Hello from OKA! 

We open this letter by announcing an upcoming change in MBTI qualifying training.  As of January 1, 2009, CPP - the publisher of the MBTI assessment - is taking over the design and delivery of all qualifying training in the United States. OKA's program, a leader in the field since 1977, will not be offered after December of this year.  While academically tight and well done, the new qualifying design is more expensive and will have no competitors in the market. The new design also strips all mention of temperament, and is less experiential than OKA's program, developed and honed over our last 30 years of business-focused delivery.

If you or anyone you know is interested in MBTI qualification training and getting the application-focused OKA experience, sign up for one of the classes OKA offers in the next three months. See http://www.typetalk.com/training-mbti-assessment.htm for more information or to sign up.   
 
CPP has retained CAPT (Center for the Application of Psychological Type) to provide CPP-designed public qualifying workshops in 2009.  A number of these workshops will be offered in OKA's facility in Fairfax, Virginia by Hile Rutledge, OKA's Chief Executive Officer. So, if you are in the habit of coming to OKA or sending people to OKA for great type training, we hope you will continue to do so in 2009 and beyond.

 
New Training Line in the Works
 
OKA is being asked with increasing frequency to deliver training and consulting services that focus on generational differences in motivation, work styles, leadership and technology attitudes and world view. The US workforce has four different generational cohorts shoulder to shoulder—in greater numbers than ever before, often working and communicating past each other. 
 
In partnership with Performance Consulting Group (PCG), OKA is now designing a comprehensive approach to this growing organizational need.  Due to roll out next spring, it will include:
  • Interactive and experiential group training designs, including Introduction to the Generations—Bridging the Gap and Leading, Following and Motivating Across the Generations
  • An interactive workbook to support application of generations material
  • Train the trainer programs
  • Consulting services
  • Keynote addresses

As we do with type, the SDI and all the tools and approaches we take on, OKA is committed to making this new line engaging, practical and actionable. If you would like to stay informed of the product line progress and development, let us know.  We will then let you know personally how the development is coming and when the various elements are available.  See you in 2009!


Visit OKA (www.typetalk.com)!
 
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Election08
MBTI Essay: Learning from Our F'ed Up Election 2008
By Hile Rutledge, INFP and Chief Executive Officer, OKA 
 
Hile RutledgeIn this election season, filled with hot debates and critical decisions, I'm struck with the way that type informs and gives meaning to the interactions that define, divide and tie us together. I recently found myself in a political debate that reminded me of a core type truth-always important, but so critical in this election year.

 

My friend, an ESTJ, was attached the values his candidate supported and represented and felt my candidate was wrong. An INFP, I drew a breath to present my counter augments, which were firmly rooted in my own values system, but then I remembered a critical reality of type: you can debate T, but not F.

 

Thinking decision making is a detached, objective process that employs analysis and cause-effect logic to yield an answer that is clear and objectively accurate. A Feeling decision is the result of a subjective process where the decider personally attaches to the subject and issues, weighing each against an inner system of personal values.  The Thinking Function answers the question, "Is it true or false?" But Feeling tells us "Is it good or bad?"

 

Calculating that the square root of 36 is 6 requires objective analysis. There is nothing personal about finding the correct answer-that is what the Thinking Function does. However, determining whether you like math, or whether your 5th grade math class was a good one is a subjective assessment: that is what F does.  Feeling decisions, rooted in personal values, feelings and relational concerns, are often not debatable for people. Insights that come from our Feeling functions (whether we prefer F or not), are grounded in values and issues that are often too core to question and openly doubt or criticize without some strain and feeling of violation. Thinking decisions-by definition objective and non-personal-are far easier to push and pull against for the sake of clarity.

 

So now to our F'd up election.

 

  • Sarah Palin has a record of opposing Congressional earmarks vs. Palin's record does not support her assertion that she is a governmental reformer.
  • Barack Obama has adequate experience to be President of the United States vs. Obama is too inexperienced to hold the Chief Executive's post.
 
These are objective statements that can be debated in either direction with evidence given, pros and cons weighed and clarity sought and perhaps, found.

 

  • John McCain is a war hero and should be President.
  • John McCain is mean and does not have the temperament to be President.
  • Barack Obama is an energizing visionary who will lead us to a brighter future.
  • Barack Obama is discounting to women and deserves not to be President.
 

These are subjective statements made by people preferring both Thinking and Feeling that I have heard recently. These statements are rooted in values and beliefs that are closely held and often not even consciously known. These Feeling values and decisions can be shared, but rarely can they be debated.  Values frequently do not yield clarity. Values are not true or false-they are good or bad.
 

So many political debates are cropping up-between the candidates themselves, among pundits on TV, among parents at my kids' bus stop, among clients, friends, and family everywhere I go. These engagements are entered into like debates, but they rarely end in clarity or the uncovering of objective truth.  While I don't pretend to know how to fix this issue-or even whether it is somthing that even needs fixing, I do know this reality motivates me to help clients and work systems to access both decision-making functions and not to get stuck unproductively in one function or the other.

 

If Thinking objectively finds the answer and Feeling subjectively gives this answer meaning and value, then clearly, anyone is at a serious disadvantage who is not able to function in both ways. To assist folks to this end, OKA has developed a series of questions we often use with leaders and teams to help them access both functions within a debate, an effort or a problem solving session. In the event this handout can be of assistance to you, we are attaching it to this e-mailing. Remember that regardless of anyone's preference, the end goal of type development is to be able to access the function most needed at the time and use it with competence and confidence.

 

As you see and even participate in the debates that loom ahead of us this fall, consider the decision making function (Thinking or Feeling) being used and appealed to, and, consider using the questions provided to make sure your discussion and understanding are not stuck in one decision making style or another.

  
MBTI Exercise and Handout:  
T-F Decision Making Reference Sheets
 
OKA is frequently asked for new support tools to help support MBTI learning for client groups.  In this newsletter, we offer a handout and exercise related to the Thinking-Feeling Decision Making function - we invite you to download them and use with your own groups.  These are free; we require only that you include the OKA copyright line on any copies or excerpts.  

Note: Other handouts and tips referenced in the Exercise Handout are available through the OKA Typewatching Toolkit.

  
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