MBTI

New research from The Myers-Briggs Company shares how MBTI® personality type affects views on sustainability and environmentally-focused organizations.

Delivery nurses and midwives find their voice and better leadership skills to improve patient experience on a large scale, online, in this case study

What is the MBTI Step II and what are facets? Learn more about uncovering the DNA of personality type in this blog.

Learn where interests and personality type combine to improve career planning 

If people think ability is innate, it could be holding them back

New research sends clear message to team leaders

How to decide if and when to include personality assessments in the selection proces

There are many psychological factors that affect team success. This article helps managers and leaders understand how those factors affect performance – and why the MBTI personality assessment is one of the best opportunities for growth.

In the workplace, there are hidden elements that can make or break team success. This blog post helps managers and leaders understand the importance of team orientation – and the role inclusive leadership plays in boosting it.

New research explores team performance, job satisfaction, and the role of personality type

In this post we explore practical strategies for improving team communication and recommend tips to improve how team members interact on the job.

What are the biggest challenges people face working across cultures? Listen to this episode of The Myers-Briggs Company Podcast with Frank Garten, cross-cultural expert and global leadership trainer to learn how to mitigate cultural challenges and improve communication.

In the ever-evolving landscape of HR and training and development, organizations are recognizing the significance of assessments in unlocking individual and team potential. Among these assessments, the Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation^™ (FIRO^®) assessment stands out as a powerful tool for team development and leadership growth.

In this episode of The Myers-Briggs Company Podcast, we’re joined by Dr. Marta Koonz, Principal Consultant for The Myers-Briggs Company, as she walks us through insights around using psychological needs to better work relationships and improve teamwork.

What can you do with an MBTI certification? Learn more about popular applications of the MBTI tool like leadership and team development, and why becoming an MBTI certified practitioner could be your best professional investment.   

See the latest news coverage of The Myers-Briggs Company personality assessments and articles featuring our in-house experts and psychologists, including links to all third-party sites.   

Stress can affect a leader’s approach to risk which is strongly tied to investment and business strategy. But if a leader knows how their personality type affects their natural approach to risk-taking, as well as what stresses them out in the first place, they’re less likely to react to stress by making poor decisions.

You may have heard or read things about the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator^® (MBTI^®) assessment that cause you to question its validity. Here, we’ll address some of the most common criticisms and misconceptions, and answer some common questions about the assessment.

How do essential skills help organizations adapt to uncertainty and disruptive change? 

We all have some introverted and some extraverted parts of ourselves, but according to the theory of personality types on which the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator^® assessment is based, ambiverts don't exist.

Where did the MBTI assessment and The Myers-Briggs Company pop up in the news last year? Check out these top articles… 

What does inclusion look like for executives and the people they lead? 

How can MBTI personality type help strengthen relationships? Do people with the same type get along better? Listen to this episode of The Myers-Briggs Company Podcast to find out! 

The world has been flattened by technology and working across county and cultural borders is now the norm. But can you use the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment across borders? Here’s what you should know.  

New research and data shows how different personality types approach conflict. But what does it mean for Introverted types? 

Research shows that Introverted types handle conflict differently that those preferring Extraversion. Here’s how…

Paying closer attention to employee needs is the way to make remote, in-office, and hybrid teams function better

Conflict can be positive. New data and tips help you learn how to manage it.

If conflict management is something you dread, here’s how to start turning it around

How does a skincare giant smooth out the wrinkles of organizational change?

Dr. Martin Boult shares his expertise on leadership and connection in this episode of The Myers-Briggs Company Podcast.

What should leaders be aware of about these well-known personality differences?

If not, you might be part of a hybrid strategy that’s about to fail.

As employees return to the office, they’re expecting more flexibility in their social contracts with employers. How can HR help?

For diversity to thrive, inclusion is a must.

How FIRO helps people to build trust in their relationships, improve morale and reduce stress in the workplace.

