How to Win Aura Points With Your Boss, Based on Their Personality Type
Whether your boss is an intimidating Miranda Priestly type, a bumbling Michael Scott, or warm and optimistic like Amy Poehler’s Parks and Recreation character, Leslie Knope, one thing’s for sure—your relationship with them has a huge impact on how much you enjoy your job and even how successful you’ll be.
Because of that, it’s a must to try and win aura points with them.
Aura points are the social currency you get from doing something that your boss perceives as valuable. You get positive points for things like being on time, finishing a project successfully, or making them look good in front of their own boss. You get negative points for spilling coffee on them!
But how do you win aura points? Well, it turns out that the key is understanding their personality type and adapting your approach accordingly.
ENFP Boss: Get To Know the Person Behind the Role
ENFPs are empathetic, outgoing individuals who see potential in everyone they meet. They believe everyone has a unique story, and they love listening to others’ tales and sharing their own. To win over your ENFP boss, focus on more than just doing great work and take a genuine interest in who they are as a person. Chat about their hobbies, passions and life outside of the office, and don’t be afraid to open up about yourself too. Nurturing a warm, authentic connection is sure to gain their trust.
INFP Boss: Suggest an Altruistic Initiative
INFPs feel driven by work that has emotional meaning and purpose, often with a focus on giving more to the world than they take. To earn aura points with your INFP boss, suggest an initiative that reflects those ideals. It could be something small, like organizing a charity bake sale or a sponsored run, or something larger, like selecting a charity of the year for your department or company. Whatever you choose, make sure your reasoning is heartfelt. INFPs deeply value authenticity, so they’ll want to see that your suggestion comes from a genuine place.
INFJ Boss: Trust Their Insights
INFJs place a great deal of trust in their intuition. Often coming in flashes of insight or vivid dreams, their gut hunches can feel almost mystical—and sometimes hard for them to explain. For those who prefer tried-and-true facts to abstract ideas, trusting the INFJ’s out-of-nowhere ideas can be difficult—but it’s well worth doing. The INFJ’s intuition may be mysterious but it’s usually spot on. Show them you trust their instincts, and they’ll trust you in return.
ENFJ Boss: Ask Them for Help, and Help Them in Return
Caring and empathetic to their core, ENFJs make compassionate leaders who are always eager to lend a helping hand. If you need advice, don’t hesitate to ask—they’ll appreciate being seen as a trusted source of wisdom. However, their eagerness to help others can sometimes lead to burnout. If you notice your manager is overwhelmed or juggling too much, offer to take something off their plate. You’ll win aura points for your perceptiveness and kindness.
ESFJ Boss: Invite Them to Lunch
ESFJs are warm and sociable souls who love to feel valued within their respective communities. While they respect workplace structure and hierarchy, they also love to feel included and appreciated. To score some aura points with your ESFJ boss, consider inviting them to lunch with you and your colleagues from time to time. It’s a simple but effective way to make them feel like an important part of the team.
ISFJ Boss: Express Your Gratitude
Quiet and conscientious, ISFJs make for dependable managers, always ready to lend a helping hand. However, their reserved nature means their contributions can often go unnoticed or even taken for granted. If you have an ISFJ manager, make an effort to acknowledge the times they've helped you out and thank them, whether in person or through email. It will make their day and score you plenty of aura points.
ISFP Boss: Embrace the Freedom They Give You
As creative free spirits, ISFP managers often give their teams plenty of freedom to work as they choose. For other Perceiving types, this can feel like a blessing, as they, too, dislike rigidity. However, for those who thrive on structure, this autonomy can be overwhelming and anxiety-inducing. But trying to change your ISFP manager or impose more structure will only add stress to the situation (and knock off some of your aura points). It’s better to embrace the freedom they offer and, if needed, create your own rules and systems to stay organized.
ESFP Boss: Take an Upbeat Perspective
ESFPs are fun-loving and energetic people with an optimistic approach to life. Because they feed off positive energy and want to create a motivating workplace environment, they don’t warm to people who are overly negative or critical. Of course, sometimes negative emotions arise, and you shouldn’t hide challenges from your manager. But how you frame things is critical to winning aura points. Instead of focusing on the bad, take a solutions-focused approach when you come to your ESFP manager with a problem.
