The Importance of the Order of the Sensing–Intuition Facets
Global Marketing
When interpreting MBTI® Step II™ facet results, practitioners sometimes forget about the significance of the order of the facets. When it comes to paying attention to things, Sensing–Intuition (taking in information) people start by using a Concrete, Midzone, or Abstract approach first. They then go down the list of the remaining facets, in order: Realistic-Imaginative, Practical-Conceptual, Experiential-Theoretical, and Traditional-Original. (If you want a great team exercise involving these Sensing and Intuition facets to improve team information gathering, download it here.)
I report Intuition and in-preference Abstract on the first S-N facet. When I’m learning something new, I need time to “go beyond the surface and read between the lines,” as my MBTI® Step II™ Interpretive Report reads. As a result, I have trouble focusing on the tangible specifics involved. When my kitchen was being remodeled a few years ago, I “volunteered” to help make the cabinets. My partner (reported Sensing and in-preference Concrete) had lots of experience building things like this and was doing his best to teach me. However, his level of detail was overwhelming to my learning style. He could tell, so every few minutes he would look me in the eye and say “focus,” because he thought he could see I was losing interest. What he didn’t realize was that my mind was moving forward to the bigger-picture possibilities.
Building the cabinets was a struggle for me, but in the long run I was able to focus and do my small part. The kitchen cabinets look great…and I helped!
Sometimes understanding the Step II facets can be more difficult than we thought. If you're looking for an aid in better understanding these facets, take a look at this booklet and read more about flexing your MBTI Step II facets here. Also if you want to read this series from the beginning, start here.