This week I’ve been looking at the use of video as exercises on Myers Briggs workshops.  I was prompted to look at using Master and Commander as a result of running a workshop for a client in preparation for a Tall Ship event, part of a graduate development programme.  “Master and Commander: Far Side of The World” is the story of 19th century British and French Tall Ships engaging in a battling chase across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

I use Master and Commander in the same way as the other videos I’ve described this week.  The clip I use is the rebellious ‘brush’ by a deck hand against an officer, which the officer ignores, and the subsequent discussion between him and the Captain.  In the discussion, the officer’s preferences for Feeling and his difficulty with Thinking become very clear.  The Captain (whose preferences are not so clear, and who displays use of both functions to some degree) challenges the Lieutenant that he should have responded differently to the act of rebellion by the deck hand, and he needs establish his authority and take control.  The subtext of this, in type terms, is that whilst Feeling is all well and good in some circumstances, in this particular situation it is necessary for him to use Thinking.  The Lieutenant’s response is that he has tried to befriend the men.  The subtext of his responses are all Feeling: he only knows how to use Feeling, and he appears unable to use any other approach.  At the end of the dialogue he says “I’ll try, Sir”, but it is clear not only from his response but also from the Captain’s facial expression that the situation is impossible for him: the situation demands use of Thinking, failure to do so endangers even the officer’s Feeling motivations (loss of respect, failing to meet others’ reasonable expectations, and thereby damaging relationships).

This clip forms a good basis for discussing the relationship between team role and preference.  Team roles change according to the situation, though preferences remain the same.  Success, and sometimes survival, require being able to access one’s non-preferences when needed.  The officer in Master and Commander was unable to do this and paid a high price.  I don’t show the later clip where he is unable to cope with it, and jumps overboard, but this does illustrate the extreme stress that some people can feel when forced to use preferences that are inaccessible to them.

In the context of a graduate development programme, this video clip can sow the seeds early in life that it is important to maintain a balance in their lives for both personal psychological health and fulfilment of duty.  The lessons are less relevant for those in later life, for whom adaptation and achievement are not such important issues and for whom the questions of flexibility of adaptation have been resolved one way or the other.

This week I’ve looked at a series of videos and, apart from the first day, have focused mainly on the typological lessons that can be drawn from them.  However, I want to finish by reinforcing a point made on Monday, that the value of video clips is multi-level.  It is not just the learning points that are of value but they have other benefits as well.  They introduce variety and interest in a workshop.  They provide metaphors that enable people, when they can relate to the film’s characters, to self-reflect in a way they hadn’t done before.  They can help you to maintain control and provide structure in a way that is not obvious.  Videos can help circumvent difficulties that can cause irritation (such as poor timekeeping by those on the workshop).  And the use of comedy puts people on a workshop into a more receptive frame of mind.