Towards the end of our MBA program, at the request of the entire batch, the school was kind enough to organize an Executive Development Programme with Professor Karan Sonpar and Professor Patrick Gibbons.
The session was informative as well as self-reflective and it was a feeling of nostalgic happiness with which I met my colleagues after five months.
The main objective of the seminar was to enhance self-awareness which in turn leads to personality development. Given our previous encounters with such assessments (I refer to the Strengths Development Inventory assessment taken in autumn), I was keenly looking forward to this session, and it exceeded expectations.
What I found most intriguing were the personality assessment tests, particularly the MBTI. The tests are designed to help us better understand where our personality types fit and how best we can use what we know about ourselves to benefit us both socially and professionally. This understanding aids in nurturing team spirit and diversity and highlights the importance of appreciating and accepting the differences we have as individuals.
Self-awareness is often sidelined as an essential factor in establishing work culture balance. Still, in reality, such knowledge is vital as it can help us align better with our colleagues and be more efficient at team selection. What’s important to remember is, these tests tell us about our preferences and are not reflective of our skills and abilities.
The test itself had four focus areas, namely; a) Gain and Direct Energy, b) Gather information, c) Make decisions, d) Live your life. The results were rather interesting and revealing. There was a range of sixteen personalities, and we all fit into one of those categories. For instance, an INTJ personality type meant I- Introversion, N – Intuition, T- Thinking, J – Judging. According to the test-makers, an individual with this personality type has a natural preference (not one’s ability or skill) to be an introvert.
The test results gave me mixed feelings. While there were several exciting revelations which were a first for me, there were others which I knew well about myself. Such was the case with all my classmates .
All in all, it was a fun exercise and most importantly, it was one last chance to have a good time with my peers from the Smurfit MBA class of 2020.
—Karna Hallur, FTMBA Class of 2020