The language and concepts of Myers-Briggs (or Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, or MBTI) are still the most widely recognised across the world when it comes to psychometric profiling and people getting a toehold in understanding their personality and preferences.
In this article, we’ll explore:
- When to use the MBTI assessment
- When to use Strengthscope®
- How these two assessments can work together to create a more impactful development journey
What is Myers-Briggs (MBTI)?
The Myers-Briggs model is based on a Jungian typology comprising four pairs of preferences. According to this theory, everyone is a ‘type’ that can be described with a combination of the 4 pairs. These are:
- Extraversion (E) vs. Introversion (I) – Where you gain energy (from others or from within)
- Sensing (S) vs. Intuitive (N) – How you prefer to take in information (element by element, step by step or big picture, big message)
- Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F) – How you make decisions, what is your first port of call when making decisions. (data-based and objective or people and values-based)
- Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P) – How you prefer to live life (structured vs. flexible)
MBTI helps people understand personality preferences, offering insights into how individuals think, communicate, and make decisions.
When to Use MBTI? And what are the potential limitations?
In our experience with personal development and team development work, Myers-Briggs definitely has value and has its place. It can be good for opening people up to the idea of similarity and difference, and understanding colleagues on a deeper level, in a way that can make a real and practical difference to working relationships.
But Myers Briggs isn’t without its shortcomings. The complexity of the tool and having to learn new jargon and new acronyms are all barriers to usage.
It’s a preference measure, not a comprehensive account of personality and it has limited capacity to explain the detailed nuance of human experience, thinking and behaviour. To be fair, it was never intended to be a comprehensive measure of all things human, it’s just that it can sometimes be leant on a little too firmly to give a little too much.
In short, MBTI is a great intro to understanding people, behaviour and preferences. It can start you on a journey, even if it doesn’t have all the answers.
What is Strengthscope®?
Strengthscope® is a strengths-based assessment that identifies the unique strengths of individuals and teams, and how they can be applied to achieve peak performance. It is the only strengths assessment with BPS (British Psychological Society) registered test status, meaning it is scientifically validated and free from bias.
Instead of categorising people into types, Strengthscope® helps individuals and teams:
- Identify their unique strengths and what energises them.
- Recognise overdrive risks, where strengths might become counterproductive under pressure.
- Develop strategies to optimise performance and engagement.
- Build resilience by understanding how to tap into strengths in different situations.
- Gather regular feedback on the visibility and effective use of their strengths.
- Measure factors that impact their leadership effectiveness and team effectiveness.
Strengthscope® highlights how each person is completely unique, helping them make conscious choices about how to apply their strengths at work.
When to Use Strengthscope®
- If you want to go beyond personality and understand what drives performance.
- If you need a development-focused approach that helps individuals and teams apply their strengths.
- If you want to improve resilience, energy, and engagement in the workplace. See our latest Strengthscope® Impact Report for more information on this.
- If you’re coaching individuals or teams to make a unique contribution at work.
- If you want the option to launch a self-serve strengths-based assessment at scale.
Potential Limitations of Strengthscope®
- It requires deeper reflection rather than a simple personality type framework.
- If someone has never used a psychometric tool before, they may benefit from an introductory framework like MBTI first.
How StrengthscopeTeam™ and StrengthscopeLeader™ Take Strengthscope® Even Further
Beyond individual strengths, Strengthscope® also offers StrengthscopeTeam™ and StrengthscopeLeader™, which provide additional layers of insight into team dynamics and leadership development.
