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Energizing

Myers Briggs Type Indicator: Energizing

by Ron Potter March 18, 2021

Extroversion or introversion. Where do you get your energy from? In Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) this is known as your energizing function. More importantly, if you’re making a decision, which side of the pair do you need to be in when you are comfortable or convinced the decision you’re making is right. We are energized by extraversion or introversion.

Extravert or Introvert Labels

I think this pair more than any of the others has been misused when we label people. I clearly fall on the extraversion side of this pair. In fact, when I take the assessment I usually have the highest possible score on the extraverted side. People often assume that extroverts talk all the time.

Even though I score the highest possible score in that area, I spend a great deal of time reading and thinking quietly. My amazon statistics indicate that I read somewhere between 50 and 100 books a year. I spend that time in silence. I enjoy writing these blogs, creating visuals, both Powerpoints and animations, for my consulting work.

Every month or so I look forward to getting up to my cabin which sits in the middle of 500 acres of wilderness in northern Michigan to enjoy the quiet, solitude, time to think, and time to write. I spend much of my time being completely quiet. This is not a trait associated with extroverts.

However, if I’ve been thinking through a concept or a decision I have to make during this quiet time, I must talk it over with someone before I’ll make the decision I’m confident about. If I make a decision with quiet time only, then I’m always questioning the decision. I need to talk it through with someone. I need their thoughts and opposing views to be sure of my decision in the end. I am energized by my extraversion preferences!

Introverts Can Be Talkative

One of the traits of introverts is that if they’ve had time to think about a topic (which puts them into the introverted preference), they’re ready to talk. They will be fully engaged in the conversations and willing to share their thoughts. However, if we extraverts suddenly bring up an idea they haven’t had time to quietly think about they may go quiet.

What I’ve seen happen more often with teams is the introvert will simply repeat what they’ve already said. It can often sound as if they are saying to us “Didn’t you hear what I just said? Let me repeat.” In fact, the extraverts heard what they said, this was simply a new thought. But springing a new thought without time to quietly think about it doesn’t go over well for the introvert so they repeat what they have thought out.

How to Accommodate Introverts

Let’s face it, meetings are designed by and meant for extraverts. Why do we have meetings? To get together and talk.

One of the best approaches to accommodate both the extravert and introvert in meetings is for a wise moderator to:

Stop the Discussion
Ask everyone to write down what they think the three best ideas were based on the discussion
Give them time to write down their thoughts
After a reasonable amount of time, ask each member to put their best idea on the flip chart

It’s always fascinating to me to watch what happens during this “writing” time.

The introverts will do something to cut off the “chaos” in the room. They’ll put one hand over their eyes, or they’ll turn away from the team with their pad or they might even move elsewhere inside or outside the room. But this allows them to think. Almost immediately the thoughts clarify and they start writing. They’ll often write more than the requested three things and then either rank-order them or combine them.

Meanwhile, the extraverts may write the number one thing that was obvious to them. Sometimes they’ll even write two things but they seldom get three things written down. What do they do? They move over to the refreshment area where the rest of the extraverts have gathered so they can talk. By doing so, they’ll come up with their list of three and then regather at their seats.

The wise moderator then begins to go around the room and ask each person to contribute their number one item to the list. In doing so, the moderator has essentially kept the environment on the introverted side even though people are beginning to speak. Once the list is exhausted, the moderator will open it back up to discussion thus moving it back to an extraverted environment.

Meetings are extraverted environments. They don’t have to dedicate 50% to talking and 50% to quiet time. However, if you don’t build in some quiet time, you will lose the brainpower of a high portion of the participants.

I’ve often asked the introverts what happens to them as soon as they walk out of the room at the end of the meeting. They will all say something like “I wish I had said that —It all of a sudden became so clear to me!” What they’re saying is they didn’t have the opportunity to “think” during the meeting.

We must create an environment that allows everyone to capture their best thoughts.

Archetypes

The statistics on MBTI have proven to be the same around the world. However, I’ve observed that each culture has its ideal of what type a great leader is or should be.

In North America, we tend to hold up the extraverts as leaders. They should be outspoken, confident, leading through words, and ready to handle change.