Change is inevitable. And as the hybrid workplace becomes a new normal for many organizations, it brings specific benefits and challenges to managing uncertainty and successfully implementing change initiatives.

HR professionals get insight into team dynamics, individual strengths and more with potential leaders when using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment.

Are your employees stressed about the holidays? Help them recognize their stress triggers and better manage stress with better understanding of their personality type

How can personality assessments like the MBTI tool help teams work together more effectively and understand each other better?

The author of 5 Dysfunctions of a Team shares his insights on the MBTI assessment for individual and team development...

What happens at the intersection of race, type and leadership? 

Does personality impact survivor syndrome?

Teams and Google’s Project Aristotle

Women form half of the UK population, yet less than 5% of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are female.  In 2018, only 6.3% of heads of state were female and most nations have never had a female leader.  What’s more, there are fewer female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies than there are male CEOs named James.  Plain old-fashioned sexism could be part of the reason for this, but other factors have been suggested.  Women are more likely than men to have a more interpersonally or...

MBTI Step II facets and the holiday season

Our commitment to reducing our impact on the environment

Want to stop people speaking to each other? Put them in an open-plan office

Gill Coombs, writer and career coach, shares her thoughts on Idealists and activism

Are introverts being limited by misconceptions?

How MBTI Step II facets affect our attitude to new experiences

In light of Stress Awareness Month, OPP Lead Consultant Helen Rayner asks what we mean by ‘awareness’.

How can two people with the same type be so different? Mike Moss explores MBTI type and why we sometimes feel at odds with our best fit.

Did you make a plan to get fit this year? John Hackston looks at the interaction between MBTI type and exercising preferences.

What does your MBTI type have to do with your enjoyment at Christmas? We conducted research to find out.

Do people with different type preferences use the same or different methods to develop their self-awareness?

Continue to explore research around self-awareness – this time focusing on the role of your MBTI type.

Research results are in! How do people benefit from improved self-awareness and how do they get there?

How does your MBTI type impact your well-being? See what the research says. 

Three tips to improve well-being in your organisation

Reflections on the first 18 months of an MBTI practitioner.

The goal of type development should not be equal strength in all the preferences, but to have behavioural flexibility.

How do you show your appreciation and thanks of other people? 

How do you show your appreciation and thanks of other people? 

How you can gain instant insight from colourful MBTI type resources.

How to use research to create MBTI solutions: this post looks at leadership accountability gaps

Any MBTI type can do any job and bring different strengths to the table

Gender, leadership and the pressure of organisational culture

Modern leadership in the context of core activities, blind spots and actions for results.

Exploring the MBTI Thinking-Feeling Step II facets in the context of Brexit

John Hackston explores recent OPP research. 

Myers, Briggs and International Women’s Day

Which MBTI book will you add to your collection this World Book Day?

It must be love

Research Study exploring leadership strengths through the lens of Type

Did you miss some of the most popular content from last year?

Exploring the glass ceiling using MBTI data.

What does MBTI Type impact when it comes to Christmas? We conducted research to find out...

Get the most from the MBTI assessment when coaching individuals.

Raising awareness of challenges to early Type development that we can all consider and explore

Research based tips for more effective email communication between different MBTI personality Types.

Using the MBTI framework to form effective communications during these strange, unknown and stressful times. 

How do different MBTI Types use and feel about email? We explore some recent research to see what we can learn

Looking for an easy to implement icebreaker? Bingo!

Answering three common challenges to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator 

Celebrate the summer of sport by downloading your MBTI Type sport tile

Personality, gender stereotypes and leadership

Damian Killen reveals the role MBTI Type has on successful influencing

Cycling-inspired tips for team and leadership development

Penny Moyle reflects on an inspiring MBTI user event

Change is afoot...

A robot workforce with personality? Where does the MBTI framework fit in?

To celebrate Chelsea Flower Show and the #greeninggreybritain theme, we've reimagined each MBTI Type as a garden.

