Personal Improvement
Effective communication results from a combination of factors. First, you must be able to listen to and understand the perspectives of others. Then you must communicate the information people want and need in a way that encourages them to listen.
Here are some tips to help you avoid common pitfalls and learn how to flex your communication style to improve your interactions with others.
Click on a type to view communication tips.
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Communication Tips for ISTJs
- Balance your practical, task-focused approach with consideration of the needs and situations of the people involved. Make a conscious effort to develop rapport and connect with others.
- Check how others are feeling, especially when giving feedback. Balance corrective feedback with positive feedback, especially when working with Feeling types.
- Remain open-minded and listen without judgment to other perspectives, even if they initially seem unreasonable. Be open to new ideas and possibilities. Link new information to what you already know.
- Don’t be hesitant to try something new when someone suggests it. Develop patience for interruptions and changes in plans.
- Summarize information and relate it to the bigger picture. Move beyond how things are now being done to imagine better alternatives. Show patience when others ask for your input on defining and building new systems and processes.
- Remember that many people seek harmony and personal relationships with their co-workers. Develop patience for the sharing of personal information by others. Listen empathetically without offering solutions.
- Attend to and acknowledge personal responses and avoid coming across as blunt, detached, or impersonal. Take time to work out conflicts and deal with personal issues at work. Be willing to express your feelings and share your viewpoint.
Communication Tips for ISFJs
- Express your needs to others and say no when it is unrealistic for you to take on any additional responsibilities.
- Since harmony is important to you, you may find it unpleasant to deal with interpersonal issues and conflict. Express yourself directly. Present your viewpoint in a logical, reasonable way and be careful not to interpret feedback as personal criticism.
- Remember that too many details can overwhelm some people. When presenting information to others, be sure to summarize and relate it to the big picture.
- Use your natural strengths to clearly define what is working well and broaden your perspective to include long-term improvements for processes as well as people.
- Remain open-minded and listen without judgment to other perspectives, even if they initially seem unfair. Use active-listening skills to show that you are thinking about what others are saying and strive to understand rather than respond personally to situations.
- Be open to new ideas and possibilities. Don’t be hesitant to try something new when someone suggests it. Develop patience for interruptions and changes in plans.
- Share your accomplishments with others. It is important to promote your perspectives and ideas. Otherwise, you may miss out on opportunities or rewards you deserve.
Communication Tips for INFJs
- Focus on meeting your needs as well as the needs of others. Set and define your limitations and avoid taking responsibility for other people’s roles. Delegate details and ask for help.
- Carefully balance time spent with others with time to reflect so you don’t become overwhelmed. Make sure to schedule personal breaks during long periods of intense interaction.
- Avoid presenting your beliefs in an emotional, passionate, or moralistic way.
- Present information in a sequential, logical order and show pros and cons. Then anticipate and prepare for questions and feedback.
- Remember that others may not like metaphors or other forms of abstract language. Explain your thoughts in practical language and share immediate applications.
- Don’t avoid giving corrective feedback. People need this to develop. Be careful not to interpret the corrective feedback you get from others as personal criticism.
- Share your thoughts with others and incorporate feedback earlier in your thinking process. Include a stage in your process for taking in other perspectives and creating opportunities to collaborate and cooperate.
Communication Tips for INTJs
- Share your thoughts with others and incorporate feedback. The earlier you do this in your thinking process, the easier it will be.
- Add value to your ideas by grounding them in facts and details and seeing their immediate applications and implications. Seek practical input from others.
- When explaining your ideas, provide concrete, practical links and avoid arguing semantics and abstract points at length.
- Check how others are feeling, especially when giving feedback. Balance corrective feedback with positive feedback, especially when working with Feeling types.
- Develop patience for the sharing of personal information by others. Attend to and acknowledge these personal responses and avoid coming across as blunt, detached, or impersonal.
- Listen empathetically without offering solutions. Strive to understand personal situations rather than analyze them in an abstract or conceptual manner.
- Take time to work out conflicts and deal with personal issues at work. Be willing to express your feelings and share your viewpoint.