StrengthscopeTeam™ helps groups understand their collective strengths, how they interact, and how they can work together more effectively. It identifies:
- Team Strengths Wheel – A visual representation of the strengths present in a team
- Individual Contributions – The key strengths each team member brings
- Potential Performance Risks – How strengths might go into overdrive and impact collaboration
- Productive Team Habits – Strategies to build a high-performing, strengths-focused team
Meanwhile, StrengthscopeLeader™ is specifically designed for leaders who want to develop an authentic, strengths-based leadership style. It includes:
- A personalised leadership strengths assessment based on 24 work-based strengths
- 360-degree feedback from up to 20 raters (peers, direct reports, managers)
- Analysis of four key leadership habits: Sharing vision, sparking engagement, executing skillfully, and sustaining progress
- Insights on leadership impact and how to develop long-term effectiveness
With these tools, organisations can take Strengthscope® from individual growth to team-wide and leadership development, creating a comprehensive strengths-based culture.
For further reading on Strengthscope®’s data on leadership and team effectiveness, explore this report.
When to Use Strengthscope®
- If you want to go beyond personality and understand what drives performance.
- If you need a development-focused tool that helps individuals and teams apply their strengths.
- If you want to improve resilience, energy, and engagement in the workplace.
- If you’re coaching people to make a unique contribution at work.
Potential limitations of Strengthscope®
- It requires deeper reflection rather than a simple personality type framework.
- If someone has never used a psychometric tool before, they may benefit from an introductory framework like MBTI first.
How Do MBTI and Strengthscope® Work Together?
MBTI and Strengthscope® are not competitors—they complement each other well. Where Myers-Briggs sets up a description of someone’s ‘type’ or preference, Strengthscope® can give more of an in-depth explanation of what might be driving that in a way that can practically be useful at work.
- MBTI provides a starting point by helping people understand their personality preferences.
- Strengthscope® builds on this knowledge by identifying the strengths that drive those preferences and showing people how to apply them in real-world situations.
For example:
A person with an Extraversion (E) preference in MBTI may be being driven by any of many of the right-hand profile strengths in the Strengthscop® wheel. These could be Persuasiveness, Relationship-building, Results-focus or Decisiveness in Strengthscope®. That’s how Extraversion may show up for an individual.
A person with a Feeling (F) preference in MBTI may have strengths like Compassion, Empathy, Courage, Leading or Collaboration.
Once you know which strengths are behind a preference, you can make more conscious, empowering choices about bringing more or less of each strength to different situations you may face at work. You can work on any ‘strength in overdrive’ risks by bringing in other complementary strengths to counter them.
It’s pretty challenging to take action to counter or modify an MBTI preference, but strengths are eminently flexible and practically useful. And they place you as an individual at the centre, so you can feel understood, appreciated and empowered to take action, rather than just having to deal with being ‘in a box’ as a particular type.
Starting off introductory conversations using Myers-Briggs can be helpful when people have little knowledge of personality or preferences. And then building on that introductory knowledge with more practical conversations around how your preferences may show up in strengths form and then putting those strengths to work in your day-to-day working context can be a great build.
Top 3 tips for choosing MBTI or Strengthscope® or a blended approach
To help you choose when and how to use MBTI or Strengthscope® alone, or a combination of the two, here are our tips:
- If you’re working with a group or a team or an individual looking for a basic introduction to understanding individual differences and similarities and how that might play out at work, that makes a reasonable case for MBTI to be used on its own.
- If you’re working with a group or team or individual looking for an insight into what energises and drives their behaviour at work and how they can learn to harness that energy at individual and group levels to meet their goals, Strengthscope® is an excellent first choice.
- Lastly, if you’re working with a group or team or individual looking to get an understanding of both individual differences and what might be driving those differences in a way that helps people take action, then combining Strengthscope® and MBTI will give you great results.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator – technical info
In a research project conducted at University College London, correlations between 10 of the 24 Strengthscope® strengths and the preference categories of MBTI® were found (see image below). These results show that there is a modest overlap with results from MBTI® and Strengthscope®.
Interested in how Strengthscope® can complement your existing MBTI programme? Get in touch with us today!
Interested in becoming an accredited Strengthscope® practitioner? The foundational Strengthscope® Accreditation is delivered across 2 days. Once obtained, the accreditation is valid for life. Our accredited practitioners receive additional business development and training support to change more lives with strengths. Learn more here.