How knowing your MBTI Type and Core Character can help you recover from stress

How the FIRO tool adds so much value to any MBTI coaching session

Inside-Outside Typies - a new way to explore Type dynamics by combining Typies and Core Characters

One of America’s most respected trainers in the MBTI framework shares his thoughts

Ever wondered why and how we create the Fun MBTI Type Tables?

How can we make it easier to talk about the real power of MBTI: Type dynamics?

Fun this Valentine's with MBTI Type - what's yours?

The power of persuasion in the context of MBTI Types - how do they differ?

CEO Penny Moyle shares a refreshing response...

This post explores Richard's experience in struggling to decide on his best-fit Type and how he finally felt comfortable with his preference for Thinking.

Tuesday 15th December is International Tea Day so we're celebrating the 16 MBTI Types in the form of our favourite hot beverage. Which Tea Type are you?

We all know that there’s only one Santa Claus ... or is there? Our fun Type table suggests there may be a few more! Which one would you like to come to your house this Christmas Eve? Take a look at our festive table and download your individual Santa Type here.

Alexis Hutson, professional coach and mentor, shares her experience of using MBTI Step II for team development. A great example of the differences between Step I and Step II.

Aidan Millar explores how coaches can help clients flex between operating with their natural MBTI preferences and outside them when necessary. 

Quick fixes are great, but what about a long-term solution to managing stress?

If the goal of the MBTI assessment is to establish best-fit Type, why bother with the questionnaire?

Great feedback exercise for practitioners, helping to convey the brilliance of the MBTI framework.

No-one likes open plan offices, so what can we do about it? Check out this research-based advice.

The employment market seems to be improving, which is good news for jobseekers but not necessarily for employers; having more jobs available means that there are more opportunities for workers to leave. All the more important, then, that managers don’t give their people that extra incentive to start looking elsewhere. Here are five of the most common ways in which managers can (and unfortunately do) alienate their staff.

I am coaching the CEO of a large charity. He’s 55 and has been in his job for nine years. He looks grey and anxious, slumping in his chair. “I’m tired of my team treating me like their parent. It’s hard enough being a parent at home. I’m exhausted, our funding is under threat, I don’t think I want to do this job any more”. He tells me readily that he’s been what he calls ‘psychometrified’ many times; but he’s never taken the FIRO- B assessment...

This is the second posting based on Jean Kummerow’s keynote presentation at OPP’s MBTI User’s Conference on 16 June 2015. The first post gave background on the ‘Four Crucial Cs’ Adlerian model. This second part describes how to use type within that model.

As you already know, the practice of Coaching has many iterations and even several definitions. The one I like to use is “a method of assisting individuals to improve their performance in some area”, from Davison & Gasiorwski in the 2006 Journal of Individual Psychology. That definition encompasses so much of what we do with personality type.

What's your idea of the perfect break? This holiday Type table looks at 16 vacations custom-made for each of the MBTI Types.

How do chefs create dishes spectacular enough to earn Michelin stars? And what can we do to encourage that same ground-breaking creativity within our organisations? At our MBTI^® User Conference last week, MBTI expert and co-author of Introduction to Type and Innovation, Damian Killen provided some really interesting insight into how Type influences the ideas we’re attracted to and how we respond throughout the innovation process.

As an OPP Consultant, I work with many teams across a wide variety of sectors and industries. I was recently talking to a client, herself an L&D practitioner, who asked me about my approach to team coaching – in  particular what my ‘top tips’ were for ensuring that the work had impact and made a real difference to how the team functions. This got me thinking about the key elements involved.

Few people would argue against the concept of thought leadership. Not listening to the views of leaders in our field, or ignoring ideas for better ways of doing things, is hardly a recipe for success. However, individual opinion leaders don’t always get it right, and the catch is that those who sound most confident in their pronouncements aren’t necessarily the most accurate.

Well, not necessarily. But it is true that her demise could have been attributed to an all-too-common Sensing blind spot: a failure to quickly and accurately recognise how facts and present realities connect to a bigger picture – and often, a very meaningful one.