In Asia, it tends to be almost the opposite. Their leaders should be soft-spoken, quietly confident, lead through action and think long term, not reacting to every change that comes along.

In an American office, if someone walks past the leader’s office and sees them sitting quietly, it’s assumed they are not doing anything so this might be a good time to interrupt them with a question. In Asia, if the leader is seen sitting quietly, it is assumed that they are deep in thought and should not be interrupted.

Statistics

For each of the four pairs, I’ll identify the split in the US Population, Leadership Teams, and Operations Teams.

The US Population is well researched and statistically sound. For Leadership Teams, I always used the database that I have gathered through the years. And even though it had a couple of thousand data points and should have been valid, I was always a little hesitant to say that it indicated anything beyond my own file. Then, one day I was able to see the database collected by the Center for Creative Leadership. They had tens of thousands (maybe hundreds of thousands) of leaders in their database. And to my great relief, their statics were exactly the same as mine.

Operations teams are the teams in the organization that are responsible for the rubber hitting the road. If the company makes widgets, this team is responsible to get as many widgets out the door as fast and cheaply as possible. The head of the Operations Team is usually part of the Leadership team.

Once we see the splits of these three data sets, it’s worthwhile to ask if there is anything to be learned.

US Population – Extraversion = 50% Introversion = 50%

Leadership Teams – Extraversion = 62% Introversion = 38%

Operation Teams – Extraversion = 56% Introversion = 44%

One of the things learned here is that Leadership Teams are more extraverted than Operation Teams and a lot more extraverted than the general population. This is a talkative bunch!

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Blog Myers-Briggs Myers-Briggs In-Depth

Myers-Briggs In-Depth: Energizing: Extraversion vs Introversion – Part II

by Ron Potter March 2, 2015

In part I of our discussion of Extraversion and Introversion I discussed the misunderstandings that can occur between the two. Today, I’ll unpack that further.

Meeting Phases – Balancing Extraversion and Introversion

All meetings in one form or another are made up of three stages:

Brainstorming Divergent Phase – Gathering of information, ideas, beliefs and assumptions. Wide open throw out any idea or concept, get it on the chart and we’ll see what sticks.
Prioritizing Convergent Phase – Here we begin to look for patterns, narrow down the focus, combine items, and see if there are some themes that will focus our further work.
Deciding Phase – Bring it to a conclusion. There’s a lot to understand about decision types and processes. When we get to this phase we’ll talk about balancing each of the four functions, not just the Energizing function.

Meetings may be constructed of all three phases in sequence or any given meeting may be dedicated to any one or two phases with the entire process playing out over several meetings. The point is to be very clear about which phase you’re in and balancing functions in each phase.

Photo Credit: Porsche Brosseau, Creative Commons

Brainstorming

The next time you start a brainstorming session (information gather divergent phase), notice the dynamics at work. If you start with a true blank slate (you’ve pulled up the flip chart and are standing there with pen in hand) you’ll notice that the first people to contribute ideas tend to be the Introverted crowd. Isn’t that interesting? If you’ve done your duty and put out an agenda with the topic to be discussed, the Introverts come to the meeting with some pre-thought ideas.

Agenda Timing

Ask an Introverted thinker when they like to receive an agenda.

The first answer is “well in advance.”
The second answer is “at least a day.”

Ask an Extraverted thinking when they look at an agenda.

The answer given most often is “On the way into the meeting.”

Extraverts just want to know what we’re going to talk about. Introverted thinkers want to think about what they’ll say.

Ebbs and Flows

As the brainstorming session gets underway the first few contributions to the list come from the Introverted thinkers but pretty soon enough ideas are getting recorded that trigger the Extraverted thinkers and now they begin to throw ideas out with such a pace that the Introverts have now gone quiet.

But two things must happen to keep things balanced:

The Extraverts will eventually run out of ideas and now is the time to ask (and wait for) more ideas. It’s usually the Introverts that now have a chance to contribute further to the list.
The Extraverts will begin to see patterns in the list and will want to and actually begin to move on to the prioritizing stage of the process.

You must stop this from happening and keep the focus on the generation of ideas for the brainstorming list.

Key to the Balancing Process

Now, here’s the key to the whole process, once all ideas have been gathered, ask the team to stop talking, pick up a pen and write down the three best ideas that they believe just came out of the brainstorming phase of the process.

