- Welcome to the "Which Way Do You Eat Your Banana?" series
of personal and management development audio guides.
To subscribe or download episodes,
visit www.think.gb.com.
- Hello, this is Gavin.
This is the second in the Myers Briggs podcast series.
The first one was on extroversion and Introversion.
This one's on sensing and intuition.
Now, all my life I've always been a bit fluffy,
a bit high-level, I suppose,
and I could never quite get those people
around me who seemed to insist on the detail and the evidence.
And I did Myers Briggs and a few light bulbs went on
and I thought, "Is that what it is?
"We're just seeing the world from a different end
of the telescope."
Now, when I work with people in teams,
it's this particular area where I guess people
really do seem like they come from different planets.
And because of this, they can struggle to get along.
Whereas the reality is, is that if they understand
how Myers Briggs works, the sensing and the intuition,
if they work well together, they can make sure they see
the full picture because the sensing people will see
the detailed effects and the evidence,
and the intuitives will see the longer-ranging possibilities.
Put that together, you have the perfect picture.
So it's in the same format as last time,
a bit raw and unplugged.
I kind of quite like it.
There is a part near the beginning where I ask
the audience to do an exercise which takes a few minutes,
so to save you being bored listening to pieces
of paper shuffled, I've just explained what's going on.
So enough of me.
It's time to hand over to me, until the next time,
take care. I hope you find it useful.
Thanks.
Okay, so let's go to the next level now, which is,
how you take in information, which in communication
is quite important.
And this is sensing or intuition.
So you've got the format now.
We're going to go to the next page, which is page,
probably three, I would have thought, it's page three.
And you've got some traits on sensing and intuition.
And just make a choice, and I'll give you
some descriptions afterwards.
If you're going to choose sensing, the letter you will use
will be S.
If you're choosing intuition, the letter you will use
will be N.
It's N. We don't use "I" because we've used I for Introversion.
So it's N for iNtuition.
- It's the same picture and people take in information
in their different way. So if we're going to explain
what's going on because we do see the world
from different ends of the telescope,
sensing, sensing is about the facts, the evidence,
the here and now, what's real and what exists,
what's happened in the past.
In order to make sense of something, they build up
the detail, they see the trees, these might be trees,
by the way, little pitiful trees.
They see the trees and then they see the wood, they go,
"Oh look, those trees make wood."
And they see the detail first of all, so usually
on that exercise, they'll give the facts
and then they might start getting a bit descriptive.
Now, intuitive people see the world from a different end
of the telescope, okay.
We had about 70% of the sensing people here, I want to tell you.
Now intuitives, they see a wood, first of all.
So they see how broadly what something else is.
And then they go, "Oh, wait, that one's got
some trees in it."
Then they notice there are some trees there.
Does that make sense? Yeah.
What do you think happens when you have a sensing person
go through all the details, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah,
finally getting to the big point of the picture?
What do you think happens when you have a sensing person
speaking to an intuitive type?
- Husband and wife.
- I'm sorry, I didn't catch that.
- Husband and wife.
- Husband and wife, yes, okay.
What do you think the intuitives are making of that
journey of the trees and the detail and all that good stuff?
- [ Inaudible ]
- I'm sorry, yeah, boring. Boring.
We want what you want, man. Just tell me roughly what it is.
Yeah, look at the details and that's it.
What do you think sensing people make of this intuitive thing,
which tends to be a bit bigger and broader?
It's a bit like something else, that "oops" kind of thinking.
What do you think the sensing people make of that
when intuitives go through that?
- Vague.
- I'm sorry.
- Vague.
- Big.
- Vague.
- Oh vague. Yes, it is vague, yeah.
Anything else? I'm sorry.
- Irritating.
- Irritating. You just go, can we get in
the real world now, please, not blue skies.
What factually, what is the evidence to back up
that stuff you're talking about?
And in terms of the population in of the UK, 50/50 split.
We have more sensing people in here than intuitive.
But in the UK about 50/50 split.
So whatever works for you, there's a good chance
you've got sensing and there's a good chance
you've got intuitives.
When you have change, sensing people are usually
looking for facts, the theories, and a reason
for that change.
What's happened in the past and then taken
through the steps on how they can get to the future.
When you have intuitives listen to the same presentation,
they're looking for what's the future,
what's the angle?
And then we'll jump around the facts [ inaudible ]
But if you're presenting change to people,
you're going to have a mixed audience.
Where do you start?
That's not one of those rhetorical questions, either.
Where do you think you start?
Sensing or intuitive?
- In the middle.
That would be weird, wouldn't it?
We're going to start in the middle today
and then, yeah.
Probably not in the middle, but I like the idea.
I might try it one day just to see what happens.
Where do you start?
Sensing? Go through the facts.
Or intuitive? Start with the end goal.
According to the Myers Briggs research, world research,
the best place to start is here,
the end picture of the intuition.
This is what it is. If you do that and promise
the sensing people you'll go through the facts and details,
they'll go with you.
If you start with the sensing, the intuitives,
they can't help themselves and they just go,
"Look, I'm sorry, [ inaudible ].
So the best place to start is what the end goal,
and then start bringing up the details to support
the end goal.
Make sense? So who do you think is most intelligent?
- [ laughter ]
- The 70% of you here.
On IQ tests, whatever your IQ is, or you're not quite sure,
on IQ tests, intuitives score higher.
- [ laughter ]
- Now, that doesn't seem right
because this is not about intelligence.
So when they did the research and went, "This is not right."
So they tracked it back.
Who do you think writes IQ tests?
- [ laughter ]
- Intuitives.
I can see the shape there, one leg upside down,
now what do you see?
It's very, very intuitive.
When they redid the research and gave sensing people
some example questions, the scores were the same.
There's no difference in intelligence.
And people [ inaudible ] as well, like certain chefs,
Delia Smith, do you like watching Delia Smith cook?
I do, for some reason. I don't know why.
Delia Smith's cooking, she's very measured.
I don't know her, I'm guessing she's a sensing person.
You watch her cooking, it's dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah,
the perfect boiled egg.
Jamie Oliver? Just chuck it in.
I've never see him measure anything.
So people do give clues as they go about their business.
And they did this promo on TV a couple of years ago,
which wasn't for Myers Briggs,
and they hung a tea bag from the ceiling and they said,
they tested people and said, "Okay, you sensing people,
describe what you see."
And they went, "It's a tea bag."
And they asked the intuitive people to do the same thing,
and they went, "Well, it looks a bit like a spaceship,
isn't it?
- [ laughter ]
- So, for me, the EI, and it's just my preference,
the EI and the SN are such important things
in communication.
Because that's so, especially the SN,
because it's such a different way
of looking at things.
And, I'll give you a little tip on life.
If you are a little intuitive like I am, that's why I write,
write, write, to do a sentence at a time, that's hard work
when you're left-handed, my back hurts [ inaudible ]
It's very sensitive.
What you do, instead of stressing yourself out,
like some do in detail, you just work with someone
who's different to you, and they'll do it for you.
They'll write right-handed for you,
and it's great. [ inaudible ].
So use other people's types to help you out and give you
some balance because whenever you see something,
you only see half the picture.
You only see the facts and details,
or you see the weird stuff.
If you combine them together, you'll probably see
the full picture.
So let's rattle through. Page four--
[ music ]