The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is one of the most common personality tests available today. This test classifies human beings as having one of 16 personality types.
Each of these types has its own unique personality traits. A set of these traits controls what each personality type likes and what they dislike in various life situations. These traits even determine how each personality type behaves in various aspects of their daily life, including their workplace.
In this article, we will discuss the behavior and habits of the 16 personality types at work.
16 Personality Types at Work
An office environment is a very critical place to be in. Every individual must behave in a different way in their workplace than they do with friends. But in today’s modern work culture, understanding one’s co-workers is crucial to achieving success. This helps to build a good working relationship between different people in an office. In turn, that makes teamwork and group project a lot easier.
As we have mentioned before, an individual’s personality type has a major influence on workplace behavior. In this section, we will take a look at each of the sixteen Myers-Briggs personality types and discuss how they behave in the workplace.
1. ENFJ type at workplaces
ENFJ stands for the extroverted, intuitive, feeling, and judging type. These individuals tend to be proactive and outgoing. They always want to be involved in everything and are never afraid of being under the spotlight. For these qualities, other people often refer to them as “the protagonists.”
Naturally, ENFJs would thrive in a working environment that requires them to speak with a lot of people. Most ENFJs have very good communication skills. This makes workplace interactions easy for them. They also have the natural skill of being able to influence others with their words. So, ENFJs would have high success rates as sales executives, insurance agents, etc.
ENFJs also give strong importance to rules and regulations. Not only do they themselves follow rules, but they also want to make sure that the people around them do the same. Most ENFJs have a very strong moral compass.
2. ENFP type in workplaces
ENFP indicates the extraverted, intuitive, feeling, and perceiving type. They are humble and modest. They have a very charming personalities and always seem to have a smile on their face. This makes them quite easily approachable and likable.
They are also open-minded, flexible, and adaptable. This makes them a good asset in the workplace. They can fit into the role of a manager as well as a subordinate with relative ease.
Even as team members, ENFPs are inspiring. They can inspire other teammates to get the required job done. For this, others often call them “the campaigners.”
ENFPs also have a strong creative minds. They would flourish in job roles that allow them to explore this creativity. They are intuitive minds who can think ahead of the present scenario. Most ENFPs have a broad vision in life; just because they can foresee future possibilities and help others in the office accomplish big targets easily.
3. ENTJ type at the workplace
The term ENTJ denotes the extraverted, intuitive, thinking, and judging type of individual. These people are very dedicated to their work. They have a strong sense of duty towards their workplace. They tend to be quite bold and assertive. They often have a domineering nature.
Sometimes, they may even force their opinion on others. Because of qualities like these, ENTJs thrive in leadership positions. Others often call them “the commanders.”
They are very ambitious, and this often rubs off on other people. This means that ENTJs can inspire others to be motivated and dedicated to their work. But sometimes, they can even be stubborn and impatient if their subordinates do not listen to them.
4. ENTP type at the workplace
ENTP refers to an extroverted, intuitive, thinking, and perceiving type of individual. Often known as “the debater,” ENTPs have a strong fighting spirit. They always seem to have a high level of energy.
So, they want to keep themselves engaged at all times. In addition to this, they also have an argumentative nature. For this reason, ENTPs often like to play the devil’s advocate. They will start debates with people just for the fun of it.
They have a direct communication style which may come off as rude to some people. Other people dislike them for this but that does not bother an ENTP.
ENTPs have an innovative and creative side to them. They like to have some degree of independence and work at their own pace. In ideal conditions, they would flourish in a flexible work environment.
5. ESFJ personality type at the workplace
ESFJ indicates an extraverted, sensing, feeling, and judging type of individual. These people tend to be very charming and cheerful. They have an optimistic outlook toward every situation in the workplace.
In the office, ESFJs are kind and helpful to everyone. Their colleagues often call them as the “helping buddies” or “the consuls.”
ESFJs love to keep their work organized and planned, right down to the last-minute detail. They hate working under pressure. So, they often finish up their work well before any deadline. They can keep other people working together in a cohesive group. Qualities like these make an ESFJ good at project management.