Communication Tips for ISTPs
- Others may not be able to work effectively with you if they feel a lack of personal connection. Show empathy and develop patience for the sharing of personal information by others. Avoid coming across as blunt, detached, or impersonal.
- Strive to understand personal situations rather than analyze them in a logical or impersonal way. Balance your practical, task-focused approach with consideration of the needs and situations of the people involved. This will increase the chances of finding a practical solution that works for everyone.
- Take time to work out conflicts and deal with personal issues at work. Be willing to listen to others, express your feelings, and share your viewpoint.
- Incorporate a longer-term focus into your practical, immediate troubleshooting. This will help you solve problems more effectively in the long run.
- Show that you are supportive and offer positive feedback and encouragement. Others, especially people with a preference for Feeling, will appreciate this and be able to work with you more effectively.
- Check how others are feeling when giving corrective feedback. Give this feedback tactfully and diplomatically, particularly when working with Feeling types.
- Remember that some people can be invested in using accepted and standardized procedures to accomplish tasks. Before skipping steps or modifying procedures, check to ensure that you are not missing something important.
Communication Tips for ISFPs
- Focus on meeting your needs as well as the needs of others. Say no when it is unrealistic for you to take on any additional responsibilities.
- Be willing to broaden your perspective to include the logical and long-term implications. Consider the roots of problems as well as immediate solutions.
- Express yourself directly rather than offering indirect hints or expecting others to know what you are thinking and feeling.
- Present your viewpoint to others in a logical, reasonable way. This will help them understand and appreciate your perspective.
- Offer constructive feedback to others. People need this to develop. Be careful not to interpret the corrective feedback you get from others as personal criticism.
- Share your accomplishments with others. It is important to promote your perspectives and ideas. Otherwise, you may miss out on opportunities or rewards you deserve.
- Deal with interpersonal issues and conflicts. Although it may be easier to avoid them in the short term, the harmony of your workplace will deteriorate and it will become uncomfortable in the long term.
Communication Tips for INFPs
- Focus on meeting your needs as well as the needs of others. Express your needs to others. Set and define your limitations and avoid taking responsibility for other people’s roles.
- Be willing to broaden your perspectives to include the logical and short-term implications. Balance the developmental needs of people with the long- and short-term business needs.
- Share personal feelings earlier and more frequently. This will provide information and allow others to understand your unique perspectives. Be logical and detailed as well as passionate when you express yourself.
- Share your accomplishments with others. It is important to promote your perspectives and ideas. Otherwise, you may miss out on opportunities or rewards you deserve.
- Deal with conflict directly and don’t let your negative feelings build up. Although it may be easier in the short term to avoid conflict, the harmony of your workplace will deteriorate and it will become uncomfortable in the long term.
- Learn to accept and give corrective feedback. Be careful not to interpret feedback as personal criticism. Instead, see it as a developmental tool.
- When interacting with many people over a short period, avoid becoming drained and overwhelmed. Be sure to take time alone to reflect and reenergize.
Communication Tips for INTPs
- Remember that many people seek harmony and personal relationships with co-workers. Develop patience for the sharing of personal information by others. Avoid coming across as blunt, detached, or impersonal.
- Strive to understand personal situations rather than analyze them in a logical or impersonal way. Balance your abstract, logical, conceptual approach with a consideration of the needs and situations of the people involved.
- Take time to work out conflicts and deal with personal issues at work. Be willing to express your feelings and share your viewpoint.
- Consider facts, short-term implications, and the practical realities of a situation. Be sure to share your perspectives with enough detail to enable others to see how to implement your ideas.
- Remember that not everyone is comfortable critiquing and debating ideas. Others may interpret these activities as a rejection of their perspectives.
- Check how others are feeling when giving corrective feedback. Balance corrective feedback with positive feedback, particularly when working with people who have a preference for Feeling.
- Remember that open-ended exploration can seem inefficient to decisive, results-focused people; be willing to make decisions and follow through by implementing your ideas.
Communication Tips for ESTPs
- Remember that many people seek harmony and personal relationships with their co-workers. Develop patience for the sharing of personal information by others. Avoid coming across as blunt, detached, or impersonal.
- Strive to understand personal situations rather than analyze them in a logical or impersonal way. Balance your practical, task-focused approach with consideration of the needs and situations of the people involved.
