In her work, Julia uses a range

of psychometric instruments
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Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Step I

“Much of the nonphysical pain and stress in our world is the result of misunderstandings among generally well-intentioned people and is not occasioned by irreparable disagreements”.  Peter Briggs Myers in the preface to ‘Gifts Differing’ by Isabel Briggs Myers with Peter Briggs Myers.

The MBTI is based on the ideas of the great Swiss psychologist Carl Jung about personality.  In his clinical work, Jung noticed patterns of similarity and difference in how people absorbed information and made decisions.  His academic paper ‘Psychological Types’ was published in English in 1920.  Based on this, Isabel Myers and her mother Katherine Briggs spent many years developing an instrument which would help people to apply Jung’s findings to their everyday lives – and therefore enjoy their lives more.

The instrument can be completed online or in hard copy.  There are 88 questions.  Each question has two answers – which are equally attractive.  In each case, you are asked to choose the answer you prefer – setting aside all of the commitments, demands and constraints imposed on you both at work and outside work.

The MBTI will not tell you how good you are or how much you do.  Rather it attempts to sort people into types - there are 16 types – the word ‘type’ meaning how people typically act.   Most people have a common-sense understanding of their own type but reading their type report and also reading the descriptions of the 15 other types generally gives participants more than a few ‘aha’ moments.

The MBTI has been and continues to be used around the world for a variety of reasons: many kinds of leadership and management training, coaching, all types of counselling – including marriage counselling.  Type is useful to help people understand how they respond to change or stress.

There is a vast body of research on the MBTI (much of it published in the Journal of Psychological Type) which demonstrates how powerful the instrument is.  Research has found that Type is co-related to many areas including career choice/development, attraction ratings, buying patterns and selling techniques!  There are hundreds of Ph.Ds, books and short subject-focused booklets (e.g. Type and Conflict, Type and Retention, Type and Leadership) available.

Most people have a common-sense understanding of their own type and find the instrument invaluable in developing strategies for communicating and working more effectively.  If scientific proof of Jung’s theory was needed, it has been found that different types use different areas of their brains while working on similar tasks.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Step II

The MBTI can work at many levels – typically, Step I is used by people in team-building or management development workshop who require a straightforward, accessible and fairly generalised description both of their own type and of others’.  These Step 1 reports give adequate information for workshops, allowing for easy comparison, and help the user to communicate and work more effectively with others.

The MBTI Step II provides an additional level of analysis and understanding of an individual.  Step II may be useful when in-depth or 1:1 coaching/development is going on, or when the Step I report still leaves questions unanswered.  The Step II provides substantially more information about how the client exercises basic type preferences – and provides greater insight and a much finer ‘sorting’ of Types.

With Step II, the questionnaire (generally completed on-line) contains 133 items.  It therefore takes slightly longer to administer and is slightly more expensive (which still excellent value).

It is useful to note that users can complete the MBTI Step II on-line, and download a Step 1 report for initial use.  If they wish, they can download the more detailed and personalised Step II report at a later stage.

Disc Classic Profile

The Disc Classic Profile is based on William Marston’s theory that people’s behaviour is influenced by their environment.  Marston, a psychologist who also invented the lie detector and WonderWoman, posited that people have a set of beliefs about themselves in relation to their environment, which influences their behaviour.

The purpose of DiSC Classic is to help people understand themselves and others.  The profile provides a framework for looking at human behaviour while also obtaining information about one’s own individual behavioural pattern. 

Participants normally go online to complete the instrument and receive a detailed 24-page report which gives information about the four dimensions of the DiSC as well as identifying the Classical Profile Patters – of which there are 15.  A paper and pen version of the instrument is also available.

EQ-i BarOn Emotional Quotient Inventory

As a young psychologist, Dr Reuven Bar-On was interested in why some people are better able to succeed in life than others.  He found that people with very high IQs were not always successful in dealing with environmental demands and life in general, while those with a lower IQ might negotiate these much more successfully.

Emotional intelligence addresses the emotional, personal, social and survival dimensions of intelligence which are often more important for daily functioning than the more traditional cognitive aspects of intelligence.  Emotional intelligence is concerned with understanding oneself and others, relating to people and adapting to and coping with the immediate surroundings to be more successful in dealing with environmental demands.

Users complete a 133 item questionnaire on-line and a personalised report is issued which contains information about the user’s reported ‘emotional intelligence’ across 15 components, divided into 5 areas: inter-personal skills, intra-personal skills, stress management, adaptability and general mood.

Bar-On’s model is multifactorial and related to potential for performance, rather than performance itself.  Users will receive suggestions as to how they improve their emotional intelligence.

Performance Matters is a small training consultancy specialising

in management and personal development skills.

Performance

Matters