Researchers Debate Importance of Introverts Acting like Extroverts

Researchers Debate Importance of Introverts Acting like Extroverts

 

Several courses I teach include discussion regarding the importance of understanding personality preferences.  Students often take personality tests to determine their “type”.  Part of their type includes whether they are introverts or extraverts (Myers Briggs spells extravert with an “a” instead of an “o”).  In my training to become a qualified Myers Briggs MBTI trainer, I learned that people have preferences for how they like to receive and process information.  We were told it was similar to how people prefer to write with their right or left hand.  That is why I found the recent Wall Street Journal article titled How an Introvert Can Be Happier:  Act Like an Extrovert to be so interesting.  The title contradicts some of what I learned in my training.

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Successful Virtual Teams

 

Teams may not necessarily occupy the same building or location.  This may create some unique challenges.  When I trained teams within organizations to be effective, we dealt with personality preferences.  Team members would take the Myers Briggs MBTI to determine their type.  Team members were more effective if they understood why people acted the way they did.

In virtual teams, it is still critical to understand people’s preferences.  However, there are some unique challenges.  Leaders may deal with loosely described job descriptions.  Members of a team may share similar roles.  If team members are in other countries, cultural differences may impact the speed at which decisions may be made.

Trust and communication are still critical.  However, influence may become affected.  According to the Forbes article The Four Keys to Success within Virtual Teams, “The upshot of all this is that managers with geographically scattered teams need a much broader skill set than those with traditional, co-located teams. More than that, they need the ability to switch between skill sets, based on the diversity of their team members and the distance between them. Welcome to a new virtual world of business.”

According to Virtual Team Builders, “80% of corporate managers work virtually at least part of the time; 40% of virtual team members believe their groups are underperforming; 1 in 3 executives agree that teams are poorly managed; 56% of poorly managed virtual teams experience misunderstandings as a result of cultural and language differences; and 70% of attendees multitask during meetings.”

For more information about virtual teams, check out the following articles:

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The Reluctant Extravert

 

The Myers-Briggs MBTI assessment claims it can help determine whether a person is an introvert or an extravert.  According to the official Myers-Briggs site, people know they are an extravert if they think things like, “I like getting my energy from active involvement in events and having a lot of different activities. I’m excited when I’m around people and I like to energize other people. I like moving into action and making things happen. I generally feel at home in the world. I often understand a problem better when I can talk out loud about it and hear what others have to say.”

I have received the training to be a qualified Myers-Briggs instructor.  Whenever I have taken the MBTI assessment, my score or preference for extraversion is very high.  According to these results, “I am seen as “outgoing” or as a “people person.”  I feel comfortable in groups and like working in them.  I have a wide range of friends and know lots of people.  I sometimes jump too quickly into an activity and don’t allow enough time to think it over. Before I start a project, I sometimes forget to stop and get clear on what I want to do and why.”

Lately I’ve considered that I may be a bit of a reluctant extravert.  Many of these points just do not fit me. I would say that most people that meet me would consider me outgoing.  I do like to talk.  I have a hard time handling “dead air”. I also like to have a lot to do. These are definitely extraverted traits.  However, usually I prefer to avoid being around a lot of people.  Many of the above-listed points do not really describe me at all.  For example, I don’t jump into things without a great deal of thought.

Why would my score come out as having a high preference for extraversion?  In my training, they explained that we can act more introverted or extraverted based on a situation.  I think it can be difficult to lump people into categories or types.  I think Myers-Briggs does it as well as any assessment can.  However, even in the training I received, they acknowledged that we are all different.  No one is always one way or another.  It is about preferences.  Our preference for introversion or extraversion is similar in how we prefer to be right-handed or left-handed.  We might be able to write with both, but we prefer one over the other.  We may be able to be outgoing or not, but we prefer one over the other.

One of the reasons I co-wrote the book It’s Not You It’s Your Personality is because I don’t think any “one” personality assessment can truly explain people.  There are many theories about personality that need exploration. I felt that the Big Five, Management by Strengths, DISC, and other assessments offered some valid insight into people’s personalities. While I highly recommend learning about Myers-Briggs and the MBTI, I also think some of the other assessments are worth researching as well.

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Increasing Motivation, Right vs. Left Brain, MBTI and Who Will Rule the World

Dan Pink, author of several books about motivation and left vs. right brain thinking, presented a very entertaining and informative talk at a TED.com conference called Dan Pink on the Surprising Science of Motivation. The premise of his presentation was that there is a mismatch between what science knows about, and what business does, in terms of motivating people.

He made a strong argument for the importance of how having autonomy may help creativity.  A famous example he used is how Google allows employees to spend 20% of their time working on any project they want.  He noted how ½ of all products developed at Google are created during this time.  He argued for something he called ROWE which stands for Results Only Work Environment.  This is when people don’t have to have schedules, attend meetings or do anything specific other than to be sure that they get their work done.  By following these guidelines studies have shown it will increase productivity and reduce turnover.

Two of Pink’s books include:  Drive . . . The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us; and A Whole New Mind . . .Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the World.  After looking through his book on “right-brainers”, I found a lot of what he had to say to be quite interesting.  He pointed out the importance of empathy which is a big part of emotional intelligence.  For my dissertation, I studied quite a bit about empathy and the part it plays in one’s emotional intelligence.  Researchers like Daniel Goleman, Ruevan Bar-On and others have shown that emotional intelligence can be developed.  In this respect, what Pink had to say is good news for everyone because we can all work on becoming more empathetic.

The part of Pink’s information that may not be such good news for me and others like me is that he thinks that, as you can see from the title of his book, right-brainers will rule the world.  Before reading any further, you might want to take this right or left brain quiz to find out your type.  I’ll let you know that I received a 2 which means I am strongly left-brained.  Not much right-brained thinking going on here!