Whether or not you are a sales professional, and even if you don’t see selling as part of your job, there are times when everyone needs to influence or persuade. OPP recently worked with a regional sales team in a financial services organisation to help them become more successful. The same techniques we applied there can easily be adapted to create more persuasive communication for anyone – not just sales people.

Last week, I had the pleasure of joining an MBTI Step II qualification workshop for the first time in several years. This revamped workshop incorporates several new ideas to help practitioners to engage their clients in MBTI in general, and the Step II instrument in particular.

People make decisions largely on the basis of intuition and emotion. We might like to think otherwise, but it’s true. Even the most logical and rational amongst us find our cognitive functioning heavily influenced by a broad range of both positive and negative emotions.

Think of your MBTI Type and let your personality flower! We've re-imagined each of the 16 Types as colourful elements of the herbaceous border. If you were receiving MBTI feedback from Monty Don, Alan Titchmarsh or Charlie Dimmock, it might look something like this...

Many leaders leave much of their ‘true’ personality at home and try to present themselves at work in the way they think a leader should operate. Leaders absorb these ‘should’ models of leadership from how they see leaders behaving around them (for good or ill), as well as from hoping to emulate leaders generally held up as great: eg Churchill, Branson, etc. On top of this, over the years leadership courses have advocated different styles of leadership, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Leaders can feel they should be all things to all men; but isn’t it better for leaders to just be themselves, natural and authentic, whether at home or in the workplace?

This world of ours is changing. That’s hardly an earth-shattering statement. What’s less obvious is that change is happening more and more quickly – it’s difficult to visualise what the world will be like in five years time, still less in 10, 20 or 30 years. And yet this is what organisations need to do. Today’s new entrants, graduates and management trainees will be tomorrow’s leaders, and we need to prepare them for the challenges ahead.

Coaching has always been an important part of the L&D service that OPP’s consultancy offers. It’s also the mainstay of the practice for many of our independent practitioner customers. Why is there such a demand? In short, organisations need their leaders to develop a great range of responses to the challenges they face, and to develop greater psychological resilience. Additionally, many organisations are seeking to develop coaching skills among line managers, knowing that this too can have a significant and positive impact on organisational performance.

Visits to our Personality Matters blog were at an all-time high in 2014, and we covered a wide range of topics in our weekly posts. Over the last 12 months we've talked about the best MBTI-based books and the various resources available for L&D teams. We’ve promoted Movember, and we’ve commented on the Paul Flowers furore. We've also continued to thrive as thought leaders in a diverse range of workplace psychology issues, from recruitment and assessment centres to polarity management. But what are the top five posts that readers have returned to again and again?

I love MBTI Step II. My first consulting role working with the MBTI framework was for an HR consultancy that always used the MBTI Step II assessment in preference to MBTI Step I. So I got to know it really well, really quickly and although I always use my Step II knowledge to underpin conversations with people who have only completed MBTI Step I, I never find it as satisfying as being able to get into the depth that one can reach with MBTI Step II insights.

If you were Santa, how would you approach the job? Our festive type table makes some type-based, tongue-in-cheek suggestions.

To celebrate the launch of the new shop we thought it would be useful to highlight the most popular resources that have been purchased through our online ordering during 2014. These are the items that our customers find most useful (along with the many popular reports ordered by practitioners via OPPassessment). How many of them are in your portfolio of essential resources?

Time. An ethereal concept, or a real resource? Something elastic, or an uncompromising task master? Sometimes there seems to be too much of it, and at other times never enough. Our relationship with time is one that travels with us through the stages of life and helps us to get things done .... or not… or eventually! Do we live in the future, the past, or the here and now? And what about the person next to you? You are both here and now, but are you really?

Training aids that are memorable and that bring clarity to descriptions of MBTI^® type are like gold dust. One of the commonest questions I come across in the various MBTI-related Linked In groups, including OPP’s own OPP Qualified Practitioners, is the plea for good exercises to help illustrate the MBTI preferences and dichotomies.

