Understand your personality to achieve success at work

The Centre for Extension Education (CEE) organised a talk titled “Know Your Personality Type for Your Future Success and Growth” on 12 April 2019 at UTAR Kampar Campus. The talk was delivered by Koo Kian Song, the accredited Administrator of Myer-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Personality Profile and the Certified Trainer of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People Signature Programme.

Koo emphasising on the importance of MBTI personality assessment

Aimed at allowing participants to explore and understand their own personalities including his or her strengths, weaknesses and general preferences, the talk saw the participation of more than 100 students and staff from UTAR. The talk was primarily focused on the use of MBTI Personality Profile and also emphasised on how one’s personality could affect his or her career choices, performance and development. 

As a start, Koo explained, “The MBTI is an introspective self-report questionnaire with the purpose of indicating differing psychological preferences in how people perceive the world around them and make decisions. According to MBTI, there are 16 different types of personalities. It is a widely used personality inventory, or test, employed in vocational, educational and psychotherapy settings to evaluate personality type in adolescents and adults age 14 and older.”

He added, “By knowing your personality type, as measured through the MBTI instrument, the test can help one with career planning at every stage, from your choices of subjects and majors in school to choosing your first career, to advancing in your organisation or changing career later in life. People often find difficulty defining what kind of work they want to do or why a given field makes them comfortable or uncomfortable. Personality type is a practical tool for investigating what works for one, then looking for and recognising work that satisfies one’s preferences.”

Koo also advised, “In order to be content and fulfilled in the workplace, it is important to match your profession and working environment to your personality type. This is because job satisfaction is at its uppermost when your job engages your strong personality traits. Similarly, it boosts professional accomplishment when your job is in line with your attitude, values and preferences.” 

Some UTAR staff and students during the MBTI personality test

The purpose of the MBTI personality inventory is to make the theory of psychological types described by C. G. Jung understandable and useful in people's lives. The essence of the theory is that much seemingly random variation in the behaviour is actually quite orderly and consistent, being due to basic differences in the ways individuals prefer to use their perception and judgment.

The talk session became more commendable when the participants had the chance to answer and experience the questionnaires of the MBTI. The participants were given around 30 minutes to complete the questionnaires and later was asked to self-evaluate their own personality. It was then followed by an interactive Q&A session, in which participants asked a few constructive questions that benefitted all.

The talk ended with a souvenir presentation to the speaker by CEE staff Ho Mei Kei

Koo has earned numerous international certifications in training, counselling and management. He is an accredited Administrator of Myer-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Personality Profile, Certified Trainer of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People Signature Programme, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) Practitioner by American Board of NLP, Diploma in Satir Growth Model Individual & Family Therapy & Counselling, Fellow of Life Management Institute (FLMI) by Life Office Management Association (LOMA), USA etc.

Koo is also a dynamic, versatile and effective senior training professional with more than 15 years of experience in the financial services industry. He provided specific leadership and soft skills training and development for segmented staff and intermediaries for the country and entities in the region including Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, Thailand and Indonesia. His past contributions included analysing existing operations and implementing strategies, processes and technologies to improve the distribution channel’s performance. He has a strong business acumen with experience of developing programmes and people in Sales, Performance Coaching and Management, Personal Transformation, Leadership and Team-building.