INTJ Leadership

INTJs generally are not interested in leadership. INTJs generally are not interested in people.

However, given that dealing with people is a natural part of surviving in an interdependent world, INTJs are generally forced to deal with people, regardless of how incompetent they may be. When an INTJ is placed into situations in the workplace, volunteer projects, school projects or any activity that requires collaboration, INTJs may find it very difficult to work with other group members for several reasons. However, the primary reason why INTJs can find group projects very stressful is lack of effective leadership.

The lack of effective leadership may result in two outcomes happening. 1. The INTJ steps up to attempt to take control of the direction the group heads towards, the results of which will be discussed later or 2. The INTJ resigns control to the ineffective leader, silently waiting while the ship is steered towards the wrong direction. If the INTJ wants to have more control over the direction the group takes, then there are actions and abilities the INTJ can develop to make sure that they contribute in the best way possible.

Explaining Thought Processes More Effectively

Because INTJs have dominant introverted intuition and auxiliary extroverted thinking, they are prone to paying attention to logical information and analyzing issues in a unique way that gets to the heart of what needs to be accomplished. This can lead them to having unconventional views of the project requirements, despite what is told to the group at face value. This tends to lead to unconventional approaches, which can make the other group members question the efforts of the INTJ for deviating from the norm of what is expected. The INTJ would be served better by recognizing that the people they are working with don’t necessarily see things the same way as them and by explaining their approach. Rather than expecting people to follow along because an idea seems inherently great, the INTJ should explain the details behind it to ensure others understand.

Exercising Extroverted Feeling (Fe)

INTJs have dominant introverted intuition, which is a passive function that is very open to new information. However, most people may perceive INTJs to be stubborn people because of how they naturally present themselves. The INTJs lack of attention to how they come off to others can make them seem as if they are not willing to be helpful team members and can push away those group members from expressing the thoughts and feelings they have. INTJs should pay more attention to what people may be feeling and ask for the opinions of each person and dig in deeper than the first response they initially receive. Compliments, while they may be foreign to the INTJs nature, should be exercised as they can go a long way.

Taking Initiative On Leadership

In a perfect world, INTJs would rather step back and let others lead the group initiatives. This willingness to let others lead is usually the result of laziness. If the INTJ plays the wait-and-see approach where they see if there are any competent leaders to lead the group, then it makes it harder to project influence on the group later on because the INTJ willingly subverted themselves from the beginning. This puts the INTJ at risk of being put under bad leadership with no control from the very beginning. To fix this, the INTJ would be best served by displaying some leadership initiative in the beginning. If the group finds another member that takes the helm of leadership effectively, the INTJ can withdraw from the responsibility. If the INTJ finds that no one else seems to be capable of leading as well, then they are tasked with the responsibility and extra work of having to lead, but will find that it is better to be in that position than in an aimless group with people who don’t know what they are doing.

Focusing On Unique Skills and Delegating Weak Skills

INTJs are natural planners. Dubbed as the “mastermind”, INTJs should take direct responsibility over planning how resources such as people and tools will be allocated towards the project. INTJs should also focus on the work that they are particularly good at while delegating work that they are not confident in to those who would thoroughly enjoy completing the task or are very good at it. INTJs may feel the need to do the hardest parts or practically everything for the group but allowing the group to contribute with a loose structure can lead to surprisingly good results.

In sum, INTJs can exhibit their own unique form of effective leadership by willingly taking the initiative on leading the group (and stepping down if not needed), making the time to explain their unique ideas, taking steps to plan the group’s responsibilities, and paying attention to the group’s morale.