The core distinctions
- Toward vs Away: motivated by goals, or by avoiding problems ("I want the promotion" vs "I can't stay stuck here")
- Options vs Procedures: generates choices, or follows the reliable path
- Big-picture vs Detail: sorts global-first or specifics-first
- Internal vs External reference: decides by own standards, or by others' feedback
- Intime/Throughtime: lives in the now-sequence, or sees time laid out
Where they earn money
Job-fit conversations (an options-person in a procedures-role suffers predictably), sales messaging (match motivation direction: gains vs loss-avoidance), team friction diagnosis (detail-person summarised by a big-picture manager feels unheard, and vice versa). Elicitation is behavioural: listen to how someone describes decisions — not a questionnaire.
Held lightly, or not at all
Meta programs are context-dependent habits, not fixed personality types — the MBTI-isation of them is the failure mode. Treat as "today, in this context, this person is sorting like this", recalibrate constantly, and never hire or marry on the strength of a sorting style.