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MBTI^® Differences: Don't ''Agree to Disagree''
by Frank Whyte


When Adam met Eve, thank heaven they didn't notice their differences, agree to disagree, and part company. Civilization would've ended with the very first recognition of personal differences.

Unfortunately, MBTI^® training programs often focus on acceptance, which is only a first step in using MBTI^® in organizations.

When organizations use MBTI^® solely as an acceptance tool, they're permitting employees to disagree amiably. This sends an odd signal—one that borders on counterproductively. It is reminiscent of the failed "separate but equal" approach to civil rights.

To truly benefit from MBTI^® as an organizational tool, we need to go beyond Acceptance to embrace Leverage. Leverage involves using MBTI^® preferences as an advantage. It involves the application of type to workplace missions that benefit from type.

The example that I use in my workshops involves my relationship with my business partner. He and I are different in three of the four MBTI^® dichotomies. If we simply agreed to disagree—if we merely accepted our differences—our relationship would be lukewarm at best, we would lose customers, and our business would be far less successful.

We use our differences to support our business relationship. We are more successful because my partner and I are different.

An immediate example involves my preference for iNtuition, and my partner's preference for Sensing. As an iNtuitive, my writing leans toward the big picture: I describe possibilities and the futuristic implications. I do this throughout my communication efforts, even when creating training programs. My partner's response is reminiscent of an old Wendy's commercial: "Where's the beef?"

Where I might describe the big-picture potential of one of our training courses, my partner is polite enough to remind me that we need to assert facts. His proofs of my editorial efforts include red-inked notes reading "prove it," and "tell me how." He ensures that I don't miss the most important element of persuasive writing: The need to communicate well to both Sensors and iNtuitives.

The benefits of this all-inclusive approach to communication are significant.

Before forming our partnership, I noticed that almost all of my customers (who later took the MBTI^® instrument) had two letters in common: NF. I wrote marketing materials that appealed to iNtuitives, and helped Feelers decide on my courses. I limited my business domain to persons of identical type, not by choice, but because it was natural to me. I missed-out on about three-fourths of the population as a customer base!

Now, my partner and I weigh his Sensing against my iNtuition when we create training curricula and marketing materials. We use his Thinking as a counterweight to my Feeling when we make decisions. We let his Extraversion run free in brainstorming, allowing my Introversion to process those thoughts for a written summary a bit later.

Succinctly, we not only accept one another's differences, we enjoy using them to stay in equilibrium. We learn from one another. We make better training products, create better marketing materials, and make better decisions because we are different.

This important premise threads throughout our MBTI^® Team workshops. We advance a very practical goal of using the MBTI^® tool as a balance, not as a pry-bar.

My partner and I didn't set out to become a case study for our own MBTI^® team building programs. In fact, we sometimes lament the use of a first-person success story in our training programs. However, the living laboratory we inadvertently created provides a constant flow of vivid, day-to-day examples of personality type in an organization.

Our MBTI^®-based Team Building Workshops use these very practical insights, which we further advance in our Applied Team Building Program. By ensuring that we go beyond mere acceptance, our training programs demonstrate an uncommon degree of practical application.

Our participants graduate from our workshops with a greater appreciation of the potential for leveraging MBTI^® in teams: They don't simply agree to disagree.