ENFJ Personality Strengths & Weakness + Tips to Grow
As an ENFJ, you’re great at recognizing other people’s strengths and weaknesses—it’s one of the reasons why you easily recognize the potential in others!
And yet, chances are, you aren’t that aware of your own strong and weak points. We can’t blame you, as seeing yourself from a third-person perspective is anything but easy!
For this reason, we’ve created this guide to ENFJ strengths and weaknesses to help you get to know yourself better. So, stick around to learn about:
- 7 Strengths of People With ENFJ Personality Type
- 5 Weaknesses of People With ENFJ Personality Type
- 5 Tips for Growth and Further Development
And more! Let’s get started.
7 Strengths of People With ENFJ Personality Type
Let’s start our overview of the ENFJ strengths and weaknesses on a positive note—here are the key strengths of the Teacher personality type:
#1. Natural Leadership Skills
Confident and responsible, people with the ENFJ personality type are leaders by nature. They like being in charge of situations, but they aren’t overbearing by any means. On the contrary, they prefer guiding and inspiring people to micromanaging and controlling them. Because of this, they generally make approachable and likable leaders.
More importantly, one of the biggest ENFJ strengths at work and in personal life is their ability to spot people’s potential and drive them towards its fulfillment. ENFJs enjoy taking on the role of a mentor since it allows them to gently guide people in the right direction. Needless to say, nothing brings them more satisfaction than seeing that their efforts make a difference!
#2. Altruism
ENFJs possess the sort of boundless kindness and compassion that could only be compared to that of their introverted counterparts— INFJs. They genuinely care about the people around them and society in general. Naturally, they feel most confident and happy when they can be of service and help others thrive.
Their altruism is engrained in the ENFJ cognitive function stack, as their dominant function is extraverted feeling (Fe). Thanks to this, ENFJs are warm and empathetic. They are in tune with people’s emotions, feeling them as deeply as their own. As such, ENFJs intuitively know when other people need them, and they’re eager to offer help out of the kindness of their hearts.
#3. Charisma
Individuals with an ENFJ personality are gifted with intrinsic charisma, which makes them people magnets. While it’s impossible to pinpoint what exactly creates this charm, it likely stems from the ENFJ characters. Their positivity, friendliness, and sincerity captivate people and draw them toward ENFJs.
Most importantly, ENFJs don’t just attract people—their warmth and honesty make people feel comfortable, causing them to stick around. While some people appear charismatic due to their boisterous personalities, ENFJs tend to charm people with their authenticity. They aren’t afraid of vulnerability, especially if they can help others feel better about themselves by opening up.
Not to mention, this powerful charisma makes ENFJ personalities rather influential—that’s why so many successful and famous people happen to be ENFJs.
#4. Persuasive Communication
Perhaps the biggest ENFJ strength is their knack for interpersonal communication. Besides being generally sociable, ENFJs are great at navigating social situations and effectively communicating with people, which helps them in both personal and professional matters.
Coupled with auxiliary introverted intuition (Ni), dominant Fe enables ENFJs to easily anticipate people’s needs and wishes. This, alongside diplomacy, is their key to persuasion—ENFJs simply know which buttons to push to get the desired result!
That being said, the ability to steer people one way or another might open the door to emotional manipulation, but this is only true for unhealthy ENFJs. Mature and healthy ENFJs care too much about other people to use their persuasiveness for personal gain.
#5. Mediation
Intuitive feeling personality types, including ENFJs, are collectively called Diplomats for a reason—they’re naturally inclined to maintain social harmony and preserve peace. Given that people with the ENFJ personality type are also extroverted and sympathetic, it comes as no surprise that mediation is one of the most prominent ENFJ strengths.
ENFJs have a unique gift of understanding where people are coming from, even if they don’t share their opinions or experiences. As a result, they can find commonalities between different people and, with the help of their leadership skills, step in to help resolve conflict. They’re also capable of remaining impartial and tactful, which further aids in pacifying the situation.
And since ENFJs generally dislike and avoid conflict, you can rest assured they set things right quickly!
#6. Organizational Skills
Organizational skills are among the most important ENFJ strengths at work. ENFJs lead an orderly life, which reflects in their professional endeavors. They’re great at managing their time, prioritizing tasks, and getting things checked off their to-do lists. As a general rule, ENFJs prefer to work first and play later, which might explain why they usually build successful careers.
Moreover, ENFJs’ excellent organizational skills enhance their leadership abilities. Because they are keenly aware of people’s strengths and weaknesses, ENFJs can effectively delegate tasks. More importantly, they tend to make such decisions based not only on efficiency but also on the potential for the person’s professional growth, as they strive to help people flourish.
#7. Reliability
Whether in relationships or at work, ENFJs are very reliable people. They have an innate sense of responsibility and loyalty, which is why they’re so dependable. Once they set their minds on something, they don’t back down easily. Quite the contrary—ENFJs are the ride-or-die type of people who don’t stop until they achieve what they set out to do.
Because of this, you can expect an ENFJ to be there for you when you need them. They’re the kind of people who will drop whatever they're doing just to hear you out (but you shouldn’t take advantage of that!). They also take promises seriously, so you can rely on them—the last thing they ever want to do is disappoint others.
