Myers Briggs® ISFP Personality Types and Leadership Style

In Business and Leadership, ISFP, Leadership, MBTI, Personality Type by Geeta Aneja

ISFP Personality Types and Leadership Style

Knowing your Myers Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI® test) personality type can help you lead more effectively. Knowing the personality types of your peers and employees can also help you build stronger teams and committees, in the long run increasing your organization’s efficiency. In this blog, we describe how ISFP’s, who are Introverted-Sensing-Feeling-Perceptive types, can capitalize on their strengths in the workplace and support others in doing the same.

Image courtesy of Anusorn P nachol at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of Anusorn P nachol at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Following this week’s blog post on ISFP’s, we will explore other Myers-Briggs® types and how they too can function optimally in the workplace. Continue to return to our blog to gain a deeper understanding of your own personality type, strengths, and areas of growth, as well as those of the people with whom you work. With this awareness, you can build your own leadership qualities, and learn how they can complement others’.

People with different MBTI personality types have different strong suits, and therefore often play very different roles in organizations and in leadership. In the text Introduction to Type and Leadership, Richmond (2008), has said that leaders walk a fine line, guiding their team, but still giving their team members agency. One of the greatest strengths of an ISFP is their ability to welcome others’ views and contributions, and the care they take not to force their own opinions or values on their team members. However, they may find it difficult to handle others’ opinions if they don’t align with their own, not always knowing how to implement varying opinions, particularly resulting from the fact that ISFP’s tend to avoid disagreements and potential confrontation. For this reason, ISFP’s can sometimes be uncomfortable in leadership positions, when they see their team veering off course, but are hesitant to speak up about it and set things right.

ISFPs’ quiet, friendly personalities make them easy to relate to, and their commitment to their own and their organization’s values makes them a vital part to any team. They are also very comfortable living in the present, and tend to have a strong sense of distinguishing between what is possible and what is practical, even when circumstances are in flux. However, one of their biggest challenges is that they may have difficulty conceptualizing long-term goals and breaking them down into stages that can be met with short-term deadlines. ISFPs’ tend to prefer creating their own schedule, and function best in decentralized organizations with what Richmond (2008) calls a “starfish” organizational scheme.

In order to maximize their innate leadership preferences, Richmond (2008) suggests that ISFP’s do two key things. First, they should build a small group of trusted advisors. This advisory board should be designed to support them in gathering information about an issue at hand, providing a lens for creating a long-term vision, and keeping ISFP’s accountable for short-term deadlines. In some ways, the board becomes an external support system, helping leaders continue to develop. Similarly, ISFP’s should challenge themselves to establish long-term goals, breaking them down into concrete, achievable steps.

In closing, in order to develop and expand the output of your team, and become a stronger leader, you must increase your understanding and awareness of who you are, and additionally and importantly, gain an understanding of your team member’s interpersonal relations behavior, personality type, and conflict management and communication styles. By doing so, you will greatly increase the efficiency of your team and ultimately become a stronger leader. The FIRO-B® & Firo® Business Assessments are tools used widely by corporations to understand the interpersonal dynamics of teams. For organizational and leadership assessments, visit our Corporate and Business Tests Page.

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Reference

Introduction to Type and Leadership (Richmond, S. CPP. 2008)

Learn More About the MBTI ISFP Personality Type

Explore Our Other ISFP Blog Pages:

Click on one of these corresponding popular ISFP Careers for detailed information including Career Stats, Daily Tasks and Required Education:

Bill and Account Collector, Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks, Cashier, Medical Transcriptionist, Nursing Assistant, Packaging & Filling Machine Operators, Pharmacy Technician, Physical Therapy Aide, Procurement Clerk, and Team Assembler.

Click On Your Personality Type Below & Read About Your Leadership Style:

ISTJ ISFJ ESTP ESFP
ISTP ISFP ESTJ ESFJ
INFJ INTJ ENFP ENTP
INFP INTP ENFJ ENTJ