Making MBTI
Feedback more
memorable and
meaningful
® Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Myers-Briggs, MBTI and the MBTI
logo are registered trade marks of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Trust.
OPP Ltd is licensed to use the trade marks in Europe.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
Who am I?
Implementation and Development Manager at OPP
22 years’ experience in training and development.
Course manager for the MBTI Qualification workshop
throughout Europe for several years
Part of the project team involved in the recent redesign
of feedback materials in the UK.
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
Findings from 2012 CorpU research
CorpU (Corporate University Xchange) a global
leadership research firm recently completed a study
called “Leadership 2012”.
Included Volvo (Sweden) and Nokia (Finland) & 71 other
global companies
97% of these organisations said they were concerned
about leadership bench strength
One recommendation was to implement or update
existing Leadership Development Programmes
Source: http://www.corpu.com/leadership/leadership2012/
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
Challenge to today’s Leaders (themes)
Work is increasingly more complex
Knowledge & expertise more widely distributed within
organisations
Span of control increasing (more people managed with
fewer resources)
Increasingly diverse workforce to lead
Increasingly dispersed workforce (over different
continents and timezones)
Increasing pace of change
Leaders increasingly expected to influence stakeholders
outside traditional hierarchy
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
What are they Doing about it?
Over half of the companies surveyed by CorpU had
“completely” or “significantly” changed their
Leadership programmes in the last 2 years
McKinsey’s Lowell Bryan & Claudia Jones recently
commented in “Mobilizing Minds, Creating Wealth from
Talent in the 21st Century Organisation” that many
failing organisations aren’t refreshing their leadership
models
Is the MBTI still relevant to today’s Leaders?
Cue Supertramp!
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
What is effective Leadership?
Effective Leadership is still all
about behaviour
To enhance effectiveness, leaders
need to fully understand their
own behaviour
and to recognise and employ the
range of behaviours available to
them
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
So what are Leaders expected to do?
Setting a clear direction and vision N
and communicate it clearly S
Analysing management information T
and making good, consideredIdecisions J
Building relationships between all types of people
that engender trust and respect F
Being adaptable and open to change P
E
Being aware of their own and others’ strengths and
delegating successfully
Embracing diversity and encouraging healthy conflict
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
Blake & Mouton Managerial Grid
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
How can MBTI help?
While there are greater concentrations of certain Types
among leaders, growing evidence suggests no best Type
for a Leader
Best Leaders are aware of their own style and can
skillfully adapt to other styles when necessary
Leaders need to be authentic
Their time is precious – making feedback meaningful is
important
Conclusion : we need a new refreshing way of
delivering MBTI to encourage development of all
dichotomies
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
Recommended Improvements
More emphasis on applying all preferences effectively
and appropriately rather than over-emphasis on BestFit Type
More emphasis on bringing MBTI to life and linking with
business applications.
Go further: develop simple action plans for personal
development.
For each preference exercise or discussion, emphasise
individual development in both ends of the dichotomy
to give Leaders flexibility of behaviour.
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
New Style
MBTI® Step I
Feedback
© Copyright OPP Ltd 2012. All rights reserved. ® MyersBriggs Type Indicator, Myers-Briggs, MBTI and the MBTI
logo are registered trade marks of the MBTI Trust, Inc. in
the United States and other countries. OPP Ltd is licensed
to use the trade marks in Europe.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
Purpose is more important
Giving a greater focus on WHY an individual is
completing the MBTI at the beginning prevents the
“SO WHAT?” moment at the end
Encouraging individuals to “own” personal reasons
for doing MBTI leads them to look for relevant
applications themselves throughout the feedback
Recording these allows you to refer back to these
applications at the end of the feedback and suggest
further work with you
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
How a workbook can achieve this
On page 3 of the MBTI workbook
there is a list of nine areas where
the MBTI instrument can really add
value to performance.
Clients are encouraged to tick those
areas that especially apply to them
in their role.
