ENFP: Personality and the Interpreting Profession

In eight grade, my homeroom/ science teacher administered the Myers-Briggs personality test.  I am an ENFP:

Extroversion
Intuitive
Feeling
Perceiving

Fast forward to May 2011...I am participating in a small group at my church that is focusing on personality and relationships.  As a prequel to the group, I met with the leader and took the Myers-Briggs assessment for the second time.  As Lauren put it, "personality type does not change with age; however, your job may require you to adopt characteristics of other personality types in order to succeed."  Case in point: I am not a naturally organized person.  I am a big-picture type of girl, who does not naturally focus on the details in life.  However, as a college student and the sign language club secretary (among other activities), then being self-employed and on the board of VRID, I am forced to be organized.  Coordinating the schedules for the support staff at the PCRID conference was a challenge for me.  Can I see my desk? No.  Do I loose my keys on a nearly daily basis?  Yes.  Is my smart-phone my life-line that keeps me organized and get me to work on time?  Absolutely yes.  I am an ENFP, through and though.

But, beside my organizational skills (or lack thereof), what does this mean for my personal and professional lives?  I am constantly seeking external affirmation and wanting to be liked; starting projects with gusto, but not seeing them to completion; loosing track of time; and expressing concern for others .  ENFPs are typically described "rarely complacent" and having "difficulty on one career."  Furthermore, ENFPs "generally find satisfaction and greater rewards in careers that involve human services" (These traits are described in Otto Kroeger's "Type Talk").  Interestingly, it is these characteristics that have allowed me to thrive as a sign language interpreter- the freelance world has given me the variety that I love and this lack of complacency is motivation to engage in professional development and strive to become a better interpreter.

Recently, I have been thinking a lot about team interpreting and what makes or breaks a team.  More specifically, what is that magic element that allows me to succeed or fail with my co-interpreter?  For me (the extrovert), the inter-personal dynamics between myself and my co-interpreter is a critical component and key aspect of my Demand-Control Schema. Our cumulative type can make or break a team, particularly when giving and receiving feedback.  By better understanding our own type and our colleague's type, I would hope that team could function better as a unit, instead of labeling each other as "sensitive," "needing thicker skin," "abrasive," or "inconsiderate."  As interpreters, we are required to constantly adapt to those around us, including our colleagues and consumers.

I am also been wondering if there is a particular Myers-Briggs personality type or trait that draws individuals to the interpreting profession.  Upon further reflection, I am now speculating that particular traits may be drawn to a particular aspect or specialization of interpreting.  Interpreting is an open field, filled with variety, potentially allowing everyone to find their niche.  Personally, I do not enjoy VRS interpreting, however I know some introverts who would consider VRS their first choice.  Likewise, other interpreters have demonstrated a preference for one-on-one settings, community, government, elementary school, platform, theater... Perhaps it is our unique combination of traits that leads to our specialization.


How has your personality type affected your professional life as an interpreter?

Whirlwind of Workshops

It's official!  I have completed all of my CEU requirements for my 2010-2014 cycle.  To date, 8.35 CEUs have been posted to my RID transcript.  (And my two most recent workshops have yet to be posted!)

Here's the recap of my latest professional development endeavors:

March 12: Sign Safely, Interpret Intelligently (Presented by Dr. Diane Gross)

As someone who experienced an injury early in her career and still has chronic pain issues, this workshop was important to me.  After months of planning, it was hard to believe that March 12 came around.  Diane's workshop was amazing!  We discussed the anatomical, physiological, and psychological interpreting-related injury (IRI) risk factors.  While she did address nutrition and self-care techniques, the primary focus was the ergonomics of interpreting.  We learned the six high-risk ergonomic factors: forceful or ballistic signing; work-space or work-envelope; micro rest-breaks; hand/wrist deviations; physical muscle tension; posture.

My favorite part of the workshop was pairing off and assessing each other's risk factors.  Diane gave us the option to be videotaped during one round and receive feedback from her and the group about our risk factors.  I, like, many other participants, had a high signing space (To quote Diane: "It must be a DC thing!).  Additionally, I needed to work on my posture, take better advantage of micro rest-breaks, and reduce hand/wrist deviations.  The week following the workshop, I was very self-conscious, borderline paranoid, about my high signing space.  Several of my co-interpreters that week had a high signing space as well- maybe it is a DC thing?!  During the workshop, I observed that many of us frequently interpret meetings in boardroom-like settings with high tables.  In these situations, we are forced to sign higher and this bad habit can potentially spill over into other situations.  Likewise, as another participant observed, VRS settings can require higher signing spaces as well, further perpetuating the bad habits.  Becoming aware of my high-risk factors is the first step to making adjustments in my interpreting style and reducing the chances for pain and injury.  I have already noticed a difference when I lower my signing space, particularly reduced shoulder tension.

