By integration, I mean, "the act or process of making whole or entire." When you can recognize and apply something in multiple facets of your life.
I am pretty strong in interpersonal skills and have known this through my life. I'm not sure if it has to do with being an only child, but I'm able to understand what people want, what they want to say, what they're saying, how they're saying it, and then able to make conclusions, or a course of action based on the information I've gathered.
I just finished an online, accelerated, Signature Leadership course on Christian leadership theory and practice. I will link it here. It was taught by Dr. Jeff Myers, president of Summit Ministries. It's offered through my school, CollegePlus, and if I take all three courses and attend the on-site capstone in Colorado, I will get a certificate in Signature Leadership and have something to show on my resume.
All I can say is WOW. The class blew my mind with information, stretched and challenged me, gave me direction and insight about leadership. I highly recommend this course.
It was tough, having to do a semester-long class in a third of the time, but I learned at the right pace and could recognize things happening in my personal life that overlapped and aligned with this class. It was more than a coincidence, it was loud and obvious enough for me to say, "Ok God, I'm listening."
I just LOVE when this happens. When I see integration happening around me, it's a true sign that I'm learning something of value.
Lately, I've made friends with people my age, (I know, isn't that shocking.) We are comprised of musicians, worship leaders, A/V techs, Bible majors, former-homeschoolers, etc. We hang out after College Group on Tuesday nights.
It's the first friend group in my life that's made of people that I didn't already know from the past. We are all so completely different, yet it works. This group is full of lively, gregarious, creative, supportive, intellectual, and witty people that have quickly become some great friends.
This one kid in the group--let's call him, Horatio--has brought up the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator every Tuesday since September 2nd. I joined the group on September 2nd. Great timing.
When he's not studying four languages or playing six instruments, he's interpreting and verifying test results for actual MBTI assessments. Great.
Initially, he got my type wrong. (According to what I knew from taking one of those online imitation-MBTI tests over the summer because everyone was doing it on Facebook.)
So by the next week, he made his case on what my actual type was. I told him he was still wrong, but he insisted that he was right.
I had a hard time believing the type he told me. I rejected my type because it was basic, it was typical, it was not a type that is usually attributed to smart people. I didn't like my type and I didn't think it defined me as correctly as I wanted. Just having him correct me and insist that I was this other type was infuriating. He was right--I could see that--but I just hated being this 'basic white girl' type. I knew there was more to me. Every introspective test I had ever taken always produced mixed results. I've seen a pattern in my life that shows me to be a combination of everything--very moderate and well-rounded.
At week three, he divulged that I was his exact opposite; all my strengths were his weaknesses and all his weaknesses were my strengths. I found this to be divisive right off the bat and from that moment on, it was like trying to not think about purple elephants. Now I was constantly noticing what was different between us; whereas, if I hadn't known we were 'opposites' I wouldn't have cared to look.
I hated feeling like I was being studied under a microscope, put in a box and labeled. I felt like the deck was stacked against me, as now it was harder to get to know people on a deeper level because everyone's corresponding four letters were already ingrained in my mind. We had all been 'typified.'
Others in the group accepted their types and moved on. A few even voiced dissent by presenting inconsistencies or preferences, but all around moved on.
I could not.
Since he brought it up every single week I couldn't escape it. I had to process. And I process by talking.
Week four I plastered an annoyed smile on my face and refused to respond or provide Horatio with any more information that could be used against me. On week five I mistakenly flew into an emotional flurry of debate--which seemed to excite him even more. And it didn't help that he would say things like, "That's exactly how your type responds to this." Or, "Such an SJ thing to do...."
I decided to do more research and get more information. So I read a few articles online and a critique called The Cult of Personality Testing.
Armed with a few more bits of information, whenever it was brought up, I was able to engage in discussion--this time with a more rational and inquisitive approach. But it didn't matter, because I was still internally conflicted about the whole MBTI concept.
Every time I talked to Horatio, it was like taking two steps forward and one-and-a-half steps back. I felt like this subject was never going to go away. (NOTE: we're in week eleven and it hasn't. However, a few friends around us have begun to show signs of weariness with the subject, and slight annoyance that it keeps being brought up, so this tells me there's light at the end of the tunnel.)
Once week six rolled around, I had been immersed in a barrage of class assignments for my leadership class that required us to take tests and assessments such as; Multiple Intelligences, SIMA, and spiritual gifts. GAG ME!! The MBTI--and Horatio--had completely overshadowed my interest in wanting to learn more about myself. Yet, to get the grade, I trudged through the assessments anyway.
When I read the book for my class, Finding a Job You Can Love by Ralph T. Mattson and Arthur F. Miller Jr., I was renewed once again. It is written from a Christian perspective and includes an assessment called SIMA that is a great alternative to the MBTI. In SIMA (System for Identifying Motivated Abilities) you are able to discover your unique design given by God. You take the assessment based on things in your past--things you consider to be an achievement. It helps you recognize your motivations, your abilities, and your motivated abilities.. In an interview I heard with the author, he said in the 30 years of working with individuals, churches, corporations, and organizations, he never found the results of two assessments to be the same. Everyone has a unique Motivated Ability Pattern.
