Peter Geyer
Type Coaching and Training

Giving feedback is an important part of using the MBTI - and yet many people complete the MBTI without receiving feedback.

While the feedback process itself has its background in psychology, the MBTI is unlike other personality instruments, in that giving a simple description of its results to a client is not considered sufficient information.

By 'feedback', I mean a structured discussion with an individual, in which the theory behind the MBTI is explained, and in which they have an opportunity to validate their type results. In that discussion they get to understand type preferences in their context, and related to their own life, so they are able to see what the results of taking the MBTI mean.

The point of feedback is not just to validate MBTI results, but to ask 'Who are you?', in the context of psychological type. That context provides the person with a basis for some self-understanding, and a standpoint from which they can use type to advantage.

Whether you're an MBTI practitioner or the 'man (or woman) in the street', if you don't know who you are, you can't use type.

Identifying as an 'INFJ/P', for instance, is not 'knowing yourself' in a type context. That person's MBTI results may indeed show a slight preference for J over P - but the question is not simply 'Do I spend more time doing J or P?', but:

Do I prefer:

• introverted intuition backed up by extraverted feeling (INFJ)?; or

• introverted feeling backed up by extraverted intuition (INFP)? and

Is my inferior function:

• extraverted sensing (INFJ); or

• extraverted thinking (INFP)?

MBTI practitioners giving feedback need to know type dynamics so they can understand the process, and explain it to others in lay people's terms.

Feedback guidelines

Here are some guidelines and hints for giving MBTI feedback.

1. 45 minutes is the minimum time

Experience indicates that 45 minutes can be a conservative estimate for a feedback session. It's better to allow at least an hour, in order to give people the opportunity to talk about themselves in the context of type. (I usually allow an hour and a half, to give time for space and reflection.)

This means that people can tell their stories without being rushed, and you don't face the risk of bringing the conversation abruptly to a halt – which defeats the purpose of telling them 'it's good to be you.'

2. Give feedback in an open-ended style

Your questions should be a stimulus to a response, rather than eliciting 'yes' or 'no', or quick answers.

In type language, feedback is more P than J.

3. Give feedback in a private space free of distractions and interruptions

Feedback is confidential.

The feedback conversation will not be effective if either party thinks they may be overheard. If there are distractions, then the conversation will be less effective in concentrating on the issue at hand.

4. Give feedback where you feel relaxed, and where notes, etc, are accessible

You need to be relaxed when giving feedback, so spend time setting yourself up. Irrespective of your type preferences, you need to be prepared, organised and professional.

Never make claims about type you can't back up. Always be prepared to say 'I don't know', and undertake to find out.

5. Take account of the person's reported type–and your own preferences

It's not helpful if you are relaxed, but the person receiving feedback is uncomfortable because of the way things have been set up: location, room design, seating, etc.

You have some basic data in the MBTI results that can help you to avoid such problems. The form also provides demographic data (occupation, age, education, etc) that can be informative.

The easiest feedback sessions are those between people of similar types. In taking account of the type differences between yourself and your client, there are basic principles to which type alerts us:

Space

This refers to how people prefer to position themselves during a feedback session.

Be aware that many of the strategies taught in counselling and similar courses don't suit certain types – ITs especially, but there are variants to look for that cover most preferences.

• Es usually sit closer to others, and often display enthusiasm that the other person may find unwarranted. Is, of course, can be guilty of not showing enough expression.

• Fs often sit side–by–side for feedback, and in an open seating arrangement with no barriers. (Some IFs, however, report that this doesn't suit them.)

• Is, particularly ITs, may feel uncomfortable or vulnerable with open or side–by–side seating, and thus less likely to disclose things. A barrier (table or desk) can be preferable, particularly if you want them to write something.

Structure

It's important to many people to be informed of the ethical requirement to give feedback – that it's not sufficient just to fill out the MBTI form to get the benefit of the results. Doing the right thing is of particular interest to SJs, but it doesn't stop there. Fs can be impressed by doing the right thing, and the purpose of what's being presented is a key for many Ts.