If you could hear inside their heads you would hear the Introverted thinkers saying something like: “Finally, I’ve got a minute to think through this because I believe there were some brilliant ideas tossed out there. Let’s see, number one is obvious, number two is also very clear, there is actually a three and a four that can’t be missed but I think we can make that one a 2a.”

The Introverts just got more engaged in the process.

Meanwhile, notice the Extraverted thinkers writing down their three best ideas “quietly”. The conversation in their head would probably sound something like this:

“Let’s see, three best ideas? Well, the number one is quite obvious. Number two? Number two? Number two….. Where’s the coffee?” Pretty soon, the Extraverts are over at the coffee pot together.

Why? So they can talk. “Hey, what was your number two? Oh, yea, what a great idea. In fact if we combine that with item D, I think it could be an even better number two.”

The extraverts need to talk to keep their energy up to be able to answer the question, “What were the three best ideas to come out of the brainstorming?”

Ease into the Prioritizing Phase

Now, as you ease back into the meeting

get the Introverts head out of their lists and
get the Extraverts back from the coffee pot

you begin to ease back into an extraverted environment.

Go around the room and ask each person what their number one idea was. People are starting to talk again but it’s very structured and very controlled which allows the Introverts to further reflect and think about their list.

And the Extraverts are starting to hear other people’s ideas and you may even see them taking notes for when it gets to be their turn. And now, you’re off to the races. The Extraverts have gotten active again and the conversation is nonstop. Good. Both functions have had an opportunity to energize and get their thoughts on the board.

Now, just be careful to create the same “balancing act” between this prioritization portion of the meeting and the deciding portion of the meeting. The Extraverts will begin to talk about making a decision before the Introverts have had an opportunity to sort out the discussion on prioritization. Make sure there is another moment when you stop the conversation, let people gather their thoughts and get them recorded and contemplated before you move on to the decision making Phase.

Share with us some of your experiences from both side of this equation. What do you wish the other preference type would understand about how you get energized?

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"I'm in here. You're out there. Let's keep it that way a while longer"

Blog Myers-Briggs Myers-Briggs In-Depth

Myers-Briggs In-Depth: Energizing: Introversion vs Extraversion – Part I

by Ron Potter February 16, 2015

This function is responsible for more misunderstandings and confusion than any of the others. At least that’s my observation. This is why I always spend more time on understanding this function when I’m working with teams.

There are some very natural dynamics in place here that often sabotage our ability to balance this function in team meetings. Team meetings are, by definition, extraverted affairs.

“Why did we call you all together for this team meeting? To talk!”

So right off the bat, team meetings are designed for and often run by extraverts. Even if the team meeting leader or facilitator happens to have a preference for introversion, the extraverted crowd often takes over the dynamics of the meeting without even realizing it or intending to do so.

Let me start with the introverts (which we seldom do in team meetings). I often ask one question of my introverts in team meetings “How often have you left a meeting and as soon as you walk out that door right there (pointing to an exit door) do you think to yourself,

I wish I had thought of that.
Oh, now I know what Sue was getting at.
I wish I could have gotten a word in edgewise because I’ve really given some thought to this issue.

In one form or another every introverted thinker says “All the time.” “Every meeting.” “Often.”

Missing Half the Brain Power

Isn’t that interesting that we called a meeting, brought all of the high powered and high priced brains into the room together to solve a problem or come up with an innovative approach and yet because of the dynamics of the meeting process we let half that brain power walk out of the room without ever hearing their ideas or taking advantage of their well thought ideas. What a loss!

Introverted Energy

Why does this happen? Remember that this is our Energizing function. Our extraverts gain energy from the conversation while our introverted partners get energized by reflective thought and a moment of quiet. Because our team meetings are naturally extroverted environments, our extraverts come in with the goal to get the conversation started and keep it going (adding energy all the way) from:

the brainstorming (information gathering divergent stage) right though
the prioritizing (consolidation of ideas into a few good options convergent stage) right up to and through
the decision making phase.

Meanwhile, unless our Introverted thinkers have a moment to reflect and gather their thoughts and re-energize between these three phases, they:

lose energy
drift away
give up on getting their thoughts injected and will even dig in their heels and try to halt or delay the decision making phase if they
haven’t had sufficient time to get on top of their thoughts through all of the conversation.

