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Defender (ISFJ) Self-Promotion: The Advantages of Humility

Darrell 1 comment
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The Self-Promoting Defender

For an introductory look at self-promotion, please see our article “Everyday Self-Promotion and Personality Types.”

Defenders (ISFJs) generally possess a beautiful mixture of efficiency and warmheartedness. Their Introverted and Feeling combination of personality traits also brings them humility and graciousness, which may be a rare commodity in many work environments. It may sound like humility and graciousness would counter any impulse to self-promote. But if they’re leveraged naturally, these qualities can be an asset when marketing oneself.

People with this personality type are also known for their loyalty and respect for duty. When this crosses the radar of a manager or decision-maker, it can be a powerful indicator of a worker worth promoting. However, duty can be one of those things that blends into the background, simply because loyally following protocols and standards is usually a relatively problem-free approach. Adherence to duty rarely makes waves the way that bucking the system might. Therefore, Defenders being dutiful are also at risk of being unnoticed. The answer might be to buck the system to gain attention. But that is not the way of Defenders. So they need to find a strategy that goes a third way.

What They Have Going for Them

While Defenders go the way of all Sentinels with their tendency to be diligent and loyal, their conscientiousness is punctuated by warmth and genuine caring. That may work to their advantage when it comes to relating to the people they seek to impress. While other personalities may want to curry favor by warming up to the boss, they may have difficulty being as authentic and consistent in their attention as their Defender cousins are. However, there may be self-doubt and self-esteem issues that Defenders need to overcome before they are comfortable fully allowing their kind light to shine brightly.

What Gets in Their Way

We tend to think of Defenders as humble individuals who are uncomfortable in the limelight. They may respond to this discomfort by waving off praise with phrases like, “I’m just doing my job.” By downplaying what spectacular employees they can be, they may deny themselves many of life’s rewards and perhaps a chance to feel even more fulfilled by taking on more responsibilities and challenges at work.

Self-Promotion Tip

Nobody likes unrequited love, where one person pours energy into trying to start a romance but gets nothing back from the person they’re infatuated with. Defender personalities might want to start thinking about their relationship with work as a kind of romance. While they might say, “I’m just doing my job,” they are likely doing it with a passion for getting sought-after results. But for a relationship with the job to be a complete “romance,” the passion must be returned.

Self-promotion for Defenders might mean reframing the energy exchange as a two-way affair. Setting up such a romance may mean making it plain to management that Defenders are doing all they can to offer value, so that, hopefully, the love is returned. Defender personalities may want to offer regular updates on the progress of a project rather than assuming that it will be noticed by the job’s stakeholders. Or perhaps they could highlight any and all measurable positive results that their contributions in the workplace have delivered. Enter self-promotion, and let the professional romance begin.

There Doesn’t Have to Be a Contradiction between Being Humble and Self-Promoting

Defenders might have trouble emerging from their humble ways in order to sparkle in front of someone who might influence their advancement at a job. That’s likely because of some confusion that equates self-promotion with bragging. Bragging is often about a person’s insecurity and an untoward need to impress. Self-promoting is also about impressing, but primarily for the more wholesome goal of exchanging information about one’s skills and experience. It’s mostly a matter of intent and tone. Defender personalities may have to give themselves permission to share their successes and abilities without fear of losing the humility that they are often comfortable with.

So, Defender, do you do anything that you would consider self-promotion, and if so, what does that look like for you?

Further Reading