Myers Briggs Types

Finding the Right Personality for the Job

The Myers Briggs has been used extensively in leadership development and job placement. Though no one is entirely one personality type, ones dominant type tells us a great deal about them and their way of making decisions and processing information. It also helps us to understand more about which environments motivate and energize them. Under certain conditions we can predict ones patterns of behavior with a reasonable degree of accuracy.

This is essential is choosing a leader whose style will fit well with the known job requirements and conditions. Understanding the job requirements, not just copying a generic set of requirements for a similar position, is also essential in determining the most favorable fit of leader to position. If an agency doesn't know whom they need, they probably won't find him or her. One should also be aware of the differences between male and female leaders. From a meta analysis of 45 studies on leadership the abstract made this important point:

Male leaders were generally more likely to manifest the other aspects of transactional leadership (active and passive management by exception) and laissez-faire leadership. Although these differences between male and female leaders were small, the implications of these findings are encouraging for female leadership because other research has established that all of the aspects of leadership style on which women exceeded men relate positively to leaders' effectiveness whereas all of the aspects on which men exceeded women have negative or null relations to effectiveness. (PMID: 12848221 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE)

In choosing leadership for law enforcement, as in any other professionals, one wants to choose the optimal person for that position. We know, for example, if one wants to change the status quo in a stagnant or even chaotic organization, one needs fresh, innovative ideas and a leader who understands that people make an organization successful--employees are central. For these circumstances you might choose an ENFP, INFP, INTP or ENTP. These types are user and people friendly.

If you need long term changes, out of the box thinking and if the human variable is not sensitive, you might choose the INTJ or INFJ. Be aware a few feelings may be hurt along the highway to success. If your organization needs stability and responsibility you may look to an ISTJ or ISFJ.

Perhaps, the take-charge old fashioned leaders, ESTP and ESFP are just what you want. They do what needs to be done and they are in there leading the charge. Keep in mind that most women are "F's" while most men are "T's". Therefore, in the preceding examples both men and women are a good fit for those leadership environments.

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