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Improving Communication and Teambuilding
Company Name

Interior Health Authority of BC

Assessments
Myers Briggs Assessments
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The Interior Health Authority of BC Improves Communication and Teambuilding with the MBTI® Instrument

The Interior Health Authority of British Columbia is responsible for providing publicly funded health services and quality patient care to over 700,000 clients in B.C.’s Interior. Key management initiatives of Interior Health include attracting and retaining a diverse caliber of employees and increasing knowledge and learning capacity.

With over 18,000 staff, the Organizational Learning and Development department at Interior Health is involved in leadership development. The department started using the MBTI® instrument as a communication tool for managers with the aim of creating better self awareness and awareness of others. “We felt if managers understood their type and the type of their teams that they would improve in their communication,” explained Pat Jones, Program Coordinator for Organizational Learning and Development. Interior Health administers the MBTI® instrument through Psychometrics’ online portal, CareerID.com. Because CareerID allows for group and individual administration, the organization arranges for the MBTI® instrument to be taken in a group format as part of their leadership development program for mid-level leaders, called the People Management Series. The People Management Series consists of a foundational course on management and leadership development, and six stand alone modules that focus on specific people management competencies. The goal of the program is to assist managers in working with their direct reports to implement change and to move the strategic objectives of the organization forward. At the beginning of the program each participant develops a Personal Learning Plan and completes the MBTI® instrument. The leader’s learning plan and MBTI® results are re-visited in each of the successive modules, building upon their understanding of these tools as they relate to themselves and their teams.

“The reason we originally selected the instrument was for its construction and ease of use. Our managers have embraced the MBTI® instrument as a tool for communication and now have a common language to describe their personal preferences and the preferences of others. We were also very happy with the abundance of information on the instrument. We knew that beyond the Introduction to Type Series that we hand out in the courses, our managers could easily obtain deeper, richer information on their type.” Christine Bonney, Leader, Organizational Learning and Developing.

“Using the MBTI® instrument has been a great resource in building formal and informal teams,” stated Pat Jones. The instrument has also been a catalyst for learning within the organization, a coaching tool, and a problem solving tool for work groups.