The whole type, and how it relates to job satisfaction

Clarifying your type

Although the different preferences have been laid out separately up to now, in reality they exist as part of a whole type, and their expression depends on how they interact with the other preferences. There are several approaches to clarifying type, the first of which is to look at the type table and read the brief descriptions of the types that contain the preferences you have identified. So if you think you prefer extraversion, intuition, thinking, and perceiving, check ENTP, plus the types that are close to it. If you are not quite sure about extraversion, for example, you might like to check out INTP as well, or if you think you're borderline between thinking and feeling, then check ENFP.

A second method of clarifying type is to look at the dominant functions for the types you relate to. In each type described in the type table, one of the two central preferences (N/S and T/F) is dominant, and is written in bold. This represents what that type does best, and is always expressed in the extravert or introvert mode, depending on which of these is preferred. For example, the dominant function of an ISTJ is introverted sensing, and the dominant function of an ENFJ is extraverted feeling.

Preferences express themselves very differently depending on whether the preference is extraverted or introverted. To take the example of a medical department, Extraverted iNtuition (ENFP and ENTP) will tend to express itself in the generation of ideas for new services or projects, whereas Introverted iNtuition (INFJ and INTJ) will tend to express itself as generating new ways for understanding situations and solving problems. If you are unclear about your full type, try looking at the expression of different dominant functions below and ask yourself, which one describes what I do best in life?

Expression of dominant functions:

So what does all this mean for your work?

A popular way of understanding type at work is to take the two middle letters, known as the functional pairs, as these have a huge impact on a person's strengths in the workplace, and what they enjoy.

Each of the functional pairs has certain strengths and preferences in the workplace:

ST: Like facts, are practical and analytical, and like using technical and administrative skills for finding tangible solutions to immediate problems.

SF: Like using facts to provide the right practical and immediate help for people, and to create happy and harmonious environments.

NF: Interested in ideas, possibilities and theories. Like using their insight to understand and develop people, both individuals and more widely.

NT: Interested in possibilities and ideas, like using their analytical skills to solve complex problems and develop theoretical frameworks.⇓

The type table (UK prevalence in %⁵)

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In medicine, one of the important differences between specialties is in time scales and tangibility of results. In both surgery and emergency medicine, for example, results tend to be immediate and tangible (favouring Sensing), whereas in psychiatry and public health, results tend to be longer term and less tangible (favouring iNtuition). In general practice, an SF or ST may find great satisfaction in finding practical solutions for urgent problems, whereas an NF or NT may be more interested in psychosocial problems and complex conditions. Most medical jobs entail attention to both logical decision making (T) and people (F), but the balance between these may vary enough to make a job either enjoyable or dissatisfying. Laboratory work, for example, may provide too little contact with people for someone with a feeling preference, whereas thinking types may be challenged by the regular need to understand people's subjective experience in, say, palliative medicine.⇓

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The clues to type at work

Have a think about how your preferences affect your working life by pondering the answers to the following questions:

• What are your strengths at work, and how might they relate to your preferences?

• Think of someone whose help you often seek. How might their preferences (and how they reflect or differ from your own) explain what you value them for?

• Think of an aspect of work you find difficult or disagreeable. How might your preferences help explain why that is?

• Think of a colleague you find difficult or disagreeable. Again, see if your preferences and theirs can explain the problems you have relating to them

• What kinds of attributes do you most admire in others? Are any of these related to preferences?

What to do if you are in the “wrong” job

Investigation and diagnosis

• Using the questions above, examine all the different tasks in your job, and the people in it, and work out which parts you enjoy, and which you find difficult

• Estimate what proportion of your time you spend in each kind of activity

• Look around at your work environment, and the people in it. Which of the preferences dominate, and how do they match with yours?

Treatment