The point of bringing more fun into MBTI development is to help create impact and make the learning memorable. In order for people to get lasting value from their MBTI experience, we need these concepts to ‘stick’; to be something they take away from the training room and can come back to time and again. With this in mind, we’ve created Typies™.

Twenty years ago when I first started using MBTI in management development work, training room props were thin on the ground. I would often lead a development session armed with nothing more exotic than flip charts and masking tape for ‘living type table’ exercises.

In the second of our blog posts looking at 20 invaluable books about MBTI^® and type, we review another ten titles that have impressed MBTI practitioners or been a key support in their work with the MBTI assessment. As with the first batch, the books featured here are listed in no particular order, and comments are from individual reviewers who responded to our request for reviews on the Linked In group OPP Qualified Professionals.

L&D is a serious business. Get it right, and you can transform an organisation, propelling it to high performance. Get it wrong, and the consequences can be dire.

One of the criticisms that people often level at the MBTI questionnaire is that it ‘puts you in a box’. MBTI practitioners, however, know that this isn’t true – although we will have many similarities to people of the same type, there are also many ways in which we are unique. Whatever our underlying psychological type, we have all been brought up in different environments, and this will have a big influence on our personality and behaviour too.

Which books about MBTI^® and type have had the biggest impact on practitioners? We posted this question on the Linked In group OPP Qualified Professionals earlier this year, to discover the titles that had most impressed and inspired practitioners or been a key support in their work with the MBTI assessment. Twenty books rose to the top of the pile. Here are the first ten – in no particular order – with comments from the individual reviewers.

We love hearing the ‘aha!’ or ‘lightbulb’ moments when individuals experience the profound insights that the MBTI framework can bring. We know that these insights can lead to increased awareness, such as valuing the diversity of people’s views, or developing a more flexible approach to working with others. However, are anecdotal reports of great impact enough to convince us as consultants, and our community of qualified practitioners, that MBTI interventions are in fact worthwhile investments?

Reflecting on the fantastic sporting prowess displayed at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, we wondered which sports best capture the essence of each MBTI type. Here’s what we came up with - what do you think? Please feel free to share alternative suggestions!

With the World Cup upon us, the prospect of hearing about little else on the news for the next six weeks and seeing very little of my husband for the duration, I wondered if type might have anything to do with why some of us really aren’t enamoured of the “beautiful game”. So, I give you this type table. Please take it with a large pinch of salt: if you don’t like football you’ll probably agree with many of the statements. Whatever you do, don’t use it to work out what your type is! If you want to know that, take the MBTI questionnaire! I’d love it if you have other type-related reasons you’d like to share. I’d also really like to put together a table of reasons why each type loves football, but I’m afraid you football fans are going to need to help me out...

Few things in life are free – but OPP has some really cool free resources to support you in your work! To help celebrate our 25 years in the business, we’ve taken a trawl through the various goodies available for zero outlay on our website. They range from white papers and feedback materials to fun quick guides and infographics – many of which can also be found on our practitioner downloads page.

Think of your MBTI type... and then re-imagine it as a type of shoe! There are more possibilities than you'd think: cosy slippers or feisty firefighter's footwear? Boots for exploring other worlds or flip flops made of fish? Have fun with your type using our latest type table!

If your MBTI type was a drink, what would it be? A fiery flaming sambuca or a complex vintage wine? An irrepressible energy drink or a zen green tea? Discover your type tipple with our alternative type table!

I once travelled a lot with an INFP. As an ESTJ, our styles were quite different. I would notice, for example, that we could be within two blocks of the hotel and he would have no clue as to how to get there, yet he would never admit he was lost nor would he ask for directions. Perhaps this was a guy thing, but perhaps it was a type thing, too!

The blog has been increasing in popularity over the last year. We've celebrated 70 years of the MBTI system with posts on best practice, ethics and the diversity of applications; we've blogged about topical events such as the horsemeat scandal, the European elections and Andy Murray's Wimbledon win; and we've continued to thrive as thought leaders in a diverse range of workplace psychology issues, from stress to benchmarking to onboarding and retention. But what are the top five posts that have kept readers coming back again and again?

