Getting inside the brains of Birmingham city councillors: Dr Jung will see you now
It’s unclear, when the results of the tests are known, whether councillors with poor decision making skills will be quietly removed from important positions, or given help to sharpen their act.
A report sets out benefits from the tests for councillors, who are expected to:
- Learn about their preferences and how they fit with the preferences of colleagues.
- How projects and targets can be accomplished more effectively.
- How to improve communication and minimise the negative aspects of conflict.
- How to present information most effectively.
- How to design more effective problem-solving groups
- How to assist team members in maximising their individual and collective strengths.
The committee report goes on to claim that the tests will help resolve conflict at an earlier stage and “create a buzz” around member development.
Here is an example of a free Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test which appears on the website:
Q1 Which is your most natural energy orientation?
Extraverted Characteristics
- Act first, think/reflect later
- Feel deprived when cut off from interaction with the outside world
- Usually open to and motivated by outside world of people and things
- Enjoy wide variety and change in people relationships
Introverted Characteristics
- Think/reflect first, then act
- Regularly require an amount of “private time” to recharge batteries
- Motivated internally, mind is sometimes so active it is “closed” to outside world
- Prefer one-to-one communication and relationships
Q2. Which way of Perceiving or understanding is most “automatic” or natural?
Sensing Characteristics
- Mentally live in the Now, attending to present opportunities
- Using common sense and creating practical solutions is automatic-instinctual
- Memory recall is rich in detail of facts and past events
- Best improvise from past experience
- Like clear and concrete information; dislike guessing when facts are “fuzzy”
Intuitive Characteristics
- Mentally live in the Future, attending to future possibilities
- Using imagination and creating/inventing new possibilities is automatic-instinctual
- Memory recall emphasizes patterns, contexts, and connections
- Best improvise from theoretical understanding
- Comfortable with ambiguous, fuzzy data and with guessing its meaning.
Q3. Which way of forming Judgments and making choices is most natural?
Thinking Characteristics
- Instinctively search for facts and logic in a decision situation.
- Naturally notices tasks and work to be accomplished.
- Easily able to provide an objective and critical analysis.
- Accept conflict as a natural, normal part of relationships with people.
Feeling Characteristics
- Instinctively employ personal feelings and impact on people in decision situations
- Naturally sensitive to people needs and reactions.
- Naturally seek consensus and popular opinions.
- Unsettled by conflict; have almost a toxic reaction to disharmony.
Q4. What is your “action orientation” towards the outside world?
Judging Characteristics
- Plan many of the details in advance before moving into action.
- Focus on task-related action; complete meaningful segments before moving on.
- Work best and avoid stress when able to keep ahead of deadlines.
- Naturally use targets, dates and standard routines to manage life.
Perceiving Characteristics
- Comfortable moving into action without a plan; plan on-the-go.
- Like to multitask, have variety, mix work and play.
- Naturally tolerant of time pressure; work best close to the deadlines.
- Instinctively avoid commitments which interfere with flexibility, freedom and variety
*For what it’s worth, I took the test and discovered I’m ISTP. That’s an introverted feeling type.
