People with the personality traits of Extraverted, Intuitive, Thinking, and Prospecting, or ENTPs, are often known as debaters in terms of emotional intelligence. They are quick-witted, don’t feel constrained by established thinking and are always willing to step outside of the status quo.

ENTPs tend to be visionaries, more interested in new ideas and concepts than the reality of the moment, but as extroverts also relish interacting with others and love to be at the center of things. Visionaries who are always looking forward, the ENTP is an interesting type, with their emotional intelligence providing a range of positive influences, especially within the team environment.

ENTPs in Teams

Positive, forward-thinking, and gregarious, ENTPs make friends and build working relationships easily and seem ideally suited to the team environment. They engage others with their excitement and optimism and are very good at understanding others’ points of view and bringing them together into a cohesive point. However, this can be seen by some as stealing the limelight, making it appear that the ENTP is unwilling to acknowledge others’ contributions and instead take credit for them.

However, the energy and vision they bring to the team can inspire other members, and that positivity means they rarely see hurdles, believing that they can do anything that is needed, which itself can give the entire team a morale boost. However, this certainty of capability is not tied to a desire to complete those actions, and ENTPs can simply become cheerleaders for one idea after another without ever following through if they are not guided towards action and completing tasks they push forward. As a group who seek out reasons to go against the established process, they can also get caught within that need to be different, passing by effective approaches simply to do something else because it is new.

As inspiring and engaging individuals, ENTPs are often seen as leadership material, and in this role they can excel. They are the very definition of the entrepreneurial spirit, positive, visionary and with constant energy to take on any challenge, and this alone can be inspiring to their team as a leader. They also push themselves, often harder than anyone else, and by always demanding more as leaders can often get more than required from their team. But this can lead to the ENTP overextending themselves, wanting to be involved with everything and maintaining the focus on them as individuals. Not only can this cause unrest in the group, but it can also lead to taking too many risks, simply for the sake of the challenge it involves rather than for any beneficial reason, and eventually, those risks catch up with them.

In those challenging situations, ENTPs use their empathy and insight to see a number of perspectives for the issue at hand, allowing the team to develop a range of solutions to problems that more linear thinking could miss. They use their insight to provide effective critique of potential solutions, helping the team to focus on the practical and effective remedies that will deliver the right outcomes. However, this can seem like they simply love arguing if not done with skill, and that can cause disharmony within the team. That focus on the larger picture also means that they tend to dismiss details that may cause issues with a specific solution, and that can lead to the wrong option being taken.

The ENTPs love of positivity and dislike of rules and constraints means they encourage others to take alternative approaches too, and in stressful situations that sense of freedom can be of real benefit to individuals. They also continually encourage innovation, but by never really focusing on detail, when under stress, this can seem unrealistic to some team members and result in disharmony.

Change is one of the biggest challenges a team will face, and ENTPs understand the value of change as those who are always looking for something new. Their vision and excitement at moving past established thinking means they are the drivers of change within a team, but they can be too enthusiastic, initiating too many changes at once can cause disruption within the team. While they embrace change, the inability to focus on detail also leaves ENTPs vulnerable to issues with following through on changes, becoming bored or disillusioned before the change is fully enacted.

Logical, energetic, rational and visionary, the ENTP are a driver of positivity and boost morale within a team. However, they often take on too much and fail to follow through or seek to do something different simply because it is different, regardless of the risk. To be at their most effective, ENTPs should be helped to establish ways in which they maintain focus on tasks until they are completed and learn to assess any new initiative and its risks before pushing forwards.