Using the MBTI Personality Test to Build a Better Team

When crafting instructional videos, knowing where each crew member fits on set is just as important as knowing where every shot will fit in the finished product.

Discovering Your Personality Type

When it was first proposed that all of us at Allied Productions take the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) personality test, I was taken back to my early college years when I applied for a job at Best Buy. The personality evaluation required for that application was the kind I was dreading the MBTI to be; an overly long series of questions where you are asked the same questions five different ways and then the inverse of those questions three other ways. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the MBTI was not that at all.

Instead of being evaluated for what your personality is and how it will or won’t fit in the corporate culture of the company you’re applying to, the MBTI looks to find what personality type you have. Through a series of questions (long but not overly long, thankfully) the test finds out your personality traits and grades with you an acronym based on the results. Are you introverted or extroverted? Do you receive information through sensation and need cold hard facts or are you more intuitive and “think with your gut”? Do you judge by thinking or feeling? And lastly, do you judge more than you perceive or vice versa? Through the evaluation they discover which of these options you tend to lean more towards, resulting in 16 different personality types. It is possible for a person to be a little bit of both when it comes to these categories, the test just finds out which of the two applies to you more. For example, I tested to be an INFP (Introverted, iNtuitive, Feeling, Perception) but my results showed I am 51% introverted and 49% extroverted, which makes sense. I don’t avoid large gatherings but when I do attend them, I usually just socialize with the people in my circle. But at the same time, if I was feeling a little more isolated and yearning for social interaction when I took the test, that may have pushed it to 51% extroverted and my result would have been different.

Now, the test has come under some scrutiny lately for not only its accuracy but its practical application, however we have found it to be a very useful tool to learn about our team and how each member fits in it. From my personal experience, the description of my personality type isn’t a complete, 100% accurate telling of who I am but there’s a lot there that they got right so take your test answers with a little grain of salt and a speculative eye.

A Tool to Learn About Your Team

One of the most crucial elements to building a solid video production company is placing the right people in the right roles based on their skills and strengths. When you’re building the band, it’s not enough for everyone to be on the right instrument, you also have to know who can play in rhythm together. We have found our MBTI results useful in that pursuit. By discovering and sharing our personality type results we gained some insight on the strengths that our individual personalities bring to the table and how those strengths can lend support to one another. If someone in the band relies on sheet music, you’ll want to find out who writes it the most legibly.

It’s also helped us better determine which team member is best fit for accomplishing the goals of our company and we think it can help your team, too. Do you have someone who instantly jumps on a task and goes full speed? They might be best for managing the short-term and immediate goals you have. Is there someone who is more meticulous and thorough in their approach? You want them focused on the long game and growing your company for the future. No matter whether you’re working on a promotional ad, corporate video, or a live stream of an event, unexpected obstacles can arise on set. When they do, it’s incredibly helpful to know who is best equipped to handle the problem directly and who can best keep everybody’s spirits up while the issue is being resolved. Learning who is the best fit for specific objectives makes your business more efficient and brings your team some harmony, which every band needs to play the right notes.

Finding our personality types also resulted in some laughs and morale boosting for the team when we started searching for who our individual types matched with certain fictional characters. We found out that we had a Magneto, a Jesse Pinkman, and a Luke Skywalker amongst our team members. Can you imagine what would happen if Luna Lovegood, Remus Lupin, Draco Malfoy, and Ron Weasley teamed up? We have some idea at our studio. We’re all big fans of The Wire at Allied Productions so it made it even more fun during our last rewatch to know who was our Marlo Stanfield and who was our Bodie.

An Opportunity to Learn About Yourself

Along with learning a little more about your team members, the MBTI also gives you a chance to learn a few things about yourself. One of the labels given to my INFP personality type is “The Mediator” and when I first saw that I thought to myself, “So, that’s why I gotta play referee in every family conflict!” But that also informed me that when there are any clashes (which are abundant in the creative space), my personality type makes me best suited to help the clashing parties find some common ground and avoid escalating the conflict.

Along with learning how you fit in a team, you get to learn about some of the strengths and weaknesses that your personality type comes with. We have found that learning your weaknesses is just as important as learning your strengths and are equally beneficial to the team as a whole. First of all, just the simple admission of having weaknesses builds trust among your team members and helps absolve everyone from any expectation to be perfect. By sharing these individual traits as a team, you can better determine not only how support can be provided to the team members but also who is best equipped to provide that support. Facing your weaknesses can be a tough undertaking but acknowledging them and learning how to best navigate around them as a team is far better than ignoring them and letting one of those weaknesses hurt your project.

For example, INFPs like myself have a tendency to be overly self-critical and that is certainly true in my case. That self-criticism used to be a consistent roadblock in my growth and progress; I’d go through a seemingly endless cycle of skepticism and adjustment until I fell into a paralysis by analysis, creatively drowning in my own criticism. Once I discovered that this is one of the weaknesses of my personality type, I learned that before I get myself into that creative funk, I need to reach out and share my work with my team for feedback. Instead of racking my brain over whether a certain line of dialogue fits or if an edit is ready to present to a client, I can just discuss it with my team and get their opinions on the matter. Even if I get a collection of opinions that are as split as the internal arguments I’ve been having, I at least know that the skepticism is warranted.

A picture from a recent project in Rio de Janeiro showing all of our pieces fitting in the right place at the right time.

No Matter the Type, or the Test, Communication is the Key

There are other types of personality evaluations that can help your team become stronger, such as an Enneagram Test or a Caliper Profile, but regardless of what specific test you choose, you will find that the key element is open and honest communication. The simple act of revealing something about yourself to your team can make a huge impact on team bonding and growth. Once you find yourself communicating things as delicate and personal as your own strengths & shortcomings, you’ll see how much easier it is to communicate about matters regarding the video production business. You’ll understand why those things are being communicated to you in the way they are and how best to communicate back to the other party. So much focus is placed on whether an individual’s skills make them the right fit for a task (which we should) but we urge you to take the time to find out the best personality fit, too. How are else are you going to find out if Lisa Simpson, Ralph Wiggum, Mr. Burns and Barney Grumble can work together?