On the next page they are
encouraged to further personalise
these issues
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
General application areas
Improving working relationships
Developing your leadership style
Improving communication
Improving problem-solving strategies
Resolving conflict
Managing change
Understanding stress reactions
Valuing diversity in working style
Considering team and organisational culture
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
Use of Colour
EXTRAVERSION
INTROVERSION
Where you prefer to get and focus your energy
SENSING
INTUITION
The kind of information you prefer to gather and trust
THINKING
FEELING
The process you prefer to use in coming to decisions
JUDGING
PERCEIVING
How you prefer to deal with the world around you
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
Exploring personal examples
In one to one feedbacks, the practitioner can use the
cards to encourage discussion of typical examples of
the MBTI dichotomies
In group feedback this is the biggest moment of
challenge – there is one of you and many of them –
how do you encourage a discussion of personal
examples and debrief these with MBTI expertise?
We need some way to give your clients the MBTI
expertise to ask and debrief open questions amongst
themselves without being dependent on you
Try using a structured exercise eg scratchcards
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
Scratchcards
Get into pairs and pretend you know nothing about
MBTI
Each person picks two scratchcards (one about work
and one about home).
Their partner discusses and probes each question
Then they both scratch off the silver spot on the side
that best fits their answer.
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
Recording personal examples
In the workbook, on page 15, there is space to make a
note of the exploration of Extraversion and Introversion
from the scratchcards.
For one to one feedback this will be a record of the
examples from the feedback cards.
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
Making it memorable
Giving people an actual experience of using BOTH poles
of the dichotomy will make it more memorable –
especially to kinaesthetic learners
Typical exercises are designed by splitting up the group
into two groups (eg Extraverts and Introverts) and
comparing their responses to an event or question
If we design exercises that encourage everyone to
experience BOTH preferences then it will have higher
impact
People who don’t know their Best Fit Type can benefit
as much as those who do!
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
Exercise to experience both E & I
Pick up five ‘talk tokens’ each.
As a group, choose a talk topic card from the pack.
Have a group discussion about your chosen topic.
Whenever you talk you must give up one token!
You should each aim to use all your talk tokens.
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
Debrief:
Not simply Es use up more tokens
Did you see both Extraversion and
Introversion in action?
Did you experience both yourself?
Encouraging clients to record any
interesting findings (eg page 15 of the
workbook) encourages a commitment
to act upon the findings
This should lead to further work with
your client 
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
Dealing with Reported Type
A more Adult approach to giving out Reported Type is
to not keep it secret until the end
Giving the individual Reported Type data as they are
considering each dichotomy allows a “Best Fit” of each
dichotomy as we go along
Page 16 of the workbook has E/I Reported Type written
in (by you beforehand!)
This has been copied from the MBTI report
The scale of preference score has been replaced by
boxes to avoid the idea of trait
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
Applying Extraversion and Introversion
After each dichotomy, encourage clients to apply their
learning to their roles at work.
The workbook could have a space for this
This will be especially important for Leaders as we have
already stressed that Leaders need to develop BOTH
sides of each dichotomy to be effective
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
Let’s see, if I distract
him with my rook, he’ll
never suspect I’m going
to pin his knight,
threaten his queen, and
force him to sacrifice
his bishop. He’ll never
notice my exposed king!
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
How come you
INTROVERTED cats
Checkmate!
beat me every time?
Luck?
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
The four dimensions of type
EXTRAVERSION
INTROVERSION
Where you prefer to get and focus your energy
SENSING
INTUITION
The kind of information you prefer to gather and trust
THINKING
FEELING
The process you prefer to use in coming to decisions
JUDGING
PERCEIVING
How you prefer to deal with the world around you
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
Exercise to experience S & N
This exercise involves discussing topics first in a Sensing
way, then in an iNtuitive way.
Clients will experience both but will find one (either S or
N) more easy to use and also to listen to
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
To me it
represents
the eternal
struggle to
survive in this
cruel world.
It’s a symbol of
despair, cruelty, and
hopelessness.
What does it
represent to you
Fluffy?
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Look!
A dead mouse!
A
tasty
snack!
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
The four dimensions of type
EXTRAVERSION
INTROVERSION
Where you prefer to get and focus your energy
SENSING
INTUITION
The kind of information you prefer to gather and trust
THINKING
FEELING
The process you prefer to use in coming to decisions
JUDGING
PERCEIVING
How you prefer to deal with the world around you
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
Exercise to “see things” both T & F
Wearing the glasses, look at the different scenarios
“through the eyes” of Thinking and Feeling.
