Stanton Moore
morose bourgeoisie
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2009
- Messages
- 3,900
- MBTI Type
- INFP
They are often dependent, but seldom dependables.
Wha?
They are often dependent, but seldom dependables.
Best thing to do is to just tell them what to do.
My dependability depends and occasionally deepens.
A touching speech about why I should devote my time and energy to your cause instead of the 20 other things I'm working on can help inspire me to follow through.
When you put that way, I can't say I blame you. *smile*
A touching speech about why I should devote my time and energy to your cause instead of the 20 other things I'm working on can help inspire me to follow through.
I've already made my personal strength/weakness/definitions post, so now I'll throw a more group-oriented opinion in. I think that most people aren't aware that even for those of us NFPs with more duty-oriented enneatypes - 1, 2, 3, 6 - we find it challenging to deal with the level of practical detail, consistent focus, time precision, and time estimation required in follow-through. Most of us seem to learn techniques like not agreeing to take on responsibilities unless we absolutely know we can make good on them, using organizational tools, and trying to contribute most early on in a project. We learn how to become dependable because we learn how to work with J-style planning (precise TPs also have a leg up here).
It's not like we're careless or airheaded, but our attention operates in a more holistic, project-oriented way - we become highly focused for short bursts of time, and then recover later. It's frustrating how previously-planned activities interrupt our maximal-production flow during projects or our peaceful mental rest during recovery - this might be what we mean when we say that Ps are "go-with-the-flow": we structure our mental energy around tasks instead of around time scheduling.
In my opinion, one of the best usages of typology is in predicting mental energy load and how it will impact people and task flow. It's just not an NFP's forte to be an action-oriented detail closer - it requires so much cognition that we aren't as used to using and aren't as skilled at handling. Put your NFP on the creative development team and your STJ in charge of following through and you'll get twice the output for the same amount of effort. Don't try to convince them into taking on a bunch of detailed responsibility. Give them one complex, self-contained project and expect them to excel instead of giving them a list of tasks and wondering if they'll get it all done, much less done on time. And just assume that they're going to be running 5 minutes late, so then you can be pleasantly surprised if they're actually on time. Yes, it'd be great if we could all be thorough and consistently attentive and time-oriented, but NFPs do possess gifts that other types lack. Might as well play to our strengths instead of harping on our challenges.
A touching speech about "do good to feel good" can help inspire an NFP to follow through.