[INFJ] INFJ Ability and Job Satisfaction Characteristics

[DJAchtundvierzig]

INFJ Workplace Strengths:

INFJ ability and strengths are many and would mean for you in the workplace that you:

•are someone who reaches understanding by contemplating and thinking, pondering things, someone who wants to really think about it
•are reflective, quiet, and prone to consider before acting
•prefer physical work space which allows for privacy and concentration
•participate and speak up after observing and formulating your own impressions and questions; may need to be asked what you think or feel
•regard meeting as taking time away from work and as places where more work gets generated or assigned
•are aware of internal guiding principles, philosophy, and commitments
•focus first on and are most interested in the big picture, global issues, future possibilities; you notice the “forest” before noticing the “trees”
•are speculative and work toward “what if”
•work in bursts, await inspiration, may skip around, pursuing what “strikes your fancy;” may work on several things at the same time
•want a team to have an engaging vision and mission; initiate and enjoy consideration of possibilities or theoretical matters
•arouse energy and zeal, especially for pursuing the mission and for innovations
•are amiable and approachable; are sensitive to others, sometimes at the cost of being direct
•often want to spend some time getting to know others and build relationships before getting to the work at hand
•believe the best work from a team will emerge from cooperation
•are sensitive to how others will react or be affected; promote harmony, conciliation, and well-being; seek win/win results
•urge actions congruent with individual values and the professed values of the organization
•are dependable, deliberate, decisive, and focused; stick to commitments, plans, and schedules
•may be uncomfortable proceeding without a plan

INFJ Workplace Weaknesses

INFJ personality and INFJ ability would include a tendency toward the following workplace weaknesses:

•may need to be asked what you think or feel
•may view meetings as naturally negative events that cause more work than is accomplished by having them
•will have difficulty seeing the big picture
•may have difficulty focusing on one thing for great amounts of time
•want the work of a team to be engaging vision and the mission may have trouble being realistic, practical and in-the-moment for too long
•will be uncomfortable to troubled proceeding without plans
•may initially see give and take as disruptive arguments and conflicts
•may not take “constructive criticism” well, may see it as personal

Now take a few moments and consider how INFJ’s behave and perform in the workplace from the following six aspects:

What Others Might Observe First

â—¦are warm, cooperative, trusting, sensitive, tactful, and easy to get along with (though they may also keep their distance or seem aloof at first)
â—¦have good communication skills, and persuasive, and are good listeners
â—¦are dependable and persistent; they do what they agree to do and meet obligations
◦seem to “have their act together”

Work Style

â—¦prefer a supportive environment that is friendly and non-competitive and where harmony and praise are common
â—¦see work as a mission or service-want work to make a difference for others and they want to grow through their work
â—¦like variety and opportunities to be creative, and they dream up new approaches to the routine
â—¦value independence and autonomy, and want to organize their own time, effort, and work environment

On Work Teams/In Groups

â—¦are imaginative, have or generate ideas (though ideas may have to be drawn out of them), are comfortable with abstraction and complexity, and can synthesize multiple perspectives or diverse information
â—¦encourage and empower others, want and give appreciation and affirmation, seek to create cohesion, and take a facilitative approach
â—¦prefer to have both organization and structure and concern for people and human values; want the team to organize itself around vision and values
â—¦are good at working on teams, though too much of a group can fatigue or overload them

Facing Change

â—¦may experience tension between being too oriented toward newness and change and honoring traditions and what has proven to be comfortable for people
â—¦look for and may be aware of significance in events that others may miss or deem unimportant
â—¦use symbols and metaphors to visualize and talk about change
â—¦may withdraw if their ideas are not accepted or their values are not respected

During Conflict

â—¦prize and strive for harmony
â—¦are often peacemakers and mediators who know how to resolve difficulties and are able to find some good in a painful situation
◦may take on and/or internalize others’ concerns
â—¦under stress, may want to be alone, may make absolute statements and speak harshly of themselves or others, and/or may become distracted and give considerable energy to a low priority tasks

Workplace Contributions

â—¦strong and idealistic belief in people and in what they can accomplish, and encouragement of others to maximize their abilities and potential
â—¦visionary-advocating their visions, values, and ideals
◦insight into people, sometimes being aware of others’ needs before others themselves are
◦promoting integrity and the alignment of values and actions for individuals, groups and organizations-calling upon organizations to “walk their talk”

May Be Experienced As

â—¦having strong convictions, inner vision and lofty goals and sometimes as being single-minded and inflexible about how things ought to be
â—¦indirect and private, so they may be hard to get to know
◦self-critical, hard on themselves, and “perfectionistic”
â—¦liking to dig into things deeply and sometimes as tending toward exhaustive exploration or over analysis

 

[mochajava]

Hi DJA - what about this do you want to discuss? Agreement/disagreement? Experiences? INFJ jobs and satisfaction w/ respect to these characteristics?

