Personality Types: iNtuitive or Sensing

This pair describes how you gather information from your world. Many trainers call N's the "forest" people, and S's the "trees" people. N's tend to see the forest - the big picture - while S's tend to see the trees - the details.

It's important to remember that neither view is "right" or "wrong."

N's are more likely to say that their opinions are based on "gut feelings."

S's are more likely to notice details and individuals parts of the puzzle, then to base their conclusion on what they have gathered through their senses.

Here's an example of the differences in how N's and S's view the world. Nancy, an iNtuitive, and Sam, a Sensor, go into an antique store to pick out a new desk for their home office.

When describing the desk to her friends, Nancy tells them how much it reminds her of the desk her father had, how much she liked sitting at the desk, and how this desk makes her think about the wonderful years she spent in her dad's office.

Sam describes his desk by telling his friends how tall and wide the desktop is, and can describe in detail the color and special carving on the desk.

Recognize that N's and S's have different needs in preparing for a meeting or getting started. When introducing or beginning a meeting, N's need to have the overall goal or purpose stated: "The purpose of this meeting is to give you an orientation to applying MBTI in your meetings."

S's need to have more details: "We will learn about each component of the MBTI, then you will have an opportunity to apply your knowledge by planning a meeting that puts this information into practice."

S's tend to like having a posted or printed agenda - and to follow the agenda - while N's will not rely on the agenda as closely.

As you can probably guess, N's typically don't need as much hands-on practice and probably enjoy pulling everything together in discussion at the end of the meeting, while S's want to spend more time in hands-on practice or experiential activities (and probably will become frustrated with N's need to spend time talking about it).

However, in some instances, N's are the ones who jump into the project or activity without needing much explanation; they can be more open to relying on their own intuition to get things done.

Sensors can be overwhelmed when presented with lots of details at once. This is a common issue with S's when taking standardized tests. In fact, most Merit scholars are N's, even though approximately 75% of U.S. population are Sensors, while only 25% are iNtuitives.

All content (except product descriptions) copyright 2007 Anne S. Easterling. All rights reserved. If you would like to reprint this information, please contact me.