How useful is Myers Briggs personality test? 2m people each year take the Myers Briggs test, usually as part of a team exercise. Do Myers Briggs really tell you anything useful?

 The personality test will be useful for some and a lot less useful for others depending on your own self-awareness. 

 A bit on Myers Briggs explained – the test has been around from the 1940’s, uses 90+ forces questions to give you a Myers Briggs personality type – one of 16 personality types. Each of the Myers Briggs types has associated characteristics. 

 In my view, the output is too high level to be very useful for personal development. It is still useful. Personality tests are a form of feedback. Most feedback is useful. The personality types are not that useful in themselves. The most useful is understanding how strong your preference pairs are.

 Using Myers Briggs type indicator test with your team helps you understand each individual person’s preferences. You also can see how balanced or not your team is, and what the mix of preference is. All can be useful in getting to know your team quicker and helping you adapt your management style to best suit your team and the individuals in your team. 

 If you are asking “What’s my personality type?”, Myers Briggs will give you an indication through this test specific lenses.

 Towards the end, I explain a bit about each of the Myers Briggs preference pairs which gives you the four letter label you often hear people quoting. Knowing how strong each of your preference pairs are will give you some insights into your preferences (or reconfirm what you are already aware of). 

 I think that Myers Briggs and other personality tests are useful to surface preferences and characteristics of yourself or your team that you were not fully aware of. This brings them into your conscious thought, which helps you adjust your communication and management style to best suit your audience. 

I hope you get some insights from taking Myers Briggs. 

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