 

via google.com

To define the difference between left and right-brained, think of it this way:  Left-brainers are sequential, logical and analytical.  Right-brainers are non-linear, intuitive and holistic.

His theory supports that those with a high N or Intuitive personality type in the Myers-Briggs type indicator (MBTI) may be the ones who rule the world.  The N is the opposite of the S or Sensing personality who uses their senses rather than intuition in their processing of information.  In my training to become a qualified Myers Briggs instructor, I learned quite a bit about the differences between the personality types assigned by the MBTI. One of the main things researchers have found is that your MBTI results don’t change much over time.  It’s about preferences . . . .like whether you prefer to write with your right or your left hand. Think of the MBTI results as your preferences for how you obtain information and this won’t change.  So if you are an intuitive or an “N”, you will always be an intuitive and if you are a sensor or “S”, you will always be a sensor.  Some people may be very close to the middle of the scale between S and N and so their results won’t be as cut and dry as they may find their type changes slightly when they take the MBTI.

Dichotomies
Extraversion (E) – (I) Introversion
Sensing (S) – (N) Intuition
Thinking (T) – (F) Feeling
Judgment (J) – (P) Perception
via en.wikipedia.org

In our book, It’s Not You It’s Your Personality, Toni Rothpletz and I gave several examples of famous people with different MBTI results.  The qualities of the right-brainer, as described by Pink, fall very much into the category of the “N” or intuitive personality portion of the 4 letter type given by MBTI. What is interesting to me is that less than half of people have an “N” or intuitive personality type according to Myers-Briggs MBTI which is close to the about 50% figure experts say are right-brained.

If our type is pretty much set in stone, then 50% of us aren’t going to rule the world!  I guess I am OK with that.  However, I do take solace in knowing that my MBTI personality type, ESTJ, accounts for l0-12% of the population and of that population some very big names also share that type including Sam Walton, creator of WalMart.  He may not have ruled the world, but he came pretty darn close.

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Dwight Schrute is an Obsessive Pleaser: It’s Not You It’s Your Personality Gives Readers Insight into What Makes People Tick

PRweb Press Release – It might be obvious that Dwight Schrute is a control freak. But, who knew that Chris Rock was an introvert? Understanding how to read personalities is important according to mother and daughter co-authors, Dr. Diane Hamilton and Toni Rothpletz. They blow the lid off what many thought they knew about personalities in their latest book: It’s Not You, It’s Your Personality. This is the ultimate handbook for understanding the inner-workings of not just celebrities—but co-workers, friends and family. Chris Rock, like many celebrity comedians is, indeed, an introvert according to a popular personality test. Are people prepared to work with the Rock and Schrute personalities of the world? Hamilton and Rothpletz help answer some important personality quandaries like this as well as: How should people interact with introverts? Does the boss’s birth order matter? How does one climb the corporate ladder of success by developing emotional intelligence?

There’s no question that Diane and Toni are the type of authors that readers would want to hang out with. It’s Not You, It’s Your Personality is as fun of a read as the title dictates. It takes readers on a journey through the many ways one can analyze personalities. Along the way, a lot is learned about the personalities of celebrities, coworkers, friends and family. The Myers-Briggs personality test, also created by a mother-daughter team, indicates Ari Gold of “Entourage” fame has the personality trait of a “thinker.” Though not all thinkers are cold-hearted, the “thinker” is all business. There is no time to worry about how others are reacting. Truly, however, even Ari has a soft side—or viewers wouldn’t continue watching. People, including Ari, have different personality preferences. Even a “thinker” may sometimes be a “feeler,” depending on the circumstances.

“With It’s Not You, It’s Your Personality we are taking what would normally be a tough topic to address—personalities—and making it fun and light-hearted,” says co-author Dr. Diane Hamilton, “The celebrities we know and love are out there to analyze, so why not have fun with the personality name game?”

It’s Not You, It’s Your Personality is geared toward the new generation of workers, those generally born in the late 70s and beyond who are currently in the workforce. This generation, dubbed by Hamilton and Rothpletz as the “NewGens,” is taking a large chunk of the job force as baby boomers are set to retire. As cited in the book, companies far and wide are now trying to find new ways to train and interact with the NewGens. Personality tests abound. Which ones are the right ones? How can these assessments be used for success?

“We recommend that you get a jump start on knowing your place in the office environment before you land that job,”says co-author Toni Rothpletz, “There are plenty of free tests out there. Being ready to deal with people is half the battle at any job on a day to day basis. By giving celebrity examples of personalities in our book, our hope was to better explain people’s individual preferences, while still entertaining the reader.”

There is a noted severe uniqueness of very strong personalities in the NewGen community. Even with the advent of technology, people are the most valuable asset. Turnover costs money. Hiring the wrong person (or personality) costs money. Job hunters that know themselves the best, are setting themselves up for success because ultimately how they handle themselves on a day-to-day basis is what will get them ahead in the long term.

So what about the personality preferences of Chris Rock, Ari Gold or Dwight Schrute? Bottom-line is it doesn’t matter the personality—certain things cannot be changed. However, the way people interact can be changed. Knowing one’s strengths and weaknesses is the key to advancing from even the seedling of a career.

To find out more about their writing or to schedule an interview, visit Dr. Hamilton’s website at https://drdianehamilton.com or her blog at http://drdianehamilton.wordpress.com/.

Review copies are available.

It’s Not You It’s Your Personality –December, 2010 ($19.95/Amazon). ISBN: 9780982742839 Approximately 220 pages

Rebecca Crowley – PR Contact – 649-619-1178

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