• Js usually prefer to know from the outset how the feedback discussion is going to be organised.

• Ps may find this a distraction – unless they are NPs, and see this as part of the big picture: 'Tell me why you're going to say these things.'

• Their freewheeling method of disclosure is a key way of validating type for Ps, but this may be disconcerting to interpreters who are Js, and who have a structure in mind.

• On the other hand, interpreters who are Ps can struggle with meeting Js' needs for structure, by elaborating on particular points or making comparative observations.

Content

Feedback must include the following:

• The origins of the MBTI: who made it up, and where they got their ideas from.

• The notion of type as a dynamic system, both in terms of life–long development and the interaction of the preferences.

This doesn't mean you have to be an expert on these points: some brief, simple statements, readily available in the literature, will suffice. And you need to take into account the person you're talking to, their interests and perspectives.

Origins of the MBTI

Never say, for instance, that the MBTI was developed by two housewives. While that's part of the identification of Katharine Briggs and Isabel Myers, it's hardly adequate, given the education and writing accomplishments of both women, as well as their social milieu.

In the same way, Jung could be described as 'a man who built his own house, a traveller, at home with country life and the people there – as well as a professional psychologist and psychiatrist.

You don't necessarily need to know Jung and Isabel Myers in depth, but it helps to have some stories at hand. Videos and biographies of both are available.

Pick the right time simply to say that the MBTI was developed by two American women who studied the theory of psychological types of C G Jung, one of the pioneers of psychology, and whose views are still popular in many fields. That covers the field fairly succinctly.

In general, just leave people to provide what they will.

Type as a dynamic system

It's important to tell people, in a simple and clear way, that the MBTI is not just a set of disparate preferences (E.N.T.P., for instance), but a system in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. You don't have to launch into unfamiliar jargon to explain this; the standard booklets explain the idea well.

This information is better given some distance from the start of the feedback session, usually when the person's preferences are being discussed. It then becomes extra information that they have some context for, rather than something that gets mentioned, but doesn't seem to have any direct relevance.

Process

Never give feedback directly after a person has completed the MBTI. To be effective, you need time and space to reflect on the answers they have given and other data you know about them.

Ideally, the feedback session should be structured in this way:

• General introduction, purpose, etc

• Something about the MBTI, its origins and purpose

• What 'preference' means
  
  The handwriting exercise or similar can be useful. A link can then be made to the natural preference of type.

• Explain and discuss each of the preference choices, with examples to enable the person to estimate which of the choices they prefer.
  
  Personal examples are useful, as well as examples related to their lives or work. This needs to be fairly descriptive, not just one–line definitions.

• Following the completion of the person's estimate, present their results with a brief explanation.

• Provide a booklet or book describing the 16 types.

• Quiet reading by the person of the profile suggested by their results, together with any alternative type suggested.

• Discuss the results, with further examples of the preferences more specifically oriented to the results.
  
  This is where you talk about type dynamics.
  
  You will find that if the initial discussion goes well, the person will give you examples from their life and activities that can be related to type, and so give you a good indication of who they are.

• Complete the session with a general offer of further discussion – or, if the person remains uncertain about their results, at a specific later session.

It's okay for people to be uncertain. One of the interesting things about type is that it opens up an opportunity for people to reflect on who they are. Many have never done that.

An individual MBTI feedback process

• General introduction, purpose, etc

• The MBTI, its origins and purpose

• What preference means (e.g. handwriting exercise)

• Explanation and discussion of each of the preference choices, with examples

• Self–estimate of which of the choices the person prefers

• Presentation of MBTI results to the person, with a brief explanation

• Provision of a booklet or book describing the 16 types

• Quiet reading of the profile, together with any alternative suggested

• Discussion of the results, with further examples of the preferences

• Type dynamics and development in general terms, within the discussion

• Completion of the session with offers of further discussion

Language

Jargon is for professional reading and discussion, but not for feedback sessions. Avoiding jargon is difficult at first, but it gets easier with practice.

