If there is one good thing to say about the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator––and, God knows, in the past I have said precious few––it is that the descriptions of the qualities of the sixteen personality types that it identifies are unfailingly upbeat.  Like any good astrology forecast, it knows that people are more likely to engage if they hear something good about themselves.  But does this lead to an accurate assessment of office personality types?

Gentle; sensitive; idealistic; driven by their own original ideas; playful.  All sound very positive attributes.  However, it would be easy to put an alternative, real-life spin on some of these terms when applied to office co-workers: pushover; pushover; nutter; nutter; irritating.

From my own experience of workplace colleagues, very few conform to the traditional MBTI models.

With this in mind, I decided that a more realistic interpretation of the personality test was called for: the Turner-Tree Descriptor.

Using the long-established categories of the MBTI––Extraversion (E); Introversion (I); Sensing (S); Intuition (N); Thinking (T); Feeling (F); Judging (J); and Perceiving (P)––I have provided my own interpretation of the resulting sixteen possible personality types.

INTJ – Know-all
INTP – Perfectionist
ENTJ – Bully
ENTP – Gossip
INFJ – Martyr
INFP – Snowflake
ENFJ – Psychopath
ENFP – Do-gooder
ISTJ – Loner
ISFJ – Busybody
ESTJ – Jobsworth
ESFJ – Dogsbody
ISTP – Crusader
ISFP – Slacker
ESTP – Gambler
ESFP – Exhibitionist

Feel free to apply the Turner-Tree Descriptor to any workplace personality tests.  I can guarantee that you will not recognise yourself, but you will instantly recognise all your colleagues.

© Simon Turner-Tree

Simon Turner-Tree is sure his own personality is there somewhere.