6. ESFP personality type at workplaces
The term ESFP stands for the extraverted, sensing, feeling, and perceiving type. These people love being in the limelight. In an office environment, ESFPs jump at the opportunity of giving a presentation. They love to be the center of attention at all times. They always seem cheerful and jovial. They often crack jokes in the office and keep everyone entertained. This is why others often call them “the entertainers.”
An ESFP’s ideal work environment is one where their supervisors give them creative freedom. They can be excellent team players. They are very supportive towards others and also passionate about their own work.
7. ESTJ personality types at workplaces
ESTJ indicates the extroverted, sensing, thinking, and judging personality type. These individuals love planning and organizing all their work as well as other resources in the office. ESTJs have natural leadership qualities.
They love hard work and commitment. They also give strong importance to rules and regulations.
So, they hate it when others try to be immoral or disregard rules. They may seem rude and strict. But in essence, they have everyone’s good intentions at heart. ESTJs truly thrive in a leadership positions. For their bossy demeanor, others often call them “the executive.”
8. ESTP personality type at work
ESTP denotes an extraverted, sensing, thinking, and perceiving personality type. These people tend to have a very lively and positive attitude. They are smart, innovative, and creative. They are problem solvers and risk takers.
They love to spend time brainstorming on difficult problems. Often, they come up with unique solutions to complex problems. ESTPs are proud and boastful individuals. They love to brag about themselves in front of their colleagues or superiors. But most of the time, they can back up their words with their actions. So, their pride does not come off as vanity. ESTPs are also very flexible.
They can adapt to any changing situation with relative ease. Their communication style is direct and to the point. For all these qualities, their supervisors and colleagues value their importance.
9. INFJ personality type at work
INFJ refers to the introverted, intuitive, feeling, and judging type of individual. They tend to be strong-willed and goal-driven people. In an ideal work environment, INFJs hope that their colleagues share the same values as them.
Being introverted, they are not good at communicating and expressing their needs in a proper way. But once an INFJ becomes good friends with someone, they will remain loyal to that person.
INFJs hate office politics and gossip. They think that indulging in such behavior will make them lose focus on the work that they are doing. This shows how much importance INFJs give to professionalism.
10. INFP personality type at work
INFP indicates the introverted, intuitive, feeling, and perceiving personality type. These individuals prefer to be independent and autonomous in the workplace. They want to work at their own pace.
Being introverted, they do not like small talk with their colleagues. If they are working in large groups, they may feel emotionally drained. For this reason, INFPs do not tend to be good team players. They have a creative and imaginative mindset. So, they prefer jobs that let them utilize this creative side.
INFPs are also altruistic and kind at heart. They always want to help out their colleagues in the workplace. They have a strong desire to achieve peace and harmony. They seem to have a natural talent for conflict resolution. Because of this, their colleagues know them as “the mediators.”
11. INTJ personality type at workplaces
An INTJ is introverted, intuitive, thinking, and judging. They are staunch, resolute, and resolved in their mindset. This translates to their work as well. INTJs are quite professional and hard workers.
When they are working on a particular task, they devote their complete energy and attention to it. But at the same time, they can also keep long-term goals in mind. Most INTJs are smart, calculated, and methodical in their approach to work. They are good at problem-solving. Because of this, others often refer to them as “the architects.”
INTJs prefer to work alone rather than in groups. This is because they think that others will slow them down. Their attitude often comes off as rude and boastful to others. But an INTJ does not care as long as it does not disrupt their work.
12. INTP personality type at workplaces
The term INTP indicates the introverted, intuitive, thinking, and perceiving personality type. These people are the true “logisticians,” as they apply logic to every small thing in life. They are quite rational and logical in every task that they do.
They are also good at abstract thinking and making deductions. This makes them good at problem-solving.
An INTP’s ideal work environment is one where they are given the freedom to work alone at their own pace. Because of their desire to apply logic to even daily tasks, INTPs may come off as eccentric or crazy to others.
