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MBTI certification (from the comfort of my couch)

Margaret Quane, Leadership and Executive Coach at The People Practice, shares her experience going through the virtual MBTI certification program:

Becoming MBTI certified virtually

I took the plunge in September 2020 and decided to get my MBTI Certification! As a practicing Leadership Coach with a background in organisational development and learning, I was no stranger to psychometric tests. I am certified with the British Psychological Society and was familiar with a variety of tests, the ethical administration, the interpretation and conducting feedback in a professional manner.

I had used and explored a range of tests and decided that MBTI was a good fit for me and a tool I could use in my coaching practice with individuals and teams. Other widely used and highly regarded tests require additional certification which is a greater financial investment and one to be considered carefully.

Virtual learning & a pre-certification delivery

I completed the training virtually and was very open to completing the course remotely as with COVID and working from home, I was already familiar with the technology. It was a pleasure to do the training from the comfort of my own home and not have to travel. This was a big selling point.
With the course there is some prescribed on-line learning to be completed before the course – log in details were emailed. This was easy to navigate through.

The supporting training materials, slides, handouts etc. all arrived by courier approx. 10 days prior to the course. It was evident from the outset that the Myers Briggs company had spent considerable time and resources on ensuring that the programme and exercises were adapted to virtual learning.

Virtual Delivery

The course was modelled in such a way as to replicate a practical group feedback session – with all preference exercises adapted for virtual delivery.

Our instructor for the 3 days had over 30 years’ experience using MBTI in research and delivery and her enthusiasm for the tool was catching.

There were 12 participants on the course, so large enough to have diversity of MBTI types within the group but small enough to allow ample time for discussion and exploration of ideas.

The programme has many interwoven elements – self-study & homework in the evenings, MBTI content and the process for delivery as a practitioner, preparation for the practical assessment (delivering individual feedback) and preparation for the exam.

Bringing Value to Practice

In short, this course has already paid for itself in terms of what it has added to my practice as a coach and the extra value it can bring to my clients.

At the most fundamental level it allows me to help individuals gain a greater self-awareness of their strengths and potential blind spots. This is always a valuable area of discovery for clients, particularly awareness around inherent personal biases based on their type and how that can show up in their lives, this proves to be eye-opening every time.

For other clients, it’s provided a different lens for exploring situations, interactions, or conflicts.

Are they repeating patterns of behaviour?

Are these patterns useful?

Would another approach work better based on the preference of others?

It provides another way of exploring interactions based on type preferences and adopting a different lens or perspective.

Getting to grips with stress, especially during the pandemic

Last year everyone faced unprecedented levels of change, from all sides, work, family etc. and I’ve really found that MBTI and type dynamics provides such helpful information on how we can behave under stress and ongoing change.

Under moderate stress we can exaggerate our favourite preference, upsetting the balance with the second favourite. Under extreme stress our fourth or inferior process comes out - MBTI refers to this as ‘in the grip’. This knowledge has been invaluable for so many clients recently, particularly around becoming aware of their behaviours under stress, noticing what triggers these reactions and working to develop strategies to bring them back into balance.

Team dynamics and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

I have also used MBTI with several teams. There’s so much flexibility for exploring type within a group – how does the team type impact our communication, how we influence others, how we come to decisions and handle and resolve conflict? What are the strengths within the team and what are our potential blind spots and how can we minimize them?

My recommendation

Obtaining MBTI certification has been a very beneficial experience for me and worth the investment. The virtual delivery was seamless and the availability of (free) virtual support materials for practitioners is also excellent. Once you pass the exam, you’re ready to hit the ground running!

It’s natural to be nervous the first few times you prepare to deliver a session with new content and materials, but I have to say the level of support you receive from your MBTI representative, paired with the knowledge hub and the vast practitioner resources available on their website makes it really easy.

As you can probably guess by now, I would highly recommend taking this course if, like me, you want to add more tools to your coaching treasure chest and foster further growth for your clients. Take the plunge!

Please reach out to me with any further questions you may have. You’ll find me on LinkedIn here.