We also talked about inter-personal dynamics and how as interpreters we do not physically take our work, but we do bring it home mentally.  We don't always "check it at the door."  In some instances, we take ownership of other people's issues and biases, adding to our burden.  It can be challenging, but I need to learn to say "That's not my avocado!" (Thank you Diane for the great visual, motto, & life lesson!).  As part of our self-care, we cannot internalize the criticism; we must take ownership of our words and actions, but not the words and actions of others.

My new year's resolution was to take better care of myself- physically and mentally- and applying what I learned in this workshop is a step in the right direction.

March 13: The Dance of Self-Discovery (Presented by Kevin Dyles)

Kevin's workshop was a unique approach to intra-personal and inter-personal analysis.  Through hands-on activities (including a trust building exercise) as well as large and small group discussion, I learned a lot about myself and my colleagues.  One discussion examined the inter-personal dynamics and how our perception may be different than the perception of those around us, including our consumers and co-interpreters.  This was a major AHA moment for me as I shared a story about a recent teaming situation.  I was greatly annoyed that my co-interpreter had left the room for an extended period of time, while I was interpreting, only to return with a Starbucks coffee from outside the building.  This was an individual who I had not worked before and I felt that she was disregarding the teaming process and failed to provide the support needed.  I was frustrated by her un-professionalism and lack of communication.  However, during the discussion, I realized that she leaving could also be perceived as a vote of confidence in my interpreting skills, thus she felt comfortable leaving.  Furthermore, because we were new team, trust had not yet been establish, leaving me to wonder if./when she would return.  In short, I learned not to make assumptions about people's assumptions.  For one of the more intriguing exercises, we were divided into two groups and asked our biggest fear.  It struck me that it is one thing to have an internal fear, but quite another to actually say it aloud, let alone in front of our colleagues.  At the conclusion of the workshop, Kevin asked us to share one thing that we were proud of from the past year.  As someone who previously feared community (and freelance) interpreting, I shared that I was proud to have dove into the freelance world last year and have almost all my income be 1099 income- and I made enough to pay my bills!  This long-held, almost irrational, fear limited me at the beginning of my career, but within the last eighteen months, I have truly begun to flourish and grow.

March 26: Team Interpreting & the Post-Session: Talking about the Work (Presented by Dr. Jack Hoza)

(Yes, I asked him to sign my book)

This workshop was sponsored by the VDOE grant for educational interpreters and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to attend (I still pick up the occasional interpreting work for the local school system where I got my start and the workshops are a huge perk!).  Like Diane's "Sign Safely, Interpret Intelligently" workshop, I had been looking forward to Dr. Hoza's workshop for quite a while.   I am very interested in the dynamics of team interpreting and what makes a teaming experience successful or unsuccessful.  Dr. Hoza's "Team Interpreting as Collaboration and Interpendence" was published last spring and I read it last summer.  In the book, he advocates the interpreting team function as a cohesive unit, rather than two individuals working consecutively.  While his book addresses the pre-session (collaborating), the interpreting (collaborating & interpreting interdependently), and post-session (processing), his workshop specifically focused on the post-session, posing the following thought-provoking questions:

1) Define team interpreting.  What makes for an effective team?

2) What do you discuss in the pre-session?

3) What strategies do you use when teaming?

4) What do you tend to talk about afterwards? What do you wish you could talk about, but don't?

5) What specifically makes for a successful post-session?  does not make for a successful post session?

The group discussion was fruitful and enlightening, especially as we discussed what we wish we could talk about during the post-session.  Being aware of teaming strategies can increase our exposure to other styles, while expanding our own tool box.

Unfortunately, in our profession, the opportunity to team interpret, can be few and far between.  I am fortunate enough to work with other interpreters on a regular basis, but many of my colleagues at the workshop are not so lucky.  Furthermore, in my experience as a freelance interpreter, building relationships with my co-interpreters can be a challenge when you do not work together on a regular  Different backgrounds, including education and experience, can lead to different conceptualizations of the teaming process.  Without a common background and relationship, initiating the conversation about "the work" can prove challenging as well.  One key concept that was repeatedly emphasized during the workshop: it's about the work, not the person!  The post-session and feedback can and should be a constructive look at improving the interpreting process and final product. basis.

April 15-16: Demand-Control Schema's Ethical Constructs for Interpreters (Presented by Robyn Dean)

While at the March 26 teaming workshop, Laura, a friend and colleague, invited me to Durham, NC to attend Robyn Dean's Demand-Control Schema workshop.  While I have had some exposure to the demand-control schema, it was not a topic I was intensely familiar with and I decided to accompany Laura, even though I did not need the CEUs.  We drove down Friday afternoon, arriving in just enough time for the 6 pm start time.  The workshop ran 6-9 pm on Friday evening and 9 am-4 pm on Saturday.  It was certainly worth the trip!  In addition to meeting interpreters from outside my area, the demand-control schema (DCS) has given me a new way to look at my work.