13. ISFJ personality type at workplaces
ISFJ indicates an introverted, sensing, feeling, and judging type of individual. These people are hardworking, passionate, and dedicated to their work. ISFJs do not have many friends in the workplace. But once they become friends with someone, they will remain loyal to that person. For this reason, others often call them “the defenders.”
Because of the sensing aspect of their personality, ISFJs are good observers. They can learn new tasks with relative ease and in a short time. For this, their supervisors and colleagues often value them.
14. ISFP personality type at workplaces
ISFP stands for the introverted, sensing, feeling, and perceiving personality type. ISFPs like to live in the present moment. They often put too much focus on the task that they have on hand. In doing so, they can forget about the long-term objectives of their work.
This kind of behavior may lead to them underperforming in the workplace. So, an ISFP performs well when they have a kind and empathetic supervisor that can guide them in the right direction.
ISFPs are passionate about many things outside of their work. They do not like social interactions with their colleagues outside of the workplace. Instead, they prefer to enjoy their time alone.
15. ISTJ personality type at workplaces
An ISTJ tends to be introverted, sensing, thinking, and judging. These individuals are logical and methodical in their approach to work. They want everything to be organized. They follow a strict routine in their personal life as well as their workplace.
When anyone disrupts that routine, an ISTJ can become flustered. Being introverts, they are not good team players and rather prefer working alone. But they are very dedicated to the work that they do.
Because of their good analytical skills, ISTJs can be comfortable working with large volumes of data or numbers. Others often call them “the logisticians.”
People with ISTJ traits are straightforward communicators. So, if you’re interacting with an ISTJ, keep it in mind to put your opinions in a precise and to-the-point manner. ISTJs never like people who tend to dramatize easy talks in subtle ways.
16. ISTP personality type at workplaces
ISTPs are the introverted, sensing, thinking, and perceiving personality types. They are rational-minded and good at problem-solving. But like most introverts, they prefer to work alone, rather than in teams.
They do not like working under strict deadlines. ISTPs have quite a practical mindset. But they also have an adventurous side to them. So, they often like to tackle unconventional problems that other people in the office may refuse to handle.
16 Personality Types – Workplace Weaknesses
We have discussed a lot about the various workplace habits of the Myers-Briggs 16 types. Some of these habits will improve their skills and increase productivity; while there are certain less lovely skills or habits that can actually become an impediment to personality growth.
We all have less good potentials that can surface at any moment in workplaces where we need to work with everyone. Each of the 16 types has certain behavioral tendencies that can create problems in offices.
1. INTJ personality type
They have sharp minds that can think out of the box in any circumstance but their biggest weakness is they tend to dismiss others’ opinions instantly. In workplaces, they appear stubborn and maintain an aura of superiority. This lowers their relationship quotient and popularity amongst co-workers.
2. INTP personality type
INTPs are analysts who prefer to daydream about several ideas at a time. In workplaces, they are competent idealists; however, their incomplete ideas and hasty decision-making can lower their workplace productivity at any given moment in time. They may start working on a project, halt them for a while, and never finish off again.
3. ENTJ personality type
ENTJs are enterprising professionals. Thereby, they are always leaders in workplaces. However, they will push their ideas onto others. They will never listen to the ideas and imaginations of team members and may negate them completely. Socially, they are less popular and fail to connect with the emotions of people working with them.
4. ENTP personality type
The ENTP type is amazing as far as their rich ideas and creative thoughts are concerned. Their biggest weakness in the workplace is their argumentative nature. They will argue with others a lot, even to a point of no return. This behavior can be subtly annoying to others.
5. INFJ personality type
In workplaces, INFJs try to act too morally and ethically. In doing so, they even forget to give space to others. They cannot tolerate wrong things happening around them, and they will make sure that everything works fairly.
But reality seems to be unlike fantasy; INFJs can be too critical about others’ opinions and work styles. This can lead to conflicts and bad-mouthing coworkers and make the workplace a little bitterer than it normally is.
