Appreciating Differences - Jack Falt - Ottawa area, Ontario, Canada

Return to Home Page

List of Articles by Jack Falt

Video Review by Jack Falt

Kroeger, Otto, The Basic Three, Fairfax, VA: Otto Kroeger Associates, 1994, 26 min.

Three people from my Appreciating Differences group in Ottawa came to the OAAPT Conference this year, all of them MBTI® qualified facilators. The key presenters were Otto Kroeger and Janet Thuesen who donated the door prizes. One of my people, Linda Miller-Nesbitt, won the first draw, a choice between the Typewatching audio tapes or The Basic Three video. As an ENFP Linda had to think about which one she would choose. I could see her favouring the audio tapes. As I had these already I urged her to pick the video tape as I knew she would let me see it. She could borrow my audio tapes and we would both be happy. So that is how I get to be able to write this review.

The video tape is only 26 minutes long and is divided into three parts. Each part is short enough to insert into your presentation to provide some change of pace without overwhelming your own presentation. In the video Otto is presenting to a group of people and he is his usual knowledgeable and entertaining self. He can add that extra umph to the concepts you are trying to get across. As the white-bearded sage, people may believe Otto when they may have been a bit sceptical about you. In the three segments Otto boils down what people need to take away with them when they have completed the basic presentation.

Basic #1: Validate Your Type and Learn It (9 min.). As you probably have learned by now, when people realize that you are a Type facilitator, they will say, “Oh, I did that once, but I don’t remember what I was.” When you give the MBTI® instrument to a group, most people are satisfied with their Type, but there is always at least one and often many who are not sure. They have one or more letters right in the middle and the score could go either way. The beauty of the MBTI is that it is self-validating. Have people read one of the type descriptions and use a highlighter to mark all the statements that describe them. Mark all the statements that don’t fit with a “no” in the margin or use a different coloured highlighter. Then have them do the same with the other possible type. Have them count up the number of statements they agree with in both descriptions and see which has the higher number. If the number of “fit me” statements is about the same, then compare the number of “don’t fit me” statements. Usually this will resolve which is the “best fit” Type. The next step is to show the marked up descriptions to colleagues and ask if they see them in the same way. And finally, have their significant other read the descriptions. That will validate the Type for most people.

The second step is for participants to memorize their Type. Challenge them that when they next see you that they can instantly recite their Type to you. Help them see that the key to self management is to know one’s self. Knowing how they are likely to behave allows them to manage their own behaviour better. Being able to predict how other people will behave is nice and useful, but self-knowledge is the most important part and a very powerful tool.

Basic #2: Two Things About Ps and Js (12 min.). Otto presented this portion to us at the conference. It doesn’t matter what the first three letters of a Type are. This works for all Types. P1 - It is the nature of Ps to generate alternatives. It is in their very nature to do so. P2 - Push closure. After finding out all the possibilities from a P ask which ones they don’t like. Ps may not know what they like but they do know what they don’t like. Then you make the choice from the choices left over.

J1 - Js moan. Js have everything on an agenda; either it is on a piece of paper or in their head. When Js get a new piece of information, they internally or more often externally moan while they are going through the process of inserting this new piece of information into their agenda. This is true whether the new idea is positive or negative. J2 - Hit and run. Give the J the new piece of information and then run before you have to listen to the J moan. That way you don’t get deflated by listening to Js automatic rant. Then come back later and discuss the idea. Otto has a hilarious anecdote about a couple that get tripped up by the J husband’s moaning.

Basic #3 - Temperament Shortcuts (5 min.). Keirsey was the one who saw the relationship between Jung/Myers personality types and temperaments. Any two letters of one Type will be shared by three other Types. From those two letters all four types will share behavioural patterns. E.g. The four corners of the Type Table, TJ, represents 60% of all managers. They make decisions in an objective way and they want closure to their decisions.

By dividing the 16 Types into four groups by using SJ, SP, NF and NT, you can predict a lot of behaviour for each of these four groups. You can predict  the style of their learning, management, leading, consulting, type of therapy they do, preaching and many other things. These four pairs of letters represent the four temperaments, and while it is difficult to remember details for all of the 16 Types it is easier to remember details about these four Temperaments. (This is using Temperament as a shortcut, whereas Linda Berens starts with Temperament and then breaks each Temperament into four Types. She maintains people get a better ‘best fit” using this procedure.)

This is a great video that I am sure you would like to use. The downside is the price. As is often the case with specialized training videos it is quite expensive. Perhaps a group of facilitators could buy it together and share it. (Or you might get lucky and win it!)

Return to Home Page

List of Articles by Jack Falt