Make It Easy
Make It Easy
A great challenge for trainers is the variety of learning styles in a classroom. There are many ways to determine type, including a personality sorter called the Myers Briggs Type Indicator. Learning styles of
people break down
into 4 typesThis breaks people down into one of each of four pairs: Extraversion/Introversion; Sensing /Intuition; Thinking/Feeling and Judging/Perceiving.
You may have noticed the difference between extraversion and introversion.
Extraversion (spelled correctly here, Webster has it wrong), means "outside life." "Extra" is "outside of" vert is Latin for "life." Introversion, conversely, means inner life.
The Myers Briggs Type Indicator helps you understand yourself; how you organize, how you listen, how you learn and how you interact with others.
If you prefer Extraversion, you enjoy brainstorming sessions. You like to ramble through processes until you figure out what you believe and want to achieve.
You enjoy variety in life and in discussions. You often don't trust people who are "too quiet" because you don't know what they are thinking.
In a classroom, you express yourself -- if not to the teacher, then to the person sitting next to you.
If you prefer Introversion, you like to reflect on problems and have small-group meetings to report what you have figured out.
You value quiet listening in a classroom and are irritated by Extraverts talking. You think information should be presented so everyone can reflect on it and integrate it. You don't speak until you have something of value to say. You often don't trust Extraverts because you think they act like they have all the answers.
And they never stop talking long enough for your brain to process concepts thoroughly.
Extraversion and Introversion are both valid choices and are misunderstood by their opposites.
We develop our preferences in early childhood and use that "operating system" for most of our lives. We aren't being too noisy or too quiet to irritate others, we are just being who we are.
We'll focus on the other preferences next week.
For now, notice how you interact and learn, then see if this information changes the way you perceive the others in your life.
Beth Terry is president of Pacific Rim Seminars.
This column is excerpted from her upcoming book,
101 Ways to Make Your Life Easier. Send questions
on management, customer service and other issues
to beth@bethterry.com.