Introducing people to the MBTI instrument is the highlight of my role at OPP. Friends question me if I’m bored training the same content over and over, but I’m still passionate and excited to do it. Every workshop is different, as every delegate comes to a deeper understanding of personality preference in terms of what it means to them, and experiences their own personal ‘light bulb’ moments. However, the danger with training the same topic is that we might lapse into our favourite or most comfortable ways of training, and not keep up with the latest thought leadership about how people learn. I imagine MBTI practitioners running team events or group feedbacks have the same challenge.

You’ve tripped over the tinsel, you’ve eaten too many mince pies and you’re the only one who came to the office Christmas party dressed as an elf. Cheer yourself up by feeling all smug about your MBTI^® knowledge, and carry on counting down to the holidays.

Some people leave their Christmas shopping until the last minute, while others have had everything sorted since the previous January sales. Some enjoy working through their Christmas lists amongst the buzz of high street shoppers, while others prefer facing the Christmas consumer blow-out online.

According to a recent CIPD report, job turnover has slowed significantly over the past 15 years. This means that, in general, people are choosing to stay in their current roles rather than make voluntary exits (ie resignations and retirement). On the surface it might appear to be nothing but good news for an organisation that much-valued members of staff are choosing to stay. However, for this to be a wholly positive trend, people need to be staying put for the right reasons...

The MBTI tool is the world's most popular personality assessment. So why do so many people think it's so great? Our snazzy new infographic is all about the myriad of benefits that make the MBTI process so powerful - free to download, share and shout about!

Email communication is notoriously prone to misunderstanding. Deceptively informal, it lacks the richness of face-to-face communication. I’ve just experienced this myself (again): I sent what I thought was a clear and straightforward email, which was perceived by the recipient as pointed and critical. It has taken several voice-to-voice conversations to clarify and mend fences. I don’t know about you, but I need all the help I can get to avoid my emails causing conflict and confusion.

One of the differences we often talk about between Thinking types and Feeling types is their approach to a 'problem'.  Usually Thinking types want to fix or solve the problem, and Feeling types prefer first that someone just listen and offer empathy. They are both showing how they 'care', but do so in very different ways.

There aren’t many things we can be certain of in life: death, taxes (well, for most of us), and the sure and certain knowledge that every few months, someone will publish an article revealing the secrets of how awful the MBTI tool is. The latest spat began as a post by the academic and test author Adam Grant. Of course, we couldn’t leave this uncorrected, and Rich Thompson of CPP (among others) posted a carefully reasoned riposte. Quick as a flash (am I being suspicious here, or was there something already half-prepared?), the reply came back.

What’s the link between neuroscience and MBTI® personality type? We look at how neuroscience (or its successor), along with your MBTI personality type, could help achieve an even greater understanding of what it means to be human.

We expect employees and teams with different MBTI preferences to manage time and, more importantly, attention in the same way. Yet our experience tells us that putting a colleague on a traditional time-management course won’t work, as habits, behaviours, values and preferences run deep and are often hidden from view.

I just got back from THE Myers-Briggs conference to be seen at, run by the Association of Psychological Type International (APTi). Held every two years, the 2013 event took place in steamy Miami last week. With a theme of Putting Type into Action, there were sessions to suit all tastes...

You go to a meeting, grab a bite to eat, or even run to the restroom, and yet it never sleeps: your email inbox. So you sit down with your computer or Blackberry and start hammering out replies rapid-fire. However, those emails can often be misinterpreted by the recipient, leading to confusion and miscommunication between colleagues. Could some of the confusion and miscommunication relate to psychological type? Could it be that the sender of the email has different type preferences than the reader? This would explain why miscommunication occurs so frequently through email.