 

[DJAchtundvierzig]

Anything works really, but lets go with agreement/disagreement and experiences.

 

[Aquarelle]

INFJ Workplace Strengths:

INFJ ability and strengths are many and would mean for you in the workplace that you:

•are someone who reaches understanding by contemplating and thinking, pondering things, someone who wants to really think about it
•are reflective, quiet, and prone to consider before acting
•prefer physical work space which allows for privacy and concentration
•participate and speak up after observing and formulating your own impressions and questions; may need to be asked what you think or feel

Yes, all of the above!

•are sensitive to how others will react or be affected; promote harmony, conciliation, and well-being; seek win/win results
•urge actions congruent with individual values and the professed values of the organization
•are dependable, deliberate, decisive, and focused; stick to commitments, plans, and schedules
•may be uncomfortable proceeding without a plan

This too.... especially the bolded one. In our office we always talk about "student development" being part of our goal - letting them learn to be independent and responsible. If this is our philosophy, I think we do waaaayyy too much hand-holding and coddling.

INFJ Workplace Weaknesses

INFJ personality and INFJ ability would include a tendency toward the following workplace weaknesses:

•may need to be asked what you think or feel

Sometimes, yeah. Or people think I don't participate at meetings because I take time to consider before blurting things out, and don't speak unless I have something really valuable to contribute

•may not take “constructive criticism” well, may see it as personal

Uh yeah, guilty as charged. I know I'm bad about this and I'm trying to work on it, but it's hard!

 

[DJAchtundvierzig]

Yes, all of the above!
Uh yeah, guilty as charged. I know I'm bad about this and I'm trying to work on it, but it's hard!

Right there with you. I wonder if INFJs ever genuinly get over this...? I'm working on it too. :workout:

 

[mochajava]

•are someone who reaches understanding by contemplating and thinking, pondering things, someone who wants to really think about it
•are reflective, quiet, and prone to consider before acting
•prefer physical work space which allows for privacy and concentration

The last piece is so true for me. I almost dislike people stopping by... I value my privacy a whole lot.

•regard meeting as taking time away from work and as places where more work gets generated or assigned

Well, aren't they? Or maybe they help me move forward, but still. Aren't they?

•work in bursts, await inspiration, may skip around, pursuing what “strikes your fancy;” may work on several things at the same time

Oh yes. I have GOT to tame this multitasking beast.

•are amiable and approachable; are sensitive to others, sometimes at the cost of being direct

My reaction to this is some combination of "that's me" and, "oh, thank goodness I'm approachable"

•often want to spend some time getting to know others and build relationships before getting to the work at hand

But I tire of this so fast, particularly if you're very self-promoting or combative.

•believe the best work from a team will emerge from cooperation

Yes... I definitely believe this. This is helpful in putting words around some beliefs I wasn't consciously aware of.

•are sensitive to how others will react or be affected; promote harmony, conciliation, and well-being; seek win/win results
•urge actions congruent with individual values and the professed values of the organization
•are dependable, deliberate, decisive, and focused; stick to commitments, plans, and schedules
•may be uncomfortable proceeding without a plan

I don't know how many times I ask my bosses for structure and for deadlines. I can't live without them.

Okay, and now onto weaknesses:

•may need to be asked what you think or feel

Wait, is it good to talk about your feelings with respect to what you're working on? Is it relevant? Do people care? Does this imply that I should be sharing these things but am not?

â—¦prefer a supportive environment that is friendly and non-competitive and where harmony and praise are common

My goodness, yes! My current "nurturing" work environment feels like someone gave me my oxygen back compared to the very negative, highly pressurized corporate job I was in before. The more I read, the more I realize that it is only the rarest of the already rare INFJs that would be happy there.

â—¦encourage and empower others, want and give appreciation and affirmation, seek to create cohesion, and take a facilitative approach
â—¦prefer to have both organization and structure and concern for people and human values; want the team to organize itself around vision and values
â—¦are good at working on teams, though too much of a group can fatigue or overload them

I should write these down... I may need to articulate them at some point.



@DJA-Can I pose some workplace specific questions? If so, here they are:

Workplace issues:
1. How do other INFJs deal with organizational politics?
2. How about standing up for yourself and not "taking it" from a rude / disorganized / inactive boss?