Type and Teams

The MBTI® Assessment and Teams

The purpose of Introduction to Myers-Briggs® Type and Teams and this companion website is to help you understand your results on the MBTI® assessment and the relationship of those results to your work on a team. While the assessment has been used successfully with individuals, its power can be multiplied when applied to teams, as its use in team building worldwide attests.

The MBTI assessment reflects individual preferences for directing and receiving energy (Extraversion or Introversion), taking in information (Sensing or Intuition), making decisions and coming to conclusions (Thinking or Feeling), and approaching the outside world (Judging or Perceiving). Sixteen unique personality types result from the combinations of these eight MBTI preferences.

The Myers-Briggs® personality type framework provides insights to help teams function more productively. The MBTI assessment is useful to teams because it is based on the idea that we all have unique gifts to offer and challenges to overcome. In teams we work together, attempting to maximize each member’s special talents, thereby minimizing gaps in knowledge and skills.

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  • How the MBTI Assessment Aids Team Members
  • Predicting Team Effectiveness
  • Key Things to Remember About the MBTI® Assessment
  • Fostering openness and trust
  • Providing a neutral and affirmative language with which to discuss differences
  • Underscoring the value of diversity
  • Teaching team members to value and work with the strengths of others
  • Helping increase productivity by aligning an individual’s MBTI preferences to particular team tasks
  • Identifying team strengths and potential blind spots
  • Supplying a framework within which team members can better understand and manage
    • Communication
    • Team culture
    • Leadership
    • Change
    • Problem solving/conflict resolution
    • Stress
  • The more similar the types on a team, the more readily the team members will understand each other.
  • The more dissimilar the types on a team, the slower the understanding.
  • Groups with high type similarity will reach decisions more quickly but are more likely to make errors due to inadequate representation of all viewpoints.
  • Groups with members of many different types will reach decisions more slowly (and painfully) but may reach better decisions because more viewpoints are covered.
  • Teams with only a single representative of a certain preference (e.g., only one Introvert) may fail to appreciate the gifts/skills associated with that preference and may view that member as different.
  • Teams that come to appreciate and use different types may experience less conflict.
  • Successful teams with members of many different types promote the personal development of team members by encouraging learning from other types.

Keep the following things in mind when exploring type to ensure a positive experience for all:

  • Type is about preferences, not about knowledge, skills, or abilities.
  • There are no right or wrong preferences.
  • No preferences are unhealthy or inappropriate.
  • Type is not an excuse—we can and do use all the preferences to some extent each day.
  • Each team member is the best judge of his or her own preferences.
  • Type should empower team members, not limit them.