INFJ Communication Skills
To help others wherever possible, and even when it seems impossible, is what fills an INFJ’s life with meaning and serves as their main motivation. This is their main orientation in the world, and it defines how they relate to events and to people around them.
In communication INFJs come across as thoughtful, supportive, and caring. Communication with an INFJ is pleasant and easy, since they are inherently well-disposed towards the other party. They are attentive and empathetic to other people's feelings. Whenever one communicates with an INFJ, he or she instantly feels just how much they care about the people they know.
INFJs find it easy to communicate with people of various types and on a variety of topics. However, INFJs can occasionally come across as somewhat reserved in their communication. Yet what they do when they appear reserved is taking time to sort out their feelings and thoughts of other people or current events.
An INFJ’s everyday social circle is unlikely to be extensive. It mostly consists of close friends, colleagues, and family members.
However, INFJs tend to have a large number of business contacts, and their communication routine can be rather intense. Those who work in the same field (e.g. coworkers or colleagues) are often reliant on, or interested in, an INFJ’s expert opinion of counsel on professional subjects. An INFJ is perfectly capable of maintaining an eventful business communication agenda involving an exchange of ideas and opinions, as well as practical solutions.
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INFJ: Strategies for Successful Communication
An INFJ finds it easy to establish a common ground with people of a mindset similar to theirs - or, in other words, the representatives of intuitive/feeling (NF) personality types such as ENFJ, INFJ, ENFP, and INFP. Since these types have similarity in the way of perceiving the world, INFJs are open to active communication with them, find it easy to talk about their feelings and views, and are likely to comprehend other party’s feelings and views.
In their interaction with the representatives of intuitive/thinking types (NT), including ENTJ, INTJ, ENTP, and INTP personality types, INFJs should rely on conceptual and logical communication. And while many INFJs form their opinion based on their feelings, whereas the NT people for the most part strive to maintain an objective view of events, the parties often find common ground for compelling discussion and search of solutions.
In their communication with the representatives of sensing/feeling types (SF), including ESFJ, ISFJ, ESFP, and ISFP personality types, INFJs should try to orient their manner of communication toward feelings, facts, and actual sensations. INFJs can usually adapt to this manner of communication easily enough, although they may find prolonged or frequent contacts with the representatives of the SF group taxing.
INFJs may find it challenging to communicate with the representatives of sensing/thinking types (ST), including ESTJ, ISTJ, ESTP, and ISTP. INFJs should strive to confine their communication with ST people to facts and their direct logical implications. However, some of the manifestly “feeling” (F) representatives of the INFJ type find it hard to maintain this sort of communication. They have to struggle to find argumentation that people from the ST group will understand, and therefore they may often resort to keeping their communication brief. In order to establish a level of discussion that both parties will find acceptable, an INFJ has to tune into the communication style compatible with the ST people in advance. On the other hand, many ST people manage to establish very trusted relationships with INFJs. The reason is that these people sometimes need a confidant, and they find someone capable of hearing them out and empathizing with their emotions in an INFJ.
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What helps successful communication for an INFJ:
- the matter of discussion touches the fine feelings of the soul
- the matter of discussion is of a conceptual nature
- the matter of discussion requires a creative approach
- there is ample time to ponder a given topic
What hinders successful communication for an INFJ:
- the matter of discussion is of a wholly practical, mundane nature
- the matter of discussion does not involve feelings
- prolonged business communication with people from the ST group