Who do you think you are?

One of the great perks about working for a big company is the access that we get to training, as we have our own department whose job it is to roll out various testing and training both to staff and clients.

So a little while ago I was asked to participate in personality profiling. As this type of thing is something I get a sad little kick out of, I jumped at the chance, despite being a little apprehensive of a) seeing my quirks recorded for posterity and/or b) what if my um..varied...personality traits like, overload the circuits and melt down the computer or something?

Apart from that, who doesn't like answering questions about themselves and then participating in embarrassing team activities that highlight how weird and different awesomely unique you are?

Oh wait...

Anyway I'd forgotten all about it but in my recent and clearly infrequent tidying jags I found my individualised 10 page personality profile tonight and decided to have another read.

Wow I'm unique.

I'm what's apparently referred to as an extroverted introvert, which apparently represents only around 2% of the population. To my friend whose immediate response to this was, 'oh god there's more than one of you?' I say I'm a rare species. And shut up.

So apparently I'm adaptable and open to change,creative and big-picture thinking, hate to be forced to make decisions quickly, avoid conflict, get impatient with details, don't like to be hampered by barriers or limits and use metaphors, analogies and other forms of symbolic language that most people either HATE or just don't get. I don't like to be told no, and if I can't go over the mountain I'll look for ways around it instead. And I ask a lot of questions.

Ya think?

When communicating with others I'm advised to not over-share, however I also won't share accomplishments easily but then hate being underestimated. Yes I see the irony.

So overall I learned I'm a contrary mystery wrapped in an enigma who will usually do the opposite of what you're expecting.

Seriously though, I did get a lot out of this session, the most useful and surprising being practical tips on dealing with people who don't think like I do, which let's face it, appears to be almost everyone. And although I poke fun, I really must admit by using some of these strategies it has enabled me to get more out of people than I did before.

Have you done personality testing? Who do you think you are? Did you learn more about yourself or about other people and did you find it useful? And yes I'm asking a lot of questions!

xx