Why Understanding Different Personality Types Is Important in the Workplace

As part of the Poston Communications’ internship curriculum, the interns took the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality inventory as a way to better understand themselves and how different personalities interact. The test consists of a series of questions to determine a personality type based on basic preferences, which is then expressed as a four letter code.

The four letters are determined by the following factors:

• Favorite world: Do you prefer to focus on the outer world or on your own inner world? This is called Extraversion (E) or Introversion (I).
• Information: Do you prefer to focus on the basic information you take in or do you prefer to interpret and add meaning? This is called Sensing (S) or Intuition (N).
• Decisions: When making decisions, do you prefer to first look at logic and consistency or first look at the people and special circumstances? This is called Thinking (T) or Feeling (F).
• Structure: In dealing with the outside world, do you prefer to get things decided or do you prefer to stay open to new information and options? This is called Judging (J) or Perceiving (P).

The MBTI is a useful tool for the workplace, especially in a field like public relations and marketing that involves constant communication between coworkers and clients.

For example, knowing that one of your coworkers or clients identifies as an introvert may alter your communication style in order to work better with them.

Public relations specialists commonly identify as the ENFP personality type as they tend to be full of energy, highly adaptable and proficient in dealing with people.

At Poston Communications, many of our clients are legal professionals who typically identify with the INTJ personality type as they tend to be highly analytical, hard-working and independent. Lawyers identify with this personality type with five times greater frequency than the general population, according to research conducted by Dr. Larry Richard. They are also the only ones of the 16 MBTI types for whom an elevated IQ has been statistically correlated.

Considering that public relations specialists and lawyers appear to have different personality types, we must work to understand and adapt to how our clients think and communicate in order to effectively represent them in the industry.

For more information on the MBTI click here: http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/.

Liz Rucci is an assistant account executive for Poston Communications, based in Atlanta.