Look on any search engine for “personality assessment” and you’ll be offered a whole raft of results: from providers of products and services for specific areas of development, to a mind-boggling array of online questionnaires offering to tell you all about your personality. Many of these assessments are free, and some even give you a four-letter type, which looks just like Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) information. So why should you use a qualified practitioner to administer the genuine article when you can access personality information so easily? Here are ten reasons why the MBTI assessment is the real deal.

When I speak to people who have ‘done the MBTI’, all too often all they can recall from their experience is their four-letter MBTI type (sometimes even that is a stretch!). The initial impact has been lost, and the ongoing learning that should have opened up after cracking their four-letter code has eluded them.

Finance departments in large organisations are often regarded with a degree of suspicion. They demand numbers and figures from everyone, and say “No” to requests for more resources. Like many finance functions, the one at the large international food manufacturer we were working with had mixed relationships with the business, and matters had been complicated both by the history of the business and the new corporate agenda.

Our guest blogger Joanne Weston, ICF Associate Certified Coach and MBTI^® practitioner, shares some practical tips for using the MBTI tool cross-culturally.

If you think stress is everywhere, you’re right! But do you know how to cut the seemingly inevitable tie between the stressors of modern life, and the type of distress that sends people off sick, off the radar or off the rails? Our infographic takes a peek.

If you’re an MBTI practitioner, you will already know how powerful the Myers-Briggs approach can be. You may well have seen first hand how it can drive long-lasting development across the whole employee lifecycle. I know that I personally, along with millions of others, have benefited enormously from returning to MBTI concepts over many years, and finding new and valuable perspectives to help me tackle the different life challenges that I’ve encountered. So it saddens me whenever I hear of people who have had less positive MBTI experiences.

According to a recent survey by training consultancy Cedar, publicised widely in the HR press, half of all UK employees say their organisation does not help them develop team-working skills. Twenty percent of respondents have never been in a meeting where team performance was discussed, and 37% say they would rather work alone. This last figure is directly linked to the paucity of effective team-work. At first glance this is a damning indictment of the state of British business. But is this really as shocking or dysfunctional as it seems on the surface?

I was recently asked to run a focused and pragmatic MBTI session with a team of nine sales managers in a very successful FMCG company. My brief: “They’ve been through MBTI before and they are bright go getters, so it needs to be impactful”. “No pressure there, then!” I thought.

Does your use of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media reflect your MBTI type? Who is most likely to use Facebook in their personal time vs their work time? And how does this compare to the most common type associated with LinkedIn users? This new infographic gives you all the answers!

As you may have heard, the MBTI questionnaire turns 70 this year; the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is a long way from retirement, however. It is a sprightly septuagenarian, able to draw on all the wisdom accumulated during those seven decades, yet still able to adapt and change.

When we asked some of our customers about their use of MBTI recently, we loved the positive responses and wanted to summarise the comments we received. Just as the MBTI instrument distils the complexity of personality into a simple framework for understanding people, word clouds distil large swathes of text into an intuitive visual image, helping you get to the core of a message. We’ve picked out a few of our favourite aspects of the word clouds that we developed from answers to the following questions about the world’s favourite personality assessment. We’d love to hear which your favourites are too.

It seems as if every time we look at a news bulletin at the moment, there is another twist on the horsemeat scandal. First horse was in supermarket ready meals, then in school dinners, and now pork, chicken and other substances seem to be getting in on the act. It is hardly surprising that we hear that people are turning to vegetarianism. Here at OPP, this made us reflect on what we know about ‘career vegetarians’ – the personality and characteristics of people who identified themselves as vegetarians before horsemeat hit the headlines.

Employers despair at how unprepared graduates are, and how ill-equipped they seem to be for taking control of their career paths and longer-term development. Modern companies expect individuals to be in the driving seat, to know themselves and to have a clear idea of what they want to achieve. And yet, without good career services in schools and colleges, how can young people get the insights and self-knowledge they so desperately need?