- Take time to work out conflicts and deal with personal issues at work. Be willing to look at the roots of problems as well as make an immediate response.
- You may lose interest and not follow through on a commitment or task. Plan ahead to ensure that you complete tasks so others see you as dependable.
- Show that you appreciate others and offer positive feedback and encouragement. Check how others are feeling when giving corrective feedback. Balance corrective feedback with positive feedback, particularly when working with people who prefer Feeling.
- Others may see your maverick actions as a challenge to authority or disrespect for rules. Slow down and show or tell others how and why your plan will work.
- Improvising can be stressful to others around you who use a more thoughtful, carefully balanced approach. Incorporate a longer-term focus into your practical, immediate troubleshooting. This will help you solve problems more effectively in the long run.
Communication Tips for ESFPs
- Others may not view the world in the same fun-loving way you do. Accommodate them by making concrete goals and plans and then sticking to them. By attending to project completion, you will be able to enhance your contribution.
- Although you may enjoy many and varied interactions, others may not. Respect people’s need for quiet time alone to reflect and regroup.
- Others may see your maverick actions as a challenge to authority or disrespect for rules. Help them understand the practical and flexible side of problem solving.
- You seek interaction and may interrupt others’ work. Some people can be disconcerted when their concentration is disrupted. Make an appointment or ask if it’s a good time to discuss something.
- Others may find your immediate focus and casual, fun approach to communication somewhat frustrating when they want to have a serious discussion. Try not to deflect or avoid these interactions.
- Since harmony and collaboration are important to you, you may find it unpleasant to deal with ongoing interpersonal issues and conflict. Be willing to deal with causes of problems to resolve some of the more complex issues.
- Develop objectivity and take time to accept constructive feedback. Be careful not to interpret feedback as personal criticism.
Communication Tips for ENFPs
- Some people can see personal involvement as interference rather than encouragement. Learn when to back off from discussing personal matters to avoid being seen as intrusive or not businesslike.
- To ensure that you don’t lose sight of the task at hand, avoid becoming distracted by people’s stories and needs.
- Be practical and logical as well as personal and inspired. Make sure your ideas are grounded and realistic. Others will need to see the logic and details underlying your innovative ideas.
- Remember that not all people are motivated by the concept of personal growth. Show how personal development links to developing competencies, enhancing performance, and affecting business results.
- Some people distrust highly energetic and enthusiastic persuasion. Be willing to tone down the pace and energy level when you present information and ideas to people who are more reserved, quiet, or skeptical.
- Be open to giving and receiving constructive feedback and see this as an opportunity for growth. Be careful not to take feedback personally.
- It may be easy for you to change course and leave projects undone. This can irritate those who are strongly task and deadline oriented. As well as conceptualizing and implementing ideas, be sure to follow through and finish tasks.
Communication Tips for ENTPs
- Remember that not everyone is comfortable critiquing and debating. Others may interpret these activities as a rejection of their perspectives. Avoid coming across as blunt, detached, or impersonal when you discuss ideas and perspectives.
- Strive to understand personal situations rather than analyze them in a logical or impersonal way. Balance your abstract, conceptual approach with a consideration of the personal needs and situations of the people involved.
- Be willing to look at and discuss details and short-term implications of a situation. Be aware that others are more interested in achieving practical or immediate results. Share your perspectives with enough detail to enable others to participate in the planning process.
- Show that you appreciate others and offer positive feedback and encouragement. Although this may not seem logical or expedient, you will find that many people want to work in an environment where they are given support and validation.
- Hold back on a tendency to critique others, and when giving corrective feedback, check how others are feeling. Balance corrective feedback with positive feedback, particularly when working with people who prefer Feeling.
- Some people prefer to conserve the status quo and are more comfortable with slower, well-planned, incremental change. Listen to them and assess what is working well and should be preserved.
- Your rapidly changing ideas and perspectives may be a barrier to those who seek to find closure and take action. Be decisive and consistent when working with them.
Communication Tips for ESTJs
- You are very responsible and can, at times, become overcommitted. Learn to say no to additional roles.
