1. Update me on your progress on your goals. What developments, new insights or observations do you have about the skills you are focusing on since your last journal post.
2. Respond to the following questions: In what ways can an understanding of personality type enhance our collaborative skills? What was your four letter result? Did this make sense to you? What new insights did you gain from completing the self-assessment and learning about the different personality types in relationship to your ability to work collaboratively with others? How might Susan Cain’s talk help us to think about personality type and collaboration? Include at least 2 citations or quotes in your response.
1. I’m grateful for my goals when I’m in meetings lately. They have really elevated my observation of who is talking/sharing the most and who is not. It tends to be the same people at each meeting. One thing that I’ve noticed is that it is not that the quiet people do not share, it is that they tend to do it (non ironically) quietly. They might share with the person sitting next to them or with the facilitator after the meeting. In this regard, our reading of excerpts from Quiet really showcase that it is part of their personality style and not that they do not have anything to contribute.
I find my paraphrasing goal easiest. I think this is because it is something I do when I’m teaching and my fellow teachers are used to it as well. It does not seem like a strange interjection but a natural flow of our conversation. I’ve been successful in paraphrasing a group member in all of my meetings so far.
I’m at 80% of my goal in asking for the opinion of quieter members. This one is harder for me because I do not want to spotlight anyone who is not comfortable in sharing with the large group. As an introvert myself, I can really relate to adding my contributions in quieter ways. One idea I had this week was about sitting near at least one of the quieter members because then I can hear their quiet shares. I can then quietly ask them to share. I’ll see how that goes.
2. I am hesitant to embrace the ideas of personality testing. Although I understand the benefits, I worry about the problems that occur when we rely too heavily upon the results. Like most statistics, the results show good information for a collection of people, but they do not always reflect the individual. I think as long as we know this before looking at Myers-Briggs (or any other type of testing), it can be valuable to look at our groupings (not individuals). NPR’s Hidden Brain did a nice job exploring the topic of personality testing. That being said, I think understanding that there are different personality types can help groups members understand each other a little bit better. Instead of insisting that all people in the group function the same way, it is better to let people work in the way that is best for them. This makes me think of UDL. I think it would be a good idea to approach teamwork like we do our classrooms, with a UDL lens. This also makes me make a connection to Susan Cain’s Quiet. In her book, she makes a case for allowing working environments to be flexible so that people can find their own niches to work effectively. Quiet places where people can focus, innovate, and create are necessary especially for introverts. But there also needs to be a place to interact with each other’s ideas. The environment matters for groups to be successful (Cain, 2013, p. 39-41).
My test results were not surprising to me: INFJ. This is the same result I got when I was in high school. The surprising thing was the percentages of each letter has changed. I used to be a very strong introvert. My percent on the spectrum has moved more towards extroversion (but still fairly strong introvert). In fact all my scores moved more towards this middle. I think this shows how we grow and change as we have more experiences in life. Learning about this type, I was surprised at how rare this grouping is (1%!). But I do see myself a lot in the description provided by Keirsey and Bates’s Appendix: The Sixteen Types. I have a high empathy for others in that I tend to cry when others are crying or sense people's emotions strongly. I obsess over work and have a hard time letting things go that I do not feel came out perfect. I do have a strong inner life, I daydream a lot and have a hard time not thinking about very random things. I have lots of conversations with myself (Keirsey & Bates, 1978, p. 170-172). My profession as a librarian seems to fit very well with this type as well. I work alone a lot but also interact with all members of my school community. I connect with them with empathy and by helping them make connections to literature. I always knew it was a good fit for me. In terms of collaborating with others, I think my ability to empathize with others helps me connect with my team members. It helps me want to hear from them and do what I can to help any of them. I also listen well and do well making connections between big ideas. I do not dominate the conversation but I talk often enough to add my observations and suggest ways to solve conflict. These traits fit with INFJ.
Susan Cain’s book Quiet changed my life. I read it about eight years ago. I believe that it is the reason that I have become more comfortable in my own skin and why my personality testing results showed a difference in where I am on the spectrum of introversion and extroversion. If you had met me before I read that book, you would be lucky to even hear my voice. This book gave me a different perspective on my abilities and gave me a ton more confidence. I actually wrote about it in a different grad class in a blog post. I love how she was able to frame how her introversion helped her listen and ask important questions and that was how she was able to become successful. I took that as a sign that I could do that too. Her book is important for all members of a group because it helps people see different strengths in each other. I also know that it can help the introverts see their strengths more clearly and feel more in control and valuable. The book does a great job of pointing out that there is no wrong way to be and that we need to capitalize on everyone’s abilities to be successful.
References
Cain, S. (2013). Quiet: The power of introverts in a world that can’t stop talking.
New York: Broadway Paperbacks.
Keirsey, D., & Bates, M. (1978). Please understand me: Character and temperament types. Del Mar, CA: Prometheus Nemesis.
Comments
Post a Comment