My daughter and Nursing Leadership Class clued me into the importance of other's perceptions. I took the Myers-Briggs personality assessment(www.16personalities.com).
My patients are my first priority at work, then my co-workers and their feelings. This means when I take reports and I am told some critical information I start processing the data in my brain and knowledge of that particular health issue. I must get a look that is perceived to be judgmental because many of my co-workers feel I am being critical of their report. Far from that, I am simply processing the information. I think like a guy in that respect. I am trying to solve or evaluate what options might be viable for the care of this person and their health issue.
So what is a person to do?? Become more in tune with the perceptions of others and desperately try to understand how others think and behave. The knowledge of how others operate tends to baffle me. I can empathize with the patients and the families but I get frustrated with my peers who look for me to empathize with them and their feelings. I don't come to work to be their friend and as an INTJ my true friends are a few selected people (this is mostly my sisters). I realize that this is a HUGE weakness in my professional career. One I have tried hard to overcome but apparently it is still an issue in my world.
Here is what my profile says about me:
INTJ STRENGTHS
- Quick, Imaginative and
Strategic Mind - INTJs pride themselves
on their minds, taking every opportunity to improve their knowledge, and
this shows in the strength and flexibility of their strategic thinking.
Insatiably curious and always up for an intellectual challenge, INTJs can
see things from many perspectives. INTJs use their creativity and
imagination not so much for artistry, but for planning contingencies and
courses of action for all possible scenarios.
- High Self-Confidence - INTJs trust their rationalism above all else,
so when they come to a conclusion, they have no reason to doubt their
findings. This creates an honest, direct style of communication that isn't
held back by perceived social roles or expectations. When INTJs are right,
they're right, and no amount of politicking or hand-holding is going to
change that fact - whether it's correcting a person, a process, or
themselves, they'd have it no other way.
- Independent and Decisive - This creativity, logic and confidence come
together to form individuals who stand on their own and take
responsibility for their own actions. Authority figures do not impress
INTJs, nor do social conventions or tradition, and no matter how popular
something is, if they have a better idea, INTJs will stand against anyone
they have to in a bid to have it changed. Either an idea is the most
rational or it's wrong, and INTJs will apply this to their arguments as
well as their own behavior, staying calm and detached from these sometimes
emotionally charged conflicts. INTJs will only be swayed by those who
follow suit.
- Hard-working and determined - If something piques their interest, INTJs can
be astonishingly dedicated to their work, putting in long hours and
intense effort to see an idea through. INTJs are incredibly efficient, and
if tasks meet the criteria of furthering a goal, they will find a way to
consolidate and accomplish those tasks. However, this drive for efficiency
can also lead to a sort of elaborate laziness, wherein INTJs find ways to
bypass seeming redundancies which don't seem to require a great deal of
thought - this can be risky, as sometimes double-checking one's work is
the standard for a reason.
- Open-minded - All this rationalism leads to a very
intellectually receptive personality type, as INTJs stay open to new
ideas, supported by logic, even if (and sometimes especially if) they
prove INTJs' previous conceptions wrong. When presented with unfamiliar
territory, such as alternate lifestyles, INTJs tend to apply their
receptiveness and independence, and aversion to rules and traditions, to
these new ideas as well, resulting in fairly liberal social senses.
- Jacks-of-all-Trades - INTJs' open-mindedness, determination,
independence, confidence and strategic abilities create individuals who
are capable of doing anything they set their minds to. Excelling at
analyzing anything life throws their way, INTJs are able to
reverse-engineer the underlying methodology of most any system and apply
the concepts that are exposed wherever needed. INTJs tend to have their
pick of professions, from IT architects to political masterminds.
INTJ WEAKNESSES
- Arrogant - INTJs are perfectly capable of carrying their
confidence too far, falsely believing that they've resolved all the
pertinent issues of a matter and closing themselves off to the opinions of
those they believe to be intellectually inferior. Combined with their
irreverence for social conventions, INTJs can be brutally insensitive in
making their opinions of others all too clear.
- Judgmental - INTJs tend to have complete confidence in their
thought process, because rational arguments are almost by definition correct
- at least in theory. In practice, emotional considerations and history
are hugely influential, and a weak point for INTJs is that they brand
these factors and those who embrace them as illogical, dismissing them and
considering their proponents to be stuck in some baser mode of thought,
making it all but impossible to be heard.
- Overly analytical - A recurring theme with INTJs is their
analytical prowess, but this strength can fall painfully short where logic
doesn't rule - such as with human relationships. When their critical minds
and sometimes neurotic level of perfectionism (often the case with
Turbulent INTJs) are applied to other people, all but the steadiest of
friends will likely need to make some distance, too often permanently.
- Loathe highly structured
environments - Blindly following
precedents and rules without understanding them is distasteful to INTJs,
and they disdain even more authority figures who blindly uphold those laws
and rules without understanding their intent. Anyone who prefers the
status quo for its own sake, or who values stability and safety over
self-determination, is likely to clash with INTJ personality types.
Whether it's the law of the land or simple social convention, this
aversion applies equally, often making life more difficult than it needs
to be.
- Clueless in romance - This antipathy to rules and tendency to
over-analyze and be judgmental, even arrogant, all adds up to a
personality type that is often clueless in dating. Having a new
relationship last long enough for INTJs to apply the full force of their
analysis on their potential partner's thought processes and behaviors can
be challenging. Trying harder in the ways that INTJs know best can only
make things worse, and it's unfortunately common for them to simply give
up the search. Ironically, this is when they're at their best, and most
likely to attract a partner.
And here is my workplace profile:
INTJ IN THE WORKPLACE
Above all else, INTJs want to be able to tackle intellectually
interesting work with minimal outside interference, no more, no less.
Time-consuming management techniques like trust-building getaways, progress
meetings, and drawn-out, sandwiched criticisms are only going to annoy INTJs -
all they need, be they subordinate, colleague, or manager, is to meet their
goals with the highest standard of technical excellence and to be surrounded
by, if anyone at all, people who share those values.
On paper this makes them appear to be exemplary employees, and
in many ways they are, but there are many types, especially those with a
combination of the Observant (S) and Feeling (F) traits, who will find a work
(or any other) relationship with INTJs extremely challenging. INTJs have a
fairly strict code of conduct when it comes to their work, and if they see
coworkers valuing social activities and "good enough" workmanship
over absolute excellence, it will be a turbulent environment. For this reason,
INTJs tend to prefer to work in tight, like-minded groups - a group of one, if
necessary.
So my questions is - Is this how you all see me?? And - It this really a bad thing?