During week six, I influenced five people to purchase the book and read it for themselves. I began to recommend it to everyone I could. In fact, a friend asked me to help him walk through the book, take the SIMA, and help him understand the results. I will probably do this in December.
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The timing of Horatio, and my own class assignments with assessments was definitely an example of learning by integration. It's taken me a long time to process--but it's been fascinating. Here are a few thoughts, questions, and opinions I have about personality testing--mainly the MBTI:
What is the tool of measurement?
To evaluate, we need criteria. What is this tool of measurement that we are using to measure the dynamic human personality? Since the results provide a list of strengths and weakness, is there an ideal in mind that we are being measured against, such as an 'EINSTFJP?' Is it fair to measure people according to an ideal that does not--and cannot--exist in nature?
Which percentage of these four letters are we employing at a given time, and can we accurately measure the ebb and flow and intensity within? Do we need to consider the nature of scenarios in which these cognitive functions play a predominate role? Do scenarios even need to be considered? Can someone be predominate in something that is not manifested in a tangible way?
I see this as just another example of people trying to create a better man. In fact, most personality tests were created for the ultimate pursuit of a Utopian society. Take a look at history and you'll quickly see there's not such a good track record when it comes to the whole "pursuing a Utopian society" thing.
Results:
The test--at best--only highlights behavioral and cognitive patterns that are shared between people. Yet results in unbridled application. People see this as definite and exacting, when it shouldn't be viewed in that way. It's human nature to want to know more about ourselves, and it's partially the American dream (and an Aristotlean school of thought) to note our weaknesses, assume our strengths will always be strengths, and spend a significant amount of time trying to bring our weaknesses up to the same level as our strengths.
Amusing:
Reading about the types online gives a very 'horoscope-y' feel to the MBTI. In fact, I once had a friend pick out a description of a type, I was under the impression that it was my own type, however, I couldn't see the four letters. When she revealed the letters, I realized how much I had identified with this type while under the impression that it was my own.
Applications:
People may limit themselves because of this: "Oh I can't lead because I'm extremely introverted." Or, "Music is the opposite of what I should be doing, yet here I am," "I can't seem to be on time or make goals because of my NT tendencies."
People also focus on what makes us different from each other. We may even try to bring up their weaknesses to the same level as our strengths in order to grow them, or to irk them, i.e. "She is such a SF, that I think I broke her brain with my logic."
Consider:
Ralph T. Mattson said it best when he questioned how something can be a weakness if it was never a part of a person's design to begin with.
To paraphrase Dr. Myers, "Should we devote time to concentrating on our weaknesses and try to develop them? Or should we not take our strengths for granted, but instead take time NOW to develop them into the ways God designed them to be?"
What I keep wrestling with, is the whole ambiguity of strengths and weaknesses. Can we really be sure that something is a weakness? Maybe we are actually strong in it, but in a hidden way, and it will take a situation to develop it. Maybe we are strong in areas that are very difficult and take a lot of effort and strife--are they strengths or weaknesses? Does something need to be easy to be a strength?
How then shall we live?
In order to keep myself from going completely crazy, I have come to a few conclusions on how I will live my life now that I've been through this
I WILL: See people as dynamic and not static. I will continue to trust in the sovereignty of God and pursue his plan of redemption, and how His plan works by interacting with others.
I WILL: Develop my own gifts and talents as revealed by God, the Bible, and the affirmation thereof found in my SIMA results, and not MBTI.
In times when I'm conflicted because all I can think about is purple elephants (when all I notice are differences between me and someone else) I WILL: Realize that there are many more things in common between me and this person, than differences. I am only choosing to concentrate on the differences. I will see that although someone is 'weak' in certain areas, that they are only 'weak' when being compared to something or someone else.
In order to see 'weaknesses' in light of His design I WILL: realize that they may very well be strengths. The amount or extent of them is completely irrelevant. Now instead of seeing differences between us, I only see shared strengths. This opens an opportunity to grow each other. After all, "as iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another," (Proverbs 27:17).
I am excited to see future opportunities in which I will affirm other's gifts and designs by helping others grow.
The best way to help others to grow, is by working intrinsically. By working in a way that is natural, that works with God's design, that is devoid of an agenda to mold someone into something they are not.
A closing word of hope:
As much as I'd like to stand here and say that Horatio is my opposite, and gets on my nerves, I can't help but recognize how much he has grown me as a person. This leadership class, friend group, integration,--is definitely from the Lord.
I recall a time that happened last week in which I sat for over two hours with Horatio in discussion. I feel as if a part of my brain had been awakened and affirmed. "As iron sharpens iron..."
Those two hours weren't easy though, there were many times in which I would try to see things from the perspective of his Myers Briggs type, or phrase questions in ways that I think would make sense to him. That almost always ended up in some kind of disconnect or dissonance.
When I worked with my design (according to SIMA), by listening and sharing what I thought (without purposely mincing words), it was less like swimming upstream, and resulted in progress and a sense of flourishing.
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