People who show the Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking and Prospecting personality traits, or INTPs, revel in the unconventional. They are often referred to as the Logicians, as logic is what drives their thought processes, and as a group they tend to value intellect over emotion.
Quiet and reserved, as with all who have the introvert trait contributing to their emotional intelligence, they prefer small groups who they share common interests with and dislike, and in some cases have difficulty with, larger groups of people they are unfamiliar with.

While logical, INTPs are innovative, thinking outside the box to see new ideas and solutions, but tend to overlook details to focus on the bigger picture.

But what does all that mean in a team scenario? Emotional intelligence impacts every aspect of the way we work and interact with others, and this is especially important within the team environment. As people driven by logic, INTPs focus on the important aspects of an idea or problem and can help a team avoid a lot of wasted time by helping everyone see the main issue quickly.

They like to know what they are talking about and ensure that they have a good grasp on the subject matter, becoming a valuable resource for other team members. INTPs are innovative and prefer situations where there is room to be flexible, preferring unstructured environments that allow autonomy. Their introverted nature also impacts here, with the ability to work alone when they feel also something that benefits them greatly. But there is a negative side to this, as people who think and look outside the box, they can lose focus on the point when discussing or explaining a concept, veering into the abstract that makes it hard for others to follow along. Their logical side can be useful in spotting issues in ideas or proposals, but they can seem too enthusiastic in discovering these problems and annoy other team members as a result. This can also be interpreted as having little interest in team goals, again alienating other members of the team. This is exacerbated by a tendency to focus on fairness and accuracy within team activities, even if that causes disharmony within the group.

It is clear that in the team environment, INTPs need to work on their empathy with others, understand that complexity is not always the best approach, and realize that discord can be extremely damaging, and is something to be avoided where possible.As free thinkers who prefer a lack of structure, INTPs have the emotional intelligence to make interesting leaders. They like to set minimal ground rules, instead focusing on the desired outcome, however they will work hard to ensure those ground rules are respected. As free thinkers, they reward independent thought, creating an environment that boosts self-determination and allows people to find their path to each goal.

However, this can come at a cost. INTPs have little respect for already established hierarchies and defined roles, and they do not hide it. For some team members, this can feel destructive, while others could see it as undermining their own positions. As leaders, INTPs also have difficulty with people who need close supervision or a defined ruleset to achieve their goals, and here that inability to compromise can cause conflict.This brings us on to INTPs and challenging situations.

Emotional Intelligence defines how we respond under stress and deal with conflict or challenges, and the logical approach favored by INTPs can be useful. They can provide dispassionate, logical analysis of any situation, offering detailed, analytical insight into the problem to help the team understand the issue and develop consensus on a solution. But their difficulty in empathizing with others does mean that for people that get emotional, or who take criticism of their ideas personally, INTPs will inevitably cause problems. They struggle with displays of emotions and fail to recognize the effect of criticisms in a stressful or challenging environment.When finding solutions to any difficult situation, INTPs may be great during the development stage of solutions, but often lose interest when implementing, and this can cause friction within the team as well.

Difficult situations, whether stressful, conflicts or major challenges bring out emotions in teams, and for INTPs who have difficulty with emotional displays, it can be extremely problematic. To cope, they must become more comfortable in offering support to others who need it and learn to consider other’s feelings when discussing ideas and proposals.Finally, INTPs are adept at change, using logic to analyze the present and proposed changes to understand and explain the benefits, developing a blueprint for the change process that everyone can follow. As with other aspects of the team, INTPs don’t look for structure, preferring to give others the space to get on with needed changes as they need, but this can be a problem if others are not as committed to change as they should be.

INTPs also have a habit of overcomplicating the change process, always focusing on the inefficiencies and criticizing the implementation rather than looking at the progress towards the desired end result. No change process is going to be perfect, and INTPs must learn that if they are to be effective within the change environment.Logical, imaginative, rational and principled, INTPs are excellent for helping a team to innovate, look at things in different ways and maximize the potential of each member by giving them space to grow, but that is tempered by difficulties in interpersonal skills that can cause friction.