- Because you tend to see things as black or white, you can be uncomfortable with change and ambiguity. However, in today’s workplace, change and ambiguity are unavoidable, so accept them as reality and incorporate them into your plans.
- Being logical and practical, you can sometimes be surprised when others include situational factors in decisions or actions. Learn to incorporate these variables into your decision-making process. Develop rapport and build relationships with your co-workers.
- Expedience and efficiency may not always be effective. Take into account longer-term consequences of actions. The ideal long-term solution may take longer to implement but may have greater payoff in the end.
- It is not always possible to maintain the status quo. Find ways to incrementally change systems so you can preserve what works while accepting new developments and improvements. Sometimes rules and procedures need to be adapted to situations. Be accepting when procedures are modified, as long as standards aren’t compromised.
- Have patience with other work and communication styles. Not everyone is results driven in the same way that you are. Some people will be more productive working in a less steady or more cautious way.
- Many organizations are moving away from hierarchical supervision to a team-based, shared-responsibility approach. You will need to define, for yourself, clear roles, responsibilities, and accountabilities in these settings. Share and validate these with your team.
Communication Tips for ESFJs
- You may become overcommitted meeting your responsibilities and the needs of others. Balance this conscientious approach by taking time to meet your own needs.
- People’s personal needs may not be traditionally socially acceptable ones. Accept individual values and needs that are different from the norm. Avoid focusing on what people should be or do. Apply this to yourself as well as others.
- Because social norms are important to you, you may have trouble accepting styles that differ from the traditional steady, persistent work style. Be aware that people choose to contribute in different ways, and be accepting and tolerant of these differences.
- Some people approach work with a broader, long-term, and/or logical focus. Learn to value these alternative approaches and incorporate vision and analysis into your planning.
- Although you find it important to build agreement, not all issues need to be addressed, especially in the workplace. At times, be willing to agree to disagree.
- Giving and receiving corrective feedback may be difficult for you. However, this feedback can help you and others become more productive. Listen to ways to improve without becoming defensive.
- Some people are neither highly collaborative nor outwardly expressive and supportive. Be sure to provide ways for them to work within the team while respecting their work approach.
Communication Tips for ENFJs
- Other people may approach situations in a calm, logical, and/or practical way. High levels of enthusiasm, emotion, or passion may overwhelm or disconcert them. You may need to tone down your enthusiasm in these situations.
- Your desire to help others and achieve goals can lead you to become overcommitted and overwhelmed with projects. Learn to balance idealism with practicality and create realistic expectations of yourself and others.
- Present information in a sequential, logical order and show pros and cons. Then anticipate and prepare for questions and feedback.
- Remember that people may not prefer abstract metaphors or analogies and may seek objective information. Explain your thoughts in practical language and avoid using too many inspirational stories.
- Be careful not to interpret corrective feedback as personal criticism. Consider it a helpful tool for your growth and development.
- It may not always be practical, realistic, or necessary to solve all interpersonal conflicts in the workplace. Learn to leave some issues alone and to choose carefully what issues to work on.
- Be willing to compromise when looking for effective ways to complete tasks. Balance the needs of the people with business deadlines, logistics, and financial pressures. Don’t compromise your core values, but make sure you are being realistic.
Communication Tips for ENTJs
- Other people may want to accomplish tasks more through collaboration and cooperation than by being directed. Slow down and let go of some control in order to enhance your working relationships.
- By deciding too quickly, you may move too fast in the wrong direction. Be careful to listen to new information and consider all the possibilities before you make a decision.
- Being theoretical, you can sometimes be surprised when others focus on practical decisions and actions. When explaining your ideas, provide concrete, practical links and avoid arguing semantics and abstract points at length.
- Consider situational and personal factors as well as logical ones when evaluating information. Include these factors as criteria when analyzing the pros and cons of options.
- Check how others are feeling, especially when giving feedback. Balance corrective feedback with positive feedback, especially when working with people who have a Feeling preference.
- Listen empathetically without offering solutions. Strive to understand personal situations rather than analyze them in an abstract or conceptual manner.
- Have patience with other work and communication styles. Not everyone is as quickly decisive or results driven as you are. Some people may prefer to achieve results in a slower, more cautious way.