Notice the different emphasis each preference places
on the same decisions. What do you notice are the
main differences in these different decision-making
styles?
Read the scenarios without glasses and notice how
much more well-rounded your responses would be if
you paid attention to both T and F!
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
Working Relationships
At work I like to be appreciated - recognised - for what I produce, who I am
as a person and what I put of myself into my role and my competence.
Constant encouragement from my boss can be sometimes motivating as it
sometimes shows they are interested in my contribution sometimes
intrusive and smothering, making me think that they don’t trust me.
I like to be appreciated - recognised - by experts who know what they’re
talking about, people who work closely with me and know about my
contribution in terms of motivating others knowledge and skills, particularly
those with status in the organisation.
If someone criticises me I sometimes don’t have time to ask “who are you
to criticise me?” If they are qualified to comment through expertise or
status I can feel immediately crushed as if I have been personally
attacked, I feel hurt. I will work hard to correct mistakes I may have made,
regain trust to improve my competence mend any damaged relationships.
I like to give others praise, constructive criticism because it motivates
others gives an opportunity to increase performance.
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
Soft
Subjective
Objective
Reasonable
TENDER
LOGICAL
Collaborative
Tough
Accepting
Task-focussed
CARING
Analytical
Detached
Compassionate
Critical
Warm
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
People-focussed
Questioning
Empathetic
HARD
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
Gnasher, the evil
Rottweiler has tied
me here!
X
HELP ME!
OVER HERE!
What’s the
problem?
HELP ME!
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
When the train comes
I’ll be squished!
Gosh! You must feel
awful. Don’t worry, I’ll go
and make you a lovely
cup of tea.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
The four dimensions of type
EXTRAVERSION
INTROVERSION
Where you prefer to get and focus your energy
SENSING
INTUITION
The kind of information you prefer to gather and trust
THINKING
FEELING
The process you prefer to use in coming to decisions
JUDGING
PERCEIVING
How you prefer to deal with the world around you
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
Exercise to experience both J & P
Collect a pack of modelling clay and share it out.
As a group, plan and build a model of a park.
You can only touch your own colour clay.
You have only 6 minutes
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
I know I said I’d take
you skiing, but the
surf’s up in Australia,
let’s go there
instead!
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
Pulling together your whole type
There is still great significance to understanding your
Best Fit Type so this is the place to do it
Your client will already have benefitted from applying
what they have learned, so if they can’t decide their
Best Fit it isn’t quite so bad
You will already have demonstrated the value of MBTI
(and the value that you have added of course!)
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
Action planning
Getting your client to write
down action plans
commits them to action
You could keep a record
and remind them at
agreed milestones
These actions could give
you a starting point to
suggest further work with
your clients
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
Introduction to Type®
Isabel Briggs Myers
Available in 11 European
languages
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
MBTI Step I application reports
Communication Style Report
Decision-making Style Report
Team Report (Swedish)
Conflict Style Report
Stress Management Report
Career Report
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
Relevant Resources
Just launching MBTI Interpretive Report for
Organisations in Finnish (already available in Swedish)
Introduction to Type and Leadership (English only)
Firo-B with MBTI Leadership report in English and
Swedish
Firo-B business Leadership report in English and
Swedish
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
Leave them with possible next steps
The back of the workbook shows possible next steps.
Why not create your own highlighting the services and
further resources you or Assessio can offer your clients
(eg coaching, Firo-B, TKI)?
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making MBTI feedback meaningful
Summary
Using colour, fun activities, cards, workbooks etc.
makes the experience more memorable
Using exercises and having discussions that explore
BOTH poles of a dichotomy allows full participation
from clients who are unsure of Best Fit Type and allows
even these to plan self-development
Making the whole feedback more meaningful will
engage your client right from the first meeting and help
them to see the value of working with you further
© Copyright 2012 OPP Ltd. All rights reserved.
Let the MBTI
framework help
you to make a
difference!