ISFJ Communication Skills

As a rule, in communication ISFJs are friendly and supportive, as well as practical and to the point. They are ready to come to the aid. At the same time, they might feel unhappy if their help is disregarded. They strive to build consensus among those involved in the conversation. During communication, it is important for ISFJs to sense that they are with a group of friends, co-workers, or like-minded individuals that share their interests and opinions. They are obvious proponents of minding manners and rules of communication accepted in their circle or community. As a rule, ISFJs stand firmly behind their values.

Topics requiring theoretical and logical reasoning might not particularly pique the interest of ISFJs. Thus, for example, scientific discussions may not lead them to much of a response.

Typically, an ISFJ’s social circle is not very large, and mostly made up of friends and relatives. Many of an ISFJ’s communication partners seek their company to share their experiences with them and find out their opinion on questions of behaviour, morality and practical questions of more of a material nature.

For ISFJs, business communication is, as a rule, related to partaking in tackling practical, current issues, often in relation to office or management activities. They often succeed at effectively resolving practical, immediate issues.

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ISFJ: Strategies for Successful Communication

Communication with people of the same mindset or, in other words, sensory/feeling types (SF) consisting of ESFJ, ISFJ, ESFP, and ISFP personality types, comes at ease. People belonging to this group have roughly the same method of perceiving the world. Therefore it is easy for ISFJs and other SFs to share their feelings and views with each other, and converse about day-to-day things.

In communication with sensory/thinking types (ST), including ESTJ, ISTJ, ESTP, and ISTP personality types, ISFJs should try to focus on, or base their argumentation on experience, facts, and their immediate consequences. Although this style of communication may be somewhat dry to those ISFJs that have strong F preference (feeling), ISFJs should be able to easily adapt to it. As for people from the ST group, this style fits their way of thinking the most, and is easy for them to understand.

When communicating with people of intuitive-feeling types (NF), including ENFJ, INFJ, ENFP, and INFP personality types, ISFJs should also try to keep to a conversation style that is understandable to both parties - that is, should relate to feelings and emotions. Also, some representatives of the ISFJ type might find it hard to maintain communication involving abstract ideas or theories, but they form the basis of thought for many representatives of the NF group and are what the NFs find interesting.

When communicating with intuitive-thinking people (NT) including ENTJ, INTJ, ENTP, and INTP personality types, ISFJs should keep their communication at a conceptual level and based on ideas, and maintain a logical flow. The problem, however, is that ISFJs might have to struggle to carry on a dialogue in that way. They will have to put in extra effort, which may lead to ISFJs trying to wind down the conversation. In order to provide an appropriate level of communication for both sides, ISFJs should prepare themselves for a communication style suitable to representatives of the NT group, in advance.

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What helps successful communication for an ISFJ:

• The topic includes feelings and emotions
• Conversation touches on issues around practical solutions
• The topic is mostly related to concrete, current problems
• The topic touches on moral aspects

What hinders successful communication for an ISFJ:

• The conversation mostly relates to abstract, theoretical issues
• The conversation calls for finding hidden, unobvious possibilities
• Long communication with NT people

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