• Words like scale, dichotomy, function, score and dominant should not be used, even though the ideas behind them have to be expressed. Use preference, clarity, most preferred, and other plain terms.

• Use comparative language: tend to, may be, prefer, mostly, seem to. Never say things like your type does... or people like you say/act... You may find that the person prefers the type under discussion, but does not think, do, or say those things.

• The preferences are content–free; life gives us the ways we use them. So 'NTs love computers', for instance, can catch you out, because many don't – they are NTs in a different way.
  
  Similarly for presuming 'order and control' for SFJs who may be ordered in some ways, but who go with the flow for the sake of harmony – and so that flow becomes their preferred order.

• Words ending in –ing are better than words ending in –ed. The language is less directive: you're looking at people tending to do these things. Telling people that they do something that they've never done or that they don't like doesn't help your session.

• How do you feel? is usually not a good question to ask Ts (as door–stop questions flung at politicians amply illustrate). That question invites them to access a non–preferred function: they may not know the answer at the time, and may even show mild distress. What do you think? can elicit a similar response from Fs.

• Avoid share and celebrate, unless the person uses that language themselves. Those words don't have a universal favour.
  
  Would you like to share that with me? is counselling jargon. Some people do not want to share, but they may want to tell you or talk about it – which is what 'share' usually denotes here. This seems to be a T–F difference, but there may be other reasons.
  
  Many people with quite adequate self–esteem don't want to celebrate who they are, they just want to be themselves and be happy with that; celebration' is a whole other issue.

Materials

The person receiving feedback must get a report form or equivalent (you can make up your own), and a booklet that explains the theory and outlines the 16 types. A photocopied page is not sufficient.

Introduction to Type is the general booklet, written initially by Isabel Myers and revised since. I usually use Introduction to Type in Organizations (Hirsh & Kummerow), because it presents some specifics I want to emphasise. There are also introductory booklets in areas such as Careers, Learning, Teams, Coaching, College, etc. And books like Type Talk and Gifts Differing are more than adequate.

Answer Sheets and Scores

The report form tells the person all they need to know: you should not return their answer sheet. Returning the answer sheet brings up distracting issues of scores and amounts – I'm borderline on...; I don't score anything for... –that are irrelevant to the validating and understanding of type.

People are entitled to the answer sheet because they filled it out, but it's not helpful. It's better to send it to the Psychological Type Research Unit at Deakin University. If you do that, you'll need to mention it, e.g. by saying you're helping to find out the distribution of types in Australia.

If people ask you about scores, the answers are quite simple:

• the MBTI is a sort, so amounts aren't important

• There's one point for each answer, and it's like a vote to find out which category you're in.

• If you answer all the relevant questions for one category, then you're clear in your mind that this is the category for you.

• Less–clear scores simply mean that the questions haven't been able to clarify the category for you as much as for others.

• Clarity of preference has nothing to do with skill or development.

Question booklets should also be reclaimed. Not only are they copyright, but they are not legally available to persons who haven't been accredited, qualified or completed other relevant studies.

It is often very difficult to find out whether a person belongs to one type or the other ... compensation gives rise to secondary characteristics, or secondary types, which present a picture that is extremely difficult to interpret, so difficult that one is inclined to deny the existence of types altogether and believe only in individual differences.

C G Jung, Psychological Types

... we are not a type, a box, a two-dimensional figure, an E or an I, an S or an N, and so on. We are dynamical systems constantly using all preferences simultaneously, but to varying degrees.

Henry L (Dick) Thompson, Bulletin of Psychological Type 22:1

Love me or hate me, but know me and then You can figure out what bag I'm in

Sly and the Family Stone, 'Everyday People'

Photograph courtesy of Jamie Johnston, CAPT Library. PETER GEYER (INTP) is a consultant, researcher and writer in the field of C G Jung's theory of psychological types. He conducts MBTI Accreditation programs and presents internationally on a regular basis. Peter is a life member of AusAPT and a professional affiliate of the Australian Psychological Society.