Ms. Dean did touch upon our profession's skewed definition of confidentiality (here's a hint: the root of confidentiality is confide; confide = to tell) as well as case conferencing/ peer supervision.  Additionally, she emphasized that ethical codes need to be informed by situated practice as well as the need for interpreting to be viewed as a practice profession, rather than technical profession.  Much discussion was focused on how we talk about our work versus how we actually work (rhetoric vs. defacto practice).  Ms. Dean shared the following quote from Parker Palmer, author of The Courage to Teach: "Growth of any craft depends on shared practice and honest dialogue among the people who do it."  One crucial discrepancy in how we talk about our work versus how we actually work is the interpreter's continual strive for invisibility.  Interpreters are struggling to move past the machine model, yet we advocate for our consumers to act like "we're not there."  This theme of invisibility continued through out the weekend as we examined the demands and controls in our work.

The primary focus of the workshop was identifying the main demand and concurrent demands of a given situation.  Once demands are identified, controls can be listed and evaluated.  In light of this framework,  one can evaluate the basis of a decision, rather than rely on intuition.  Interpreters often explain away ethical decisions with a gut feeling or the infamous "it depends."  However, within the demand-control schema, one can identify the main or concurrent demand which the decision depends on.  Furthermore, by having controls already in place, we can reduce the stress of a given situation and expand our options.  Whether we realize or not, there are controls available, often already in place, particularly a situation we have experienced previously.  For example,  traveling to a new job site is the main demand and facing the uncertainty of bad directions, traffic, metro delays, etc. can be concurrent demands; however, the demand of traveling to a job site can be mitigated by the control of having been there before and knowing the directions.

The small group discussions throughout the workshop were incredibly beneficial, however, the post-workshop discussions I had with Laura really helped me re-examine my own work.  Armed with the new techniques from the team interpreting and Demand-Control schema workshop, we were able to de-brief on an assignment that we had together a couple of weeks prior and consider it in a new light.  It is my hope that I can continue to apply the Demand-Control Schema to my work in order to better understand my internal ethical decision making process.

I would like to close with a quote that Robyn Dean shared on the second day of the workshop:

Interpreting is not merely transposing form one language to another.  It is rather, throwing a semantic bridge between two different cultures, two different thought worlds.   Claude Namy, linguist (1977) 

 

TerpExpo

I spent the last two days at TerpExpo (staying overnight Friday), enjoying time with my friends and colleagues and taking advantage of a great professional development opportunity.  TerpExpo is a traveling interpreter conference that rotates cities throughout the year, with the goal of providing interpreters the opportunity to engage in professional development and earn CEUs at a reasonable price.  Although I only attended Friday and Saturday, those two days were jammed packed, as I earned 1.95 CEUs:

Friday
Facing Your Interpreting Nightmares Through Safe & Supportive Peer Supervision: Dr. Alan Marcus
Ethical Fitness: Shannon Simon
My Father's Gift: Windell Smith, Jr.
ASL Trivia Night: Keith Wann & Crom Saunders

Saturday
Team Interpreting: Shannon Simon
Creating Classifers:  Crom Saunders

I have to admit that I attended the Ethical Fitness and Team Interpreting in preparation for two VRID events that I am putting together.  I will be leading another Ethics and NIC Interview discussion group in April and am considering how to re-vamp the discussion group, to better benefit the participants, based on past feedback.  I was looking for another perspective on the NIC Interview Rubric and the ethical decision making process.   I did not get that out of this workshop, however, there was still great group discussion on ethical dilemmas and I was reminded of several great resources.  The biggest take-away for me was that the root of the word "confidentiality" is confide.  The presenter expressed that the profession has taken confidentiality in one direction, rather than acknowledge the need to talk about our work.  While it is important to maintain confidentiality about specifics, sometimes interpreters do need to talk about our work in order to improve our product and decision-making process.  I was disappointed in the Team Interpreting workshop because there was a heavy emphasis on listing best practices, rather than spending time discussing how to address and solve team interpreting issues.  However, this workshop did help me better conceptualize what I was looking for and give me ideas for the VRID Community Dialogue on Team Interpreting.

I enjoyed the other workshops, but my favorite was Dr. Alan Marcus's "Facing Your Interpreting Nightmares."  An interpreter friend in New York is involved with peer supervision in her area, and the concept has intrigued me, especially after taking a course in mental health interpreting and learning about supervision in the mental health profession.  Peer supervision goes hand-in-hand with Shannon Simon's point about "confide."  During this workshop, we discussed the format of peer supervision and practiced mirroring.  Throughout the workshop, from the fish bowl discussions to mirroring practice, all of us had to take a look at each other and ourselves.  Peer supervision is not about problem-solving but rather, lending support as an individual works through a scenario.  Often times, as interpreters, we work in a vacuum and have a sense of isolation.  However, there is comfort in knowing that other interpreters have experienced similar situations.  Even with situations that we have not experienced, there are common feelings of powerless-ness, frustration, exhaustion, anger, anxiety- but a support group can lend the emotional support.  This workshop has increased my desire to set-up peer supervision in my area.

I immensely enjoyed the time with my colleagues, but I am glad to be home!