend in the States who is a high 'I' has found the social isolation imposed by lock down to be incredibly difficult to cope with.

I have a high 'E' friend who has actually welcomed the opportunity to re-energise without the constant social pressure of being surrounded by lots of people in the office.

Being a 'T' does not equate to an inability to empathise.

Nor does being an 'F' mean that you are incapable of rational decision-making.

That said, as a very talkative 'E' type, I welcome spending time with my more reflective 'I' friends and family as lock down restrictions ease.

After all, a room full of Es like me would be far too noisy!

To find out more about Myers Briggs and how to take the test, see:

https://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/

https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test