Gini Nelson’s Engaging Conflicts

Back in April I posted Part One of a series on use of the MBTI in professional practices (and personal life). I expanded greatly on it in an article just published in the ABA’s Law Trends & News. This newsletter is introduced by its editor thusly:

Below is the third issue of Law Trends for the 2007–08 bar year. As always, this is a very exciting issue, and I am very happy to present it to you. As with prior issues, this e-newsletter includes articles, checklists, and other valuable practice information and practical tips, all from each of our substantive practice areas in the General Practice, Solo & Small Firm Division. This issue also highlights some emerging areas, some interesting checklists, and much more.

While this is written explicitly for lawyers, whether mediators or not, the same principles apply to mediators who are not attorneys, in terms of the value of applying its principles. I believe strongly that mediators who are not attorneys will have statistically relevant differences in their type characteristics from attorneys, so if you are not an attorney, please keep that in mind in reading the statistics about type in lawyers.

Here’s my introduction to the article:

I’ve been a practicing attorney for 25 years, but I was a sociologist before I was a lawyer—I have a BA and an MA in sociology and taught undergraduate social problems courses in graduate school before going to law school. I continue to love what a character on Law and Order: Criminal Intent (one of my favorite television shows) called Detective Bobby Goren’s “predilection for detecting obscure patterns.”

Patterns are tools. Tools are great when they are used well and effectively—think “coffee,” which I embraced as my vice of choice when I started law school, or what you really like about the Internet. They are not so great when they are used badly and ineffectively, if not destructively —think “illegal and offensive profiling,” or what you really dislike about the Internet.

I like and use Carl Jung’s principles of psychological type as measured by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®. The MBTI® is probably the most widely used assessment instrument of its kind (millions are administered annually in the United States, and more in other countries). It’s also the only general psychological test of personality that has ever been administered to a large number of practicing attorneys. I’m a qualified administrator of it and use Jung’s type principles in my own practice, business, and personal life almost daily. With familiarity with its principles, attorneys can help clients get through misunderstandings based on type differences; identify blind spots in the problem solving process based on type; and use type similarities to bridge cultural and gender differences in negotiation and advocacy. Indeed, with knowledge of her own type, an attorney can better identify the kind of law practice she wants, and better pinpoint her own weaknesses and strengths in running a law office.

Here’s the .pdf of the entire article: aba-lawtrends-mbti-article-vol4no4.pdf