What's Your Personality Type?
Written by Caitlin Settlemoir    Monday December 07, 2009
As any professional is aware of, knowing the personality types of those we work with is a key ingredient in effective communication.  Unfortunately, managing various personalities within the workplace is never an easy task.  No two people are the same, an obvious fact of life that becomes even more apparent in an office setting.

Recognizing this, and wanting to be the very best team we can be, the Digital Entertainment team decided to collectively take the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality test.  The test, originally developed by Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers, was created during World War II in order to help women choose a suitable industrial job they would personally excel in.

The Myers-Briggs test is also designed to evaluate one’s psychological preference in how they view the world around them and, consequently, how they make decisions.  MBTI utilizes eight qualities that can result in 16 different, four-quality combinations: extraversion or introversion, sensing or intuition, thinking or feeling and judging or perceiving.

My test results determined I was an ESFP (extraverted, sensing, feeling and perceiving) personality.  Although all the ESFP qualities seemed to adequately reflect my personality, a few resonated with me more than others.  First, the ESFP lives in a world of possibilities and loves people and new experiences.  This is definitely a quality I see in myself and is also a strong motivator behind my decision to pursue a career in public relations.  Additionally, the ESFP is known to be a spontaneous and optimistic individual.  This also reminds me of myself, as I love to try new things and attempt to exude a generally positive attitude.  Finally, the ESFP knows how to have fun and has an appreciation for good food and wine.  This quality matches me perfectly as I try not to take life too seriously and, of course, I always enjoy good food and wine!

Just as my personality type reflected me, the rest of the team was also surprised to see how accurately their personality types described them.  As the team’s unique qualities ranged from charismatic and compassionate to visionary and unconventional, it was interesting to ascertain each team member’s individual traits.

Whether we are extraverts or introverts, feelers or thinkers – in the end, we are a team.  Taking this test initially shed light on our individual strengths and weaknesses, but more importantly demonstrated that no matter what differences we may have, we can learn to put them aside, appreciate one another and discover each day how to work together more effectively and foster an improved team dynamic. 

[Follow Caitlin: @caitsett]
 
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