Sunday 6 May 2012

My favourite coaching tools: The free online Myers-Briggs [personality] Type Indicator [assessment]

Caveats:
I feel you can use this tool with anyone, and definitely yourself too. There's enough useful information about Myers-Briggs on wikipedia here: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. I received a professional evaluation a couple of years ago and as far as I remember there were a few more questions asked, and there was also confirmation of type strength after the assessment with the professional. All of my favourite coaching tools attract George EP Box's "all models are wrong, some are useful", and this 1 especially receives this treatment before I request coachees to undertake it. One of the issues with the MB test is that its results vary depending on the mood and environment of the person completing the assessment.

Required:
Internet access
Quiet room and time - I usually suggest the morning, before the work day really begins

Step 1:
Coachee completes the questionnaire at: http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/mmdi/questionnaire/
It is possible to only collect the free report - which requires either screenshots or saving the individual pages as PDFs, or to pay for the full the report. Usually the free is enlightening enough and to have a good conversation around.

Step 2:
Provide the coachee with the MBT detailed page, found off the high-level page here: http://www.personalitypage.com/html/high-level.html

Step 3:
Discuss the accuracy of the type and preferred leadership style with the coachee and see what insights are generated by discussion alone.

Step 4:
To develop more self-awareness, ask the coachee to think about the type of their spouse, family members, friends, favourite managers. I like to use the phrase my mother taught me: "birds of a feather, flock together" and another that Robert Cialdini's insightful psychology book (UK) (or US) taught me "we like those who are like us" at about this point.

Step 5:
To develop even more self-awareness, ask the coachee to think about the type of people they've had problems with in the past, their least favourite colleagues, least favourite managers. I like to use the phrase "oil and water don't mix, without effort".

Step 6:
At this point, it is possible to identify either a strong or weaker area and thus supporting skillset and behaviours that can be even further explored and/or improved on with confidence - especially if the coachee is for instance in different kind of organisational culture that is in opposition to their natural style.

* Interesting - or for more confirmation in my own experience - for certain roles in some organisations I have deployed this in, it was possible to collect several results from a number of people and begin to see similarities that must stem from the hiring decisions and career path management. Great insight! And really, not bad for a few minutes of a free tool!

1 comment:

Rob Brown said...

If you like this MBTI, I also highly recommend these 2 alternatives/additional options that seem to have a bit more science to them:


Free International Personality Assessment from John A Johnson


Free work personality assessment (your Imperative)

A smarter SMART for even better collaborative Objectives (including OKRs)

My favourite coaching tools: SMART Acronym Another Update