Bringing Balance

So how do we get on top of this function and bring the balance required to get the best out of both types of functions? The easiest and most profound approach is to define and separate the phases of a meeting. All meetings in one form or another have three phases:

Brainstorming, idea gathering, learning and understanding divergent phase
Prioritizing – consolidation of ideas, narrowing down potential options convergent phase
Deciding

Image Source: Quinn Dombrowski, Creative Commons

Let’s Keep Talking

As we stated earlier the extraverted types would prefer that we keep talking right though all three phases non-stop because that feeds their energizing needs. However, by simply separating the phases of the meeting with a brief pause for reflection and thought between each stage we allow our introverted partners to get re-energized through the process.

In coming blogs we’ll discuss many of the techniques that will help balance the functions between extraverted and introverted as well as the other functions on the Myers-Briggs chart.

Extroverted or Introverted?

Do you know if you’re extraverted or introverted? It’s not just about talking or enjoying yourself at parties. It’s about your energy. What gets your juices flowing? How do you grapple with difficult issues or problems or decisions that must be made? Do you need to engage in conversation or after the conversations do you need to withdraw and reflect, think, contemplate what was discussed?

Share with us some of your experiences from both side of this equation. What do you wish the other preference type would understand about how you get energized?

Myers-Briggs In-Depth is a blog series in which I dive into each MBTI function with more detail, providing some practical applications for creating better dynamics and better decision making. Click here to read the entire series.
Interested in an overview of each of the four Myers-Briggs functions? Click here to read the Using MBTI to Great Advantage series.

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Blog Myers-Briggs Using MBTI to Great Advantage

Using MBTI to Great Advantage – Energizing

by Ron Potter December 22, 2014

Using MBTI to Great Advantage is a blog series in which I’ll do an overview of each of the four Myers-Briggs (MBTI) functions and then in subsequent blogs will dig into each one in more depth with some practical applications for creating better dynamics and better decisions making. Click here to read the Series Introduction.

Energizing Overview: Extroversion vs Introversion

Unfortunately the two words associated with this function carry a lot of preconceived baggage. We think of the outgoing, gregarious, easy to talk with extroverted type or the shy, quite, retiring introverted type. And while we may see some of those characteristics in this function, that’s not what is getting measured here.

This is your “energizing” function. When you need to get creative, solve a problem, grapple with an issue, deal with alternatives, how do you get energized around the solution?

Extraverts need to talk. While talking our energy seems to grow, ideas start falling into place, internal decisions get made and finally, right during the conversation our fingers snap and our brain says “That’s it. I’ve got it.” The extroverted conversation energized us.
Introverts on the other hand need to reflect. They may do just as much talking with colleagues and others to gather as much input as possible and will likely do a lot more reading and studying but at some point, they just need to let all of that information come together in their head as their introverted thoughts process all that they’ve learned and put it into a structure that makes sense to them. At that moment they express an inward (and sometime outward) smile and their brain says “That’s it. I’ve got it.”

Greatest confusion and misunderstanding.
Because of how these two functions work so differently, it has been my observation that this function is at the root of most miscommunication and misunderstanding between team members and one of the biggest causes of wasted effort in team meetings. I’ll be giving you a lot of examples and solutions for making this function work well for you and the team in future blogs.

Don’t assume you know.
One last thought on the Energizing function. Because we think we know what (or who) an extravert and introvert is, we arm-chair psychologists make the most mistakes with this function. I have worked with talkative introverts and quiet extraverts. Do Not make assumptions on this function. You’ll often be wrong and create more misunderstanding and confusion. I’ll repeat the following statement many times because it’s so important: Don’t try to figure out if a person has an extroverted or introverted preference, just learn to balance your process so that both types flourish and contribute to the dialogue and decision making.

Remember, the three rules for using this function effectively:
1. Balance
2. Balance
3. Balance

Learn to process team dynamics in a balanced way and learn to balance your own preferences. You’ll be seen as a better leader and your teams will be identified as high-performance teams.

Share with us some of your experiences with this function both from a personal understanding or a team dynamic impact.

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