INFJ Leadership

INFJs are insightful, brilliant leaders who are likeable and encouraging, seeking to bring out the potential in others through their leadership. 

Although they prefer to stay out of the spotlight, INFJs will rise to leadership when they see a humanistic purpose in what they are doing.

INFJ Leadership: Leading Self

INFJs are idealistic and demand perfection from themselves. They are organized and scheduled; often keeping a calendar or organiser to track their lives.

They are passionate about personal development, wanting to see growth in themselves through reading and learning from others. 

However, INFJs may sometimes tend to be pulled in too many directions because of their many inspirations and projects they want to start. They feel committed to follow through on their projects, but they may often end up burnt out because of too many commitments.

INFJ Leadership: Setting the Vision

INFJs have an idealistic, humanistic vision of the future, and they seek to achieve this vision through their work.  When they do share the vision, INFJs inspire others with their dream of how they believe the world can be better and how the work in the organisation can make it happen.

However, INFJs often keep this vision too much to themselves, not sharing it until they have ‘baked’ it in their head for a significant amount of time. When they share it, others may find it too complex and often reject it. INFJs also need to learn to break this vision down into specific, concrete steps to take; for some will only take action when there is such.

INFJ Leadership: Connecting with Others

INFJs leaders believe in the best in people, and this makes them trusting and encouraging toward their followers. INFJ leaders want to help the individuals in their team develop and, therefore, give them opportunities to grow in the workplace. These attributes make the INFJ leaders very likeable and approachable, and they usually create a cordial and friendly environment in the workplace.

However, INFJs may find it very hard to give negative feedback or to reprimand when necessary. They may tend to avoid conflict, preferring to use a subtler way of informing their followers of mediocre performance. Such a method may not have the desired effect if the other party does not catch the hint.

INFJ Leadership: Accomplishing your Goals

INFJs are optimistic in their accomplishing of goals; they move quickly to action, and they become a role model for others to follow naturally.

They are good with strategic and operational planning; with a keen understanding of allocating people and resources to the right place.

However, INFJs may a harder time with routine work, especially if its work they do not deeply believe. They like the big ideas, but they may not as keen on the execution, which may involve repetition and routine work.  They also may also find it hard to allocate tasks to others that they find unpleasant to do.

INFJ Leadership: Developing your Leadership

Here are some tips for development:

SHARE YOUR IDEAS EARLY

Sometimes you bake an idea for too long inside your head such that when you finally share it, most people are unable to relate to it or connect with the idea. Learn to share ideas early when you first think of them; it may be imperfect, but at least you give others an avenue to add to it and contribute their part as well. You will gain new perspectives as you throw the unbaked idea around.

LEARN TO BE COMFORTABLE WITH CONFLICT

You may tend to shut down more heated discussions because of your desire for harmony and cooperation, but understand that differing views of a particular issue can often lead to a better, more dynamic solution to an existing problem. A conflict only becomes destructive when people start using personal attacks; till then, leave it open for debate.

LOOK AT THE BOTTOM LINE

Because you are empowering and encouraging by nature, you tend to take a positive, learning point of view toward the work of others. If the work is not up to standard, you may tend to start coaching the person instead of simply stating that the person did not meet your standards. Learn to balance your desire to teach and develop with clear, articulated expectations on others’ behaviour and performance. 

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