6. INFP personality type
The INFP type is indecisive in workplaces. They will create endless ideas but may not accomplish anyone fully. Most of their decisions are taken on the spot without any deep thinking. Therefore, it could be faulty as well. Trust issues can occur with an INFP when other co-workers do not show faith in them because of their haste and alacrity.
7. ENFJ personality type
ENFJ will prefer to build healthy interpersonal connections in workplaces as always but this can backfire because they may act too intimidating at times.
They may ask for too much emotional reciprocation and engagement from others, even causing people to withdraw from the sticky situation. Giving people more space and privacy will actually help them develop deeper human connections easily.
8. ENFP personality type
ENFPs are the storehouse of energy and exuberance but if this energy is not used to raise the profit levels and productivity of the organization, it can raise the eyebrows of their managers easily.
Sometimes workplace conflicts may arise when teammates find that the deadline is near and the ENFP is still having curious ideas popping up every now and then, without any fruitful outcome.
9. ISTJ personality type
ISTJs are orderly and meticulous, often excessive when it comes to meeting deadlines in workplaces. To a certain extent, this organizational skill works like a wonder.
But, when they become too inflexible and routine-dependent, it can appear as a big problem for their peers and teammates. They may fail to accept new directives and remain open to creative and novel ideas taking rounds inside the team.
10. ISFJ personality type
ISFJs are too sensitive and emotional in workplaces. This may pose a threat to their mental well-being. They may be used by others for various intentions. They are too complacent and therefore remain unaware of the threat and dangers directed toward them. They are all too sensitive to criticisms and may things at heart too easily.
11. ESTJ personality type
The ESTJ personality type is too autocratic in the workplace. They are rude and dominating also when it comes to asserting their ideas, opinions, and work strategies on others.
People with this personality type are never emotional fools; however, they will behave too logically when it comes to doing things in the right manner. They tend to rule and lead with an iron fist and that can make them too unpopular as leaders in office.
12. ESFJ personality type
In workplaces, ESFJs’ greatest weakness is their gossiping nature. They will always keep their opinions high wherever they are. This means you will find them discussing others much more than what they should do. These individuals are opinionated and prefer discussing workplace politics. They may lose peoples’ faith and trust in this way.
13. ISTP personality type
ISTPs are introverts who are not much interested in socializing and know diverse groups of people. They are not into social niceties even by chance. Therefore, personal connection building is their greatest weakness in the office setup.
14. ISFP personality type
In workplaces, ISTPs showcase a sense of scattered attention. They cannot focus on one task until it’s done. They tend to switch their attention to many things at a time and thereby suffer from delays in meeting deadlines.
Sometimes, with this habit of not giving undivided attention to the ongoing projects only, they may suffer from failures in goal accomplishment also.
15. ESTP personality type
ESTPs are assertive and appear too impolite at times while dealing with teammates at times. This is because of their abrasive nature. As they have a rough and ready style of doing things, they are not interested in following the official rules or going by the protocol that was time-tested. Instead, they will follow their own path.
In doing so, they may act rudely or appear to be unfriendly to those who are too consistent and meticulous in the workplace.
16. ESFP personality type
ESTP are performers at work and believe in maintaining healthy relationships with all in their place of work. But at times too much socialization can lead to distraction, affecting work-life balance to a great extent. This can also lower their work efficiency and productivity. They may miss out on deadlines and goals may look like a far-off vision only.
To Sum Up
To end with a positive note, each individual’s personality type controls how they behave in the workplace. For example, people with an extroverted personality type are well suited to working with others. So, they can be better team players. Introverted people, on the other hand, prefer to work alone.
Similarly, sensing and thinking type individuals rely on their logic and abstract reasoning. For this reason, they are good problem solvers. Again, perceiving-type individuals are very flexible about their approach to work. They like to go with the flow.
But judging type individuals are very planned and organized. In this way, we have seen through this article that every personality trait has a role in a person’s workplace behavior.
In order to make sure that everyone can work properly and give optimum output, supervisors must promote harmony and teamwork between colleagues in the workplace.