ISTJ Boss: Focus on the Facts
ISTJs prize logical reasoning and pragmatism. They’re dutiful individuals who believe in honesty, rationality and doing their best at work. Because efficiency is important to them, they don’t have much time for subordinates who are overly emotional or inefficient. You can win aura points with them by avoiding fluff in meetings and conversations: back your ideas with concrete examples, focus on the facts and avoid overly emotional language.
ESTJ Boss: Look for Ways to Improve Efficiency
Like ISTJs, ESTJs greatly value logic and decisiveness. In the workplace, they look for ways to improve operations and drive results by spotting inefficiencies and correcting them. For one thing, this means they’ll want you to bring your best self at work. This type doesn’t have much time for people who are disorganized or make careless mistakes. But as well as trying your best, you can win extra aura points with your ESTJ boss by looking for opportunities to improve efficiency in the business. Just make sure you back up your ideas with concrete facts and data. This type relies on logical reasoning to make decisions, so they won’t trust hunches or seemingly random ideas.
ESTP Boss: Suggest a New Project
ESTP bosses are happy to go against the grain. They’re inventive, action-oriented and keen to keep growing and learning. In fact, this type struggles with environments that are too rigid, seeing them as monotonous and stifling. To that end, you can win aura points with ESTP boss by suggesting a brand new project; something fresh and exciting you can both dive into. Just remember, don’t get bogged down into much detail and planning. ESTP’s embody the mindset of “fail forward”. They’d rather jump in and adapt along the way instead of spending a lot of time analyzing the potential risks and rewards.
ISTP Boss: If a Meeting Could Be an Email, Send the Email
ISTPs are the proverbial lone wolves: fiercely independent, resourceful and practical. If you’ve got an ISTP boss, you might have noticed that they’re pretty reserved. It’s hard to know what they’re thinking, and they’re not one to share too much. While this can be frustrating, it’s actually something you should lean into to win aura points. This type is an introvert after all, and they need plenty of alone time to be their best. So, if you can email or message them instead of scheduling a meeting, do it! They’ll definitely appreciate your respect for their time.
ENTP Boss: Don’t Take Criticism Personally
ENTPs are curious, quick thinkers who thrive on generating new ideas and solving problems. While they can be progressive and charismatic bosses, they also tend to be pretty blunt. It’s not that they’re setting out to be unkind. It’s just that they value logic above all. They’re natural debaters and critics, and they’ll challenge any idea they see flaws in. The key to win aura points with your ENTP boss is to not take their feedback personally. Their critique isn’t about you as an individual—they’re simply focused on finding the best solution. Remember that, and your relationship with your ENTP boss will improve dramatically.
INTP Boss: Present Concepts, Not Details
As Intuitive thinkers, INTPs live in a world of ideas and abstractions. One thing they hate? Minute details. This type doesn’t want to know every single step you took to come up with your idea or get to an answer. They just want to know the big picture, and what’s next. Better still, try coming to them with a problem or idea that you want to brainstorm—this is one of the INTP personality’s favorite workplace activities, and is sure to win you aura points.
ENTJ Boss: Hold Your Own
ENTJs usually have big personalities; they’re confident, strong-willed and happy to take charge in the workplace. While these traits make them natural managers, their confidence can also overshadow quieter team members, who may simply follow their direction instead of sharing their own ideas. However, for all their extraversion, ENTJs genuinely want each team member to succeed, and they’ll respect and appreciate anyone who confidently offers their vision and ideas—especially if it enhances the team’s performance.
INTJ Boss: Schedule Meetings in Advance
INTJs are strategists and they need plenty of alone time to think and come up with their best ideas. This type isn’t one to micromanage, so they’ll also give you plenty of space to work proactively and independently. Of course, you’ll need their help and input along the way. However, resist the urge to knock on their door or call them without warning. INTJs are structured and organized, and don’t take well to surprises. To win aura points, email or message them to schedule a meeting in advance, so they can prepare accordingly and give you their full attention.
