Self-Awareness: The Key to Professional Success is Understanding your Personality

Self-Awareness: The Key to Professional Success is Understanding your Personality

As individuals, our personality is unique; however, there are basic shared characteristics among us and it is important to understand our personality as it impacts the relationships with those around us. A simple definition of personality is our natural or preferred way of being. Naturally we feel competent, productive, and energetic, and sometimes are not aware of our innate way of being. Knowing our strengths can be a good asset, but it can also be a liability if they are used inappropriately. Paying attention to our personality characteristics and knowing how to manage them can enhance our relationships and allow us to be successful.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is a personality assessment that categorizes your personality preferences in four dimensions: The first dimension includes where you focus your attention- Extraversion (E) or Introversion (I). The second: way you take in information- Sensing (S) or Intuition (N). Third, the way you make decisions- Thinking (T) or Feeling (F). And fourth, how you deal with the world- Judging (J) or Perceiving (P). Knowing your personality gives you a framework for self-awareness and can lead to better self-management. This personality indicator allows people within groups to speak more effectively about their needs, expectations, preferences and identify conflicts. Awareness of this tool can be used with a group for team and relationship development.

Let us talk about the different dimensions of the Myers Briggs personality test. The first dimension is where you focus your attention or how you gain energy. Those who prefer extraversion (E), usually talk and think in real time, preferring verbal communication (so they will not read your long emails), and find listening difficult. They prefer action over reflection, and seem approachable and social. On the other side of the spectrum are introverts (I), who think first and then speak. They also prefer to write their thoughts, and are good listeners. Introverts sometimes seem reflective and contemplative. That is because they learn best by reflecting first, and like to work alone or in pairs. Both of sides of this spectrum contribute greatly to a group. For example, E gives external focus, voice and expression, and diverse ideas. At the same time, an I person contributes focus, organization, and feedback of ideas. It has been found that the distribution of this spectrum is almost 50-50%. Often introverts and extroverts are attracted to each other and enjoy working in a mixed group. In my case I am an extrovert because I like to speak and bring people together, but I have a more-introverted side when I organize my ideas before a meeting or an experiment.

The second dimension involves the way you take in information. Individuals that are sensing oriented are focused on the present details, the here and now, and what they are going to take out of their experiences. They are highly data driven. Sometimes, they can get frustrated if they do not have specific instructions and they tend to micromanage situations. Those who are intuitive are more future-focused, more interested in the big picture and generalities, focus on theory over data, and do not depend as much on details. In a group, S individuals can provide extensive background, providing data-rich information. They are curious about what happened in the past and what is going on in the present. Additionally, they bring realism and detail to the group. N individuals, have vision and tend to generate concepts, trends and patterns.  They are curious about the future and possibilities, and speak in a general and figurative way. Statistically in the U.S. 66-74% of the total population are S and 26-34% are N.Isabel Briggs Myers, believed that this dimension is very important in defining how we learn.

The third dimension is how you make decisions. Are you oriented by your feelings or do you prefer to use objective thought? Thinkers are objective, give strong and direct feedback and are problem first and people second. They solve problems by making clear and organized decisions, and they are driven by the need to be correct. F individuals tend to minimize conflict and prefer to be liked over being correct. These individuals are very centered on their values. Because they put people first and problems second, they tend to connect well with people. Remember, regardless of your personality, you can take on either T- or F- perspectives; the key is to identify the appropriate one to use depending on the situation. In the U.S, 40-50% of the total population are T and 50-60% are F. Myers suggest that this dimension is the slowest to be fully developed. We can easily switch between being a T or a F depending on the situation. Within this third dimension, people are focus on deciding what to do or not do upon gathering new information. This is the function can define your life mates, careers, and other decisive actions.

The last dimension is how you deal with the world; do you prefer things to get decided or you are open to new information and options? Judging (J) individuals plan in advance, make a schedule and follow it.  They tend to be easily irritated by unexpected changes and they complete tasks with strong and clear direction. Perceiving (P) individuals avoid planning and want to see the options, enjoy changing protocols and activities, and are very flexible. They can get easily distracted and diverted from deadlines and usually answer questions with more questions. This dimension can sometimes be the cause of tension among PIs and trainees. However, both groups are very important contributors to the work environment. J individuals bring decisions, closure, structure, and an organized life. P individuals brings spontaneity, perpetual curiosity, and flexibility. There is an estimate of 54-60% J and 40-46% Pindividuals.

One important thing to remember is that only you can validate your type preferences.Exploring your personality and managing your preferences will get easier with practice. It can also be a good idea to invite your lab members to discuss each person’s different personality and how to interact in order to have a better work environment. Remember, that there is no good and bad personality, it is about adjusting for the appropriate time. For example, I prefer extraversion, sensing, thinking and judging. According to the test I am a “life administrator” which prefers takes charge, organizing, knowing the facts and push hard to accomplish the goals. In some ways, I found that this is true. For example, I am very organized, so one of my liabilities is that I don’t like changes in my schedule. With my PI, I learned that I need to save some time to try other assays, improvised meetings or changes in the agenda. To improve upon this, I have been saving some time in my day for those things and prioritizing my tasks. I needed to make those changes because I was missing networking, association meetings and others activities that are important to my development as a researcher. Now, I am participating in new groups and meeting more people in the area. The take home message is that if you learn how your group works you can take advantage and see how everyone can complement each other.