Best-fit Type

The purpose for conducting interpretive feedback sessions is to help the participant verify their best-fit personality type. Best-fit type refers to the four-letter type that you think best describes you after learning about type and reviewing your MBTI results.

Think of your best-fit type as your natural strengths (innate, comfortable, easy), like using your preferred hand (right or left-handed). The Preferences (E-I, S-N, T-F, J-P) are the letters you choose during the feedback process which reflect your preferred ways of being.

Interpretive Feedback Session

The interpretive feedback session is a verification process with a certified professional to help you identify your best-fit personality type which is unique to the Myers-Briggs^® system. Ethical practice with the MBTI assessment is to assist you in verifying your MBTI results rather than just giving you the results and telling you what your type is. Why?

When you receive your MBTI results in an interpretive session with a trained professional, you have the opportunity to ask questions (learn more), agree or disagree with results and discuss why (often reveals pressures to be a certain way), and choose (verify) the MBTI type that best fits you.

When people are encouraged to look in depth at their own preferences and to understand the impact of type in all aspects of their lives, the experience of verifying type can be much more rewarding and enlightening.

Whole Type Verification

It is best to focus on your whole type, not only individual preferences, when verifying your best-fit type. Without an encompassing picture of whole type, you might receive an incomplete, or even superficial, understanding of personality type.

Your whole type reflects the interaction between the preferences in ways unique to each of the 16 personality types and contains the "code" to an in-depth, vibrant, and rich understanding of personality type, often missed without interpretation by a certified professional. This is where the value of the official MBTI assessment and Myers-Briggs framework lies! You can learn to be more effective in your use of type through a deeper understanding of and appreciation for personality differences at a whole new level.

Unsure of Best-fit Type

Type is not a destination; it is a journey towards self-discovery. Some people have a harder time verifying type preferences. And that is okay! Remember, people are complex. Differentiating between that which is natural from that which is learned can be challenging.

Most often best-fit type is easily arrived at because it is the same or close to your MBTI results. But when a person is unsure as to which type describes them best, it often relates to the mindset they had when they took the MBTI instrument or outside influences in their life. These aspects of mindset can impact results on all self-report assessments—some reasons might be:

• Incomplete understanding of the preferences and type theory
• Lack of trust—you may be worried that someone in authority will see the results and disagree with your preferences
• "Ideal self"—you may have answered the MBTI items as to who you think you should be or how others think you should be, rather than who you truly are; your "shoes off self"
• Stage of life—type development is a lifelong process. You may still be developing your preferences, which is especially true of young people, or developing your less-preferred preferences in midlife
• Pressure from others—you may have completed the MBTI assessment based on expectations or preferences of your parents, family, or friends
• Work pressure—you may have based your answers on what you feel is required by your work or current situation rather than what you actually prefer
• Cultural pressure—you may be reacting to cultural pressure to have certain preferences (for example, planning ahead or being outgoing)
• Stress—you may not be acting typically because of stress or a crisis

Another value-add for using the official MBTI instrument and working with a trained facilitator is that they can help you to sort through why you answered the items the way you did!

Additional Tips for Helping Determine Best-fit Type

• You know yourself best. By the time you complete verification, you should know the basics about type theory and the preferences. Ultimately, you are the only one who can decide which of the 16 types you prefer.
• It may help to look at opposite types to identify what you are not. You may recognize very clearly the type you are most unlike, which can clarify the type you do prefer.
• Type descriptions should be entirely unbiased; all types are acceptable as choices.
• Understand that best-fit type should be carefully studied. People need to identify those parts of the type descriptions that fit and those parts that don't. As you read descriptions, underline the points that fit and bracket the points that don't seem right. All types have benefits and challenges, strengths and stretches. Look for your strengths and stretches to help identify best-fit type. This may lead you to verified type.
• It is OK not to decide during your first session. It is helpful for a person to select a "for-the-moment" type—a hypothesis to work with. The type experience has not failed if you leave the feedback session without a clearly established type. You may wish to get feedback from others, do more reading, perhaps keep a journal, and observe how you take in information and make decisions in real life. Ask your facilitator if he or she has time to provide more detailed one-to-one discussions of your type preferences.

Once you have a verified best-fit type, the real value lies in knowing how to apply your Myers-Briggs type preferences to everyday life. Your certified MBTI professional can guide you through this learning, order a variety of reports focused on specific areas of interest, and offer resources to support you along your journey to a better understanding of yourself and others!