Based on the work of Myers-Briggs (Isabel Briggs Myers and Katherine Briggs) and on the personality classifications formulated by Carl Jung, personality style profiles (PSP) help us understand how our personality type affects the way we approach situations and how we may respond or behave and interact with others.
There are no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ profiles, it is completely non-judgmental, but understanding how personalities are simply ‘different’ to our own, rather than inconsiderate or wrong, can help us to work together.
What are the practical benefits?
Why display our personality types on our emails?
The Protective Visionary
A complex, caring individual whose primary mode of thinking is focussed internally, the INFJ is intuitive, creative and highly perceptive. Their secondary trait is externally focused, meaning they act upon things depending on how they feel about them personally.
Visionary and artistic, the INFJ lives in a world of infinite possibilities where there’s a hidden meaning to everything. Only one in a hundred people have an INFJ personality, making them the rarest type of all.
Working on instincts
The INFJ is happiest when things are happening in a systematic and orderly fashion around them. This applies to work as well as their personal life. Faced with a task that needs to be done, they focus on identifying the best way to achieve a solution, constantly balancing it against other priorities in their lives.
Conversely, the INFJ is also prone to acts of spontaneous intuition, placing enormous faith in their instincts. They instinctively know when something is right – although they can’t always say why – and will stick to their guns even if they only have a patchy grasp of the subject. This causes a conflict of interests between their inner and outer selves, which can reveal itself in the workplace as disorganisation or untidiness. Of all the Judging types, the INFJ is the one liable to have the untidiest desk.
The Psychic Sally of the group?
As explained, INFJs find it difficult to pinpoint what drives their intuitive side, which can be quite uncanny. In fact, some INFJs confess near-psychic experiences. For example, they will get a flash of insight about something that is going to happen to a friend from work – and then it does. However, they are unlikely to be very open about this in front of colleagues, especially those who are likely to question their intuition. Private individuals and highly protective of their inner feelings, INFJs are very careful about who they confide in and what they tell them.
The INFJ can be profoundly complex and difficult to understand. However, he or she can also be incredibly warm and caring, and will never deliberately set out to hurt anyone. They are sensitive to the feelings of others and hate conflict or tense situations, preferring to live a peaceful life. However, if a charged situation arises, INFJ types can become quite angry and volatile. They also tend to bottle up their emotions and can suffer through stress.
The stubborn perfectionist
The INFJ’s inclination to trust their own instincts can lead to frustration for colleagues, who may resent the way in which their own opinions are sometimes ignored. It is true that INFJs generally need to be right all the time. However, they can be their own worst enemy, instinctively feeling they are not achieving their full potential. They are never happy with their own accomplishments, and have high expectations of themselves and others. Subsequently, they find it hard to relax, constantly striving for improvement.
The positive traits of the INFJ personality, such as a protective and nurturing nature, come out in jobs which involve creativity and a certain degree of independence. They perform well in the arts and sciences, making good use of their intuitive skills, and also in service orientated roles. However, they do not take well to highly detailed tasks, either avoiding them completely or else doing the polar opposite by becoming meticulous about every tiny detail. If this happens, they can be highly critical of others who don’t share their high ideals.
In a nutshell, while the INFJ can find life hard work at times, they are a uniquely gifted individual with great potential.
