I have added a section to each of the 16 type descriptions, which describes each type as the member of a team. This can be of great use to coworkers, and it is really interesting to work with this information in workshops that are designed to help teams work together more smoothly and productively. That being said, this information is also helpful to college students!
A couple of years ago, I created an activity to use in Freshman classes. This activity breaks students gradually into type alike groups, and it asks a question for each letter of type. One of these questions asks students how they prefer to learn and the types of activities they enjoy in classes. Silly me went into the first class assuming that Introverts would profess an undying hatred of group work and Extraverts would beg to do all projects in groups. Boy, was I wrong! While I was pretty much on target for individuals preferring Introversion, I was surprised to hear that individuals preferring Extraversion also detest doing projects in groups! I thought, at the time, that this was perhaps a fluke of this specific class, but I have heard the same grumblings in each subsequent workshop.
I have since learned that Introverts enjoy doing work alone, without distractions, which is no surprise. Extraverts, of course, enjoy and are energized by interacting with others and talking out thoughts and ideas. In the end, though, neither preference likes for their grades to depend on others, and most expect to have at least one “bad seed” in the group that causes an imbalance of work. While I am not sure that this is the case outside the classroom setting, it seems to be largely true in college classes. I guess I learned something there, and I have to say that I learn something every time I do an MBTI® workshop!
If you would like to learn more about Myers-Briggs and teams, check out Introduction to Type and Teams by Katherine, Elizabeth, and Sandra Hirsh. Also, I would love to hear about your experiences using Myers-Briggs in teams and/or with students and group work.
Special thanks to my good buddy and future arch nemesis, Dr. Wes Sargent, for his assistance in writing these descriptions many moons ago!
I like that you shared your experiences AND a resource.
Thank you Nancy! I also went back and added two resources to the general type descriptions, Intro to Type and Gifts Differing. I plan to continue that and add a resources page of all of my favorite MBTI books.
We are impressed by the caliber of information on this website. There are a lot of proper resources right here. I am sure I will visit this area again shortly.
Thank you! I will continue to post new information, and I invite you to share any ideas that you have for posts that would be useful to you.