Get out the cake and candles, wrap the carefully chosen presents, prepare your singing voice: the MBTI questionnaire turns 70 this year! The Myers Briggs Type Indicator is the most well-known and trusted personality assessment in the world, so on the occasion of its 70th birthday, I’ve been reflecting on why it has such enduring appeal. At OPP, we’re proud to be experts in an assessment that is the biggest player in the market – and this doesn’t just happen overnight.

In December, our lives are dominated by Christmas. That, at least, is what TV, internet and high street window displays would have us believe. In the interests of glimpsing the truth behind the tinsel glitz and Christmas muzak, OPP carried out a survey a few years ago to see how people approached the various elements of the festive season.

In December, our lives are dominated by Christmas. That, at least, is what TV, internet and high street window displays would have us believe. In the interests of glimpsing the truth behind the tinsel glitz and Christmas muzak, OPP carried out a survey a few years ago to see how people approached the various elements of the festive season.

As you probably know, Isabel Briggs-Myers, author of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, saw personality as innate. Until recently, there has been little empirical data to link MBTI theory with biological processing, but new discoveries from neuroscience may be able to help us develop our understanding of personality differences – especially when it comes to the T–F preference pair.

The business world is a stressful place right now. Identifying and selecting those resilient professionals who take external pressures in their stride is one thing; but there are inherent dangers in relying solely on the resilience of individuals. Creating an environment that fosters resilience is a stronger long-term solution.

Guest blogger Kaveh Mir of Deep Values Coaching assesses the impact of conflict on organisations when senior leaders are at war. Workplace conflict, no matter how small, tends to divide individuals into distinct factions, much like nations or alliances in a war – especially when these factions are allied under one leader. Many of the differences that arise in the workplace can be seen as ‘turf wars’: that is, employees will come into conflict over responsibility, recognition, credit or blame. One party perceives that another party is infringing on their turf; the first party fires verbal shots, and war is engaged. Those outside the front lines choose sides, opting to stand behind one party or the other.

MBTI Step II provides the necessary depth that can bring clarity and insight to business and leadership development. Long time MBTI practitioner Niels-Peter Thoms extols the virtues of the instrument.

Using psychometrics in selection still polarises opinion. OPP's CEO Penny Moyle sets out to debunk some myths.

Type dynamics is all about the interaction of preferences. The sixteen MBTI types are a useful starting point, but it is these complex interactions that lead to the wide variations we see from person to person.

The MBTI tool gives powerful insights into personal preferences. However, an oversimplified understanding of Extraversion and Introversion can lead to misunderstanding and journalistic hot air.

The MBTI tool is a powerful and highly effective tool, as long as practitioners don't misunderstand its function. Jim Maxon is one of its many advocates, but he gets hot under the collar when the tool is misused.

A recent study examines the relationship between personality and how individuals maintained the benefits gained from taking annual leave.

No matter how good the personality assessment tool, if it is misused it will give a poor result.

It's easy to get stuck in a life rut, but knowing more about yourself can help you identify areas that need change.

Correlating the MBTI with the TKI assessment shows that certain personality traits predispose people to certain conflict modes.

There are ways to deal with conflict that can not only diffuse the situation, but turn a negative into a positive.

Other people tend to view us rather differently to how we view ourselves.

MBTI type dynamics can help us explain the candidates' actions over the last few weeks.

By Nancy Barger, MBTI trainer and author of Introduction to Type and Change.

There is a socially desirable bias towards extraversion in most western cultures.

What can the MBTI tool tell us about dating?

Stress is often amplified around the festive period. How can we reduce stress levels, both in ourselves, and others?

How many of us have really fully considered how our natural ways of interacting with others may impact the messages we convey?

A variety of strategies and different approaches can be used to ensure all members of a team are engaged.

The first in a series of tongue-in-cheek blog articles analysing what went on in BBC1’s The Apprentice - the gossip, the psychological insight, and the sheer blatant mockery. Get it all here!

Conflict is uncomfortable and seems counterproductive... But without conflict, do we risk brushing issues and opportunities under the carpet?