Personality Test Results: The Administrator
The world is filled with millions of very different people. In fact, no two people are ever truly alike. This means that in the contemporary work environment, there are people who may share your views and work habits, but also those who may be staunchly against them, presenting their own very different philosophies on work and on life. After taking a personality test, I found that I am an ESTJ, an aggressive and detail-oriented personality type that is the exact opposite of the INFP, who are more laid back and flexible. Still, I will undoubtedly encounter those personalities that are opposing to mine, and it is important to understand how I can bridge the gaps between us in order to effectively and efficiently get projects completed within the contemporary engineering industry.
After taking the personality type test, I found that I was an ESTJ personality type. This makes me what is known as the administrator, which is about 8.7% of the population. The test results showed that I am 54.29% extroverted, 60% sensing, 52.78% thinking, and 52.78% judging. I am more extroverted and aggressive than I am introverted and laid back. These are very interesting results that give a very solid picture of who I am in life, but also who I am as an engineering employee.
When examining my personality type in greater detail, I got a greater sense of what my personality type stands for. Essentially, the research suggests that “your primary mode of living is focused externally, where you deal with things rationally and logically” (BSM Consulting, 2012). In this, it is clear that ESTJs look at the world around them and use its principles to guide their own behaviors and practices, both in the work place and in life in general. They use universal rules that have been tried and tested by others in the past with proven success. From this logical perspective, they can build very effective arguments to back up their chosen strategies, which are based on rational facts and data. This allows ESTJs to be much more aggressive in their approaches to projects because they have a very strong base and foundation for their work. Their logical natures combined with their sheer passion and aggression helps make them very efficient workers. They are highly energetic and passionate, allowing them to really step into their roles and execute their responsibilities with enormous successes.
The strengths of an ESTJ blend seamlessly with the demands of a contemporary engineering position and the workload that entails. Again, the research posits that “ESTJs live in a world of facts and concrete needs…with their eye constantly scanning their personal environment to make sure that everything is running smoothly and systematically” (BSM Consulting, 2012). Their constant attention to detail helps them see issues in designs and perfect them before they can be blown out of proportion or cause major problems in the execution of implementing particular projects. They are also very externally driven, being incredibly aware of the external environment around them that has such a huge influence on the intimate details of a project. From this highly deductive intuition, “they are extremely talented at devising systems and plans for action, and at being able to see what steps need to be taken to complete a specific task” (BSM Consulting, 2012). ESTJs see the smaller interactions between the parts within a larger project. They understand how these smaller pieces work together to make the entire whole work successfully. This is a huge advantage in the field of engineering, and one which cannot really be taught. Thus, these innate abilities should help go far in my journey in the engineering field.
One of the most contrasting personality types is that of the INFP, the idealists, who are much more flexible and abstract in their thinking processes when compared to my own personality type, the ESTJ. These individuals are much more laid back, not adhering so strictly to the rules and regulations that have been laid out by others. In this, they can be more flexible in how they approach finding solutions to unique problems, and can become model makers for future individuals to follow. Their flexibility and laid back attitude allows them to really envision the bigger picture. They have a much more abstract view on work and on life in general. This is a huge difference compared to ESTJs, who are much more pragmatic and need the foundation of logic and reason on their side in order to make a decision. Thus, INFPs are more f a risk taker, allowing their own internal strength guides them to unique and flexible assumptions about the world around them.
In any contemporary work environment, engineering included, there will be times where opposite personality types have to come into contact with one another. This can become an issue that can stall the design and implementation process, making it important to find ways to compromise between individuals of such varied personality types. ESTJs tend to be very rational, and “they expect the same of others, and have no patience or understanding of individuals who do not value these systems” (BSM Consulting, 2012). INFPs, on the hand, do not do well with facts and such a rigid structure of rationality. This often makes working situations between the two personality types difficult. One wants to be more detail-oriented, while the other wants a little more freedom and leeway in their work.
Still, an ESTJ also values the community, which can include unique communities and teams within the work environment. From this perspective, although an ESTJ personality may not want to work with opposite personality types, like an INFP, they feel it is their communal duty to at least get along and make sure the project runs smoothly for the health of the larger organization. In this way, ESTJs will often work to compromise or find a way to work with the individuals that bother them so much out of a utilitarian spirit in order to allow all of the members of the organization to benefit from his or her individual efforts.
Moreover, working with individuals who see more of the abstract picture can help keep an ESTJ personality on track. Unfortunately, ESTJs can get quite distracted by looking to hard into the minute details of a project, and in doing so miss the bigger picture. They often have too rigid of standards that don’t allow them to work on bigger concepts, being as detail-oriented as they are. But with opposite personality types who are much more abstract, and can tend to step back and take a look at the entire picture in more long-term standards, the work of the ESTJ can be nicely balanced out. Idealists, or INFPs, are much more laid back and flexible in how they work. This can bring a soothing energy to calm down the aggressive tendencies of the ESTJ in order to slow down and make sure that the project is not getting too caught up in the specific details, but is also flexible enough to deal with changes in the environment. Engineering projects almost never go perfectly smooth, and so it is important to have someone who can input a sense of flexibility so that a project doesn’t sink when one change messes with the entire design.
References
BSM Consulting. (2012). Portrait of an ESTJ: The guardian. Personality Page. Web. http://www.personalitypage.com/html/ESTJ.html
