"Feel it in your hands ".... "Can't I watch you first?"

I attended the European Association for Psychological Type Conference in Copenhagen 2 weeks ago. As well as running a half-day workshop session on Type in the Training Room (for 33 type professionals), I got the chance to meet new people, talk type, and gather new perspectives of type.

After a typically extraverted and engaging evening on the Friday night (culminating in a group of 10 of us failing to find a salsa bar in the centre, but making a long evening of it even so), I wasn't sure that I was in any fit state to attend a session on Type and Sport. But I'd chatted to one of the presenters and he had assured me we didn't have to do it! So at 9.00 I was there in body if not in spirit, but soon woke up.

It was amazing to see how type preferences play themselves out in all sorts of ways; you can make a pretty good prediction of some type preferences in watching how people stand, or how they approach sport.

We're eagerly waiting for the book on Action Type to be translated from the Dutch (though the authors say that they won't do it till after the Olympics so as to keep the competitive advantage... is that really sporting?) but in the meantime, just consider this:

ST (specifics and thinking) work with fine motor skills ... so from the elbow to the fingers, and the knees to the soles of the feet and the toes (the precise kicking of David Beckham, for example)
SF (specifics and feeling) work with gross motor skills ... they launch their whole body into their activity.
NF (big picture and feeling) combine the gross and the fine - so are elegant movers

and NT (big picture and logic) ... they run it from their head (the thinkers). They need images for the movement, they need to collect and connect lots of images to make the right move. For them, the images are the commands to the body to move in a certain way.

There were lots of "ah ha's" through out the session. And I've been looking and listening to discover more.

So fast forward a week to Marseille airport (I get around, you know) where I was picking up a friend who had just done a 2-day Kayaking course on the med. She's got a director/INTJ preference. She hadn't ever done kayaking before. So getting into the boat and getting the started, the sailing tutor said "Feel it in your fingers" .... Her response ... "but I can't I watch you and follow you first".

I'll be tuning into sport in a whole different way from now.

action planning

We know that your type preferences underpin our behaviours and actions. Our unconscious responses to a situation or a task - based on our preferences - can be influenced by many things. The specifics of language - the words we or others use to describe things - can help or hinder, make or break, action planning and goal setting.

How do we help ourselves, and others, get better at putting the action into the plan, and the plan into action?

If you're involved in setting your own action plan, or supporting others in theirs, here are some things to take into consideration.

Goals, Goal Setting: these are concepts and words that are helpful for people who like their world to be organised and structured. They take one action, or a series of actions, and have one end goal / required result. A goal provides clarity, certainy, direction, a means whereby you can tick the box for completion and pat yourself on the back for a job well done, womething else achieved.

But for those with a Go with the Flow preference, those whose ideal world is spontaneous, flexible and open to exploration and possibilities, the words goals, and planning, can set up an immediate negative reaction, confusion, and stress. How can I possibly choose just one thing to go for? By changing the language we can free up motivation and positive energy for action.

So for the Go with the flow-ers (in type terms Perceivers ... or procrastinators, or put it off to the last moment sort of people), talk about "focus" not goals. Describe the desired and possible outcomes. Look at the journey. Help those who you are supporting see the goal mouth as an exciting door to future possibilities (especially for the big picture perceivers); possibilities that will open up when going through the goal area.

For the Artisans (in type temperament terms the specific, here and now go with the flow-ers), get them to think about practical direction (especially STP) and intention (SFP) in the moment.

But even for those with a natural inclination towards goal setting and action planning, it's not always that straightforward.

For the leaders and directors can seem easy (ENTJ and INTJ). The challenge for the ENTJ might be to leave time and space for things to unfold. Sometimes it's about making a goal of not having a goal. For INTJ it can be about making the action happen in the outer world; taking the steps to bring the vision out into the open and into reality. So the goal here might have to be to get specific, in the here and now, and not introduce new ideas until others are done. Step back from the future vision and plan and execute the interim steps.

For the NFJs remember that good enough can be ok. Practicality can be perfection in itself.

And for the STJ, how about pushing yourself further into the future. Look beyond the immediate goal posts into the field beyond.