Harnessing the power of personality type through MBTI Certification

Posted 24 July 2023 by
Melissa Summer & Kevin Wood, The Myers-Briggs Company
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6 min. read

In modern workplaces, the importance of effective leadership and cohesive teams cannot be overstated.

As organizations strive for success, they’re increasingly recognizing the value of understanding individual personalities to improve leadership development and team building. One widely used tool in the domain of psychometric assessments is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) assessment.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a well-established, scientifically-validated psychometric tool that categorizes individuals into one of 16 personality types based on four key dimensions: Extraversion (E) vs. Introversion (I), Sensing (S) vs. Intuition (N), Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F), and Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P).

Leadership development with the MBTI tool

One of the most popular applications of the MBTI tool is for leadership development, because effective leadership begins with self-awareness.

Understanding one's MBTI personality type allows leaders to recognize their strengths, weaknesses, and communication styles. Armed with this knowledge, they can adapt their leadership approach to suit diverse team members and foster a more inclusive environment. They’re also better able to understand where their own preferences might bias how they take in information and make decisions. With this knowledge, leaders can make sure those naturally occurring blind spots won’t hinder their growth or their team’s success.

Leadership also requires good communication skills.

Different personality types prefer distinct communication styles. For instance, those who prefer Extraversion usually thrive in team discussions and brainstorming out loud, while Introverted types usually prefer written communication. By recognizing these preferences, leaders can tailor their communication to ensure a clear and effective exchange of ideas.

Conflict is inevitable in any organization. But leaders who comprehend their team members' personality types are better equipped to address conflicts more constructively. They can navigate disagreements with empathy, patience, and respect, creating a healthier and more harmonious work atmosphere. And conflict becomes depersonalized when you’re talking about differences in personality type.

Team Building with the MBTI tool

In addition to leadership development, team development is also a very popular way to use the MBTI tool.

Teams consist of individuals with unique talents and approaches to work. The MBTI assessment helps team members embrace this diversity and understand that different perspectives contribute to the overall success of the team.

In addition, effective communication lies at the heart of successful teamwork.

When team members understand each other's communication preferences through the MBTI framework, misunderstandings are reduced, and collaboration becomes more seamless.

Lastly, as with leaders, teams may encounter conflicts due to differing opinions, approaches, and ways to solve problems. MBTI insights facilitate conflict resolution by encouraging members to empathize with one another's viewpoints and find common ground. It gives people an objective language to speak to differences that often cause conflict.

Personality assessments like the MBTI assessment are powerful tools that promote self-awareness, empathy, and collaboration within an organization. In leadership development, understanding one's personality type fosters effective communication, conflict resolution, and team building. In team dynamics, the MBTI framework helps team members appreciate diversity of thought and work cohesively towards shared goals.

Getting certified to use the MBTI assessment

Obtaining certification to use the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment is a necessary step in being able to deeply understand the assessment and how best to harness the advantages it has for individuals, leaders and teams. The MBTI tool is a psychometric tool that provides valuable insights into personality types and how individuals perceive the world and interact with others. Here's why certification is essential:

Ensuring accuracy and validity: MBTI certification ensures that practitioners have undergone rigorous training and understand the theoretical foundations, scoring methods, and interpretation guidelines of the assessment. This is essential for accurately administering the MBTI assessment and interpreting the results. In addition, it minimizes the risk of misinterpretation or misapplication.

Ethical considerations: Understanding and adhering to ethical standards is vital when working with any psychological tool. Certified professionals are trained to handle sensitive information with confidentiality and to respect the privacy and rights of the individuals being assessed. They are also equipped to avoid any potential misuse or harm that could arise from misusing the assessment results.

Interpreting complexity: The MBTI assessment delves into the complexities of personality, and its results can be multi-faceted. Certified MBTI practitioners possess the expertise to guide individuals and organizations through the nuanced interpretations of the MBTI, offering meaningful insights and facilitating personal and professional growth.

Tailored guidance: MBTI certification empowers users to provide personalized and tailored guidance to their clients or team members. Understanding the unique combinations of personality preferences and how each of those preferences interact with each other allows certified professionals to craft personalized development plans and communication strategies that cater to each individual's needs and strengths.

Validating professional credibility: MBTI certification enhances the credibility of practitioners in the field of psychology, coaching, leadership development, and human resources. Organizations and individuals are more likely to trust and seek the services of certified professionals. In doing so, they know that they’ve undergone comprehensive training and possess the expertise to use the assessment effectively.

Maximizing benefits: Utilizing online quizzes that give you a four-letter type but aren’t backed by the science, research and validity of the MBTI assessment can lead to inaccurate results with incorrect interpretations, ineffective interventions, and potential harm to individual’s and team’s development progress. By getting MBTI certified, practitioners can confidently apply the MBTI framework to its fullest potential, ensuring that its benefits are maximized for personal growth, enhanced communication, and improved team dynamics.

Becoming certified to use the MBTI assessment is essential for professionals seeking to harness the full potential of this powerful psychometric tool. Certification guarantees accuracy, ethical practice, and the ability to provide tailored guidance.

Educating the others on the benefits of MBTI certification

While you may be ready to get MBTI certified, your manager or others may not be convinced of the benefits to the organization yet.

Below is a sample letter that you can copy and tailor to fit your needs if you’d like to share with others the many benefits that using the MBTI assessment can bring to your leaders, your teams, and your company.

Subject: Myers-Briggs Certification Program

To:

From:

Re: Myers-Briggs Certification Program

I’ve been thinking about our in-house training and development programs, especially regarding our strategic priority of [insert specific topic from organization’s people-development strategy].

Could I recommend a resource to help us achieve these goals?

It’s the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®)—a personality assessment that organizations in all kinds of sectors use to develop teams, leaders, and individuals, manage stress, increase inclusion, and more.

It helps people identify strengths in themselves and others so they can work better together and improve performance. See how it works.

Using and administering the assessment requires certification. So, to be able to use it, we’d need to hire an external practitioner or get a/an [insert name of organization] employee certified to use it.

I’d very much like to be considered for attending MBTI certification and becoming the MBTI practitioner within [insert name of organization], please.

If this was approved, we’d be able to use the MBTI assessment as the foundation for our development programs, both in the short term and the long term. This will:

On a personal note, I’d be thrilled to use this certification to help [insert name of organization] achieve our goals and continue my own career development.

The next available dates are [insert next two available dates]. What do you think? Could we meet to discuss this?

Until we meet, here are a couple of MBTI stats pulled from The Myers-Briggs Company website:

Kind regards,

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