5 Weaknesses of People With ENFJ Personality Type
Now that you understand the positive aspects of the ENFJ personality, it’s time to look into the other side of the ENFJ strengths and weaknesses. Here are the main weak points of ENFJ characters:
#1. High Sensitivity
Given that ENFJs belong to feeling personality types, it isn’t surprising that they can be very sensitive. This is both a blessing and a curse: sensitivity fuels their empathy but also causes them to take things personally. This is one of the biggest ENFJ weaknesses in both personal and professional relationships.
However, ENFJs aren’t just sensitive to their own emotions—more than anything, they’re sensitive to the emotions of others. In turn, they have a hard time expressing criticism and voicing their opinions.
Not to mention, being highly sensitive to other people’s feelings can sometimes lead them to neglect themselves, as they tend to push away their needs and duties to take care of others.
#2. Difficulty Making Decisions
When it comes to ENFJ weaknesses at work, ineffective decision-making takes the cake. ENFJs are focused on catering to other people to the point where it debilitates their ability to independently make decisions. They often endlessly analyze their options, only to realize that they can’t choose anything—their hands are tied unless a decision pleases everyone involved.
This isn’t hard to understand, as Fe is not only their dominant cognitive function but also the one that dictates their decision-making process. As such, they make decisions based on how they affect other people. Unfortunately, most of the time, pleasing everyone isn’t an option. Still, just the thought of it baffles ENFJs and causes them a great deal of stress.
#3. Idealism
Similarly to sensitivity, idealism is a two-fold ENFJ weakness. On the one hand, being idealistic empowers ENFJs to see the potential of a situation and improve it. On the other hand, it often sets them up for disappointment, as ENFJs tend to place unrealistic expectations on people—especially themselves.
Unsurprisingly, such idealism is a recipe for disaster. Unless ENFJs learn to tame it with at least a dash of realism, their plans and dreams may never come to life, which may leave them jadeOn top of that, idealism may affect their relationships with friends, family, and colleagues: it isn’t unusual for ENFJs to be smitten by someone’s potential, even though they may never live up to it.
#4. Selflessness
Altruism and selflessness are two sides of the same coin, which only shows that ENFJ strengths and weaknesses are deeply intertwined.
Kind-hearted and thoughtful, ENFJs are prone to being selfless to a fault. Their need to help people sometimes harms them by leading to self-sacrifice. Without attending to their own needs first, ENFJs risk putting other people’s happiness before their own. This ultimately causes them to help others even when they don’t have the capacity for it.
As a result, ENFJs often feel like they give too much to people, and rarely, if ever, does anyone else go out of their way to be there for them. By creating unbalanced relationships, such self-sacrificing behavior can leave them feeling empty and worn out.
#5. Controlling Behavior
ENFJs are talented at recognizing people’s potential, but this can induce control issues. Although they have good intentions, they don’t always notice when people don’t match their enthusiasm, especially when it comes to personal growth. As a result, ENFJs can come across as controlling, as sometimes they can try and force change on people without their approval.
Needless to say, this is one of the worst ENFJ weaknesses in relationships, as it can lead to frustration and resentment on both sides. Despite their goodwill, ENFJs—and ENFJ-A personalities especially—can seem condescending. Instead of conveying care, their need for control indicates that they believe they know what’s right for others, no matter their opinions.
5 Tips for Growth and Further Development
Now that you know what ENFJ strengths and weaknesses are, there’s one thing left to do—see how you can make the most of them!
So, here are some useful tips for personal development:
- Focus on your needs. You can’t help others without taking care of yourself first, or you’ll lack inner resources. So, do a daily check-in with yourself regarding your personal needs: are all of them met? Have you done everything to make yourself feel good? If the answer is “Yes!”—congratulations, you’re ready to be of service to others!
- Utilize leadership skills for professional growth. When helping others reach their potential, some ENFJs abandon their own professional development. If this sounds familiar, consider putting your leadership skills to good use! For example, if you are stuck in a dead-end job, show initiative to change your role or open a business to further exercise your leadership abilities.
- Learn to handle conflict. Despite being great mediators, ENFJs are rather conflict-averse. Unfortunately, this can cause small problems to accumulate, so it’s crucial to learn to effectively manage conflict. Once you realize that conflict is an opportunity to work together with others toward a mutual goal—the solution—it becomes much less daunting!
- Set realistic goals. ENFJs are notorious for setting themselves unrealistically high expectations that often lead to disappointment. So, curb your idealism by setting yourself sensible, measurable goals. For example, if you want to change your lifestyle, divide this goal into smaller, easily manageable steps to ensure you can successfully achieve it!
- Do not overthink. If you struggle with overthinking your decisions, try simplifying your decision-making process. First, accept that pleasing everyone isn’t always possible. Then, set a time limit for thinking through your options. Lastly, identify which option feels right for you and go for it!
Also, check out our guide on ENFJ male & ENFJ female to really get an understanding of this personality type!
ENFJ Strengths and Weaknesses FAQ
#1. What is an ENFJ person like?
To learn what ENFJs are like, you first need to know the ENFJ meaning—Extraverted, iNtuitive, Feeling, and Judging. This means that an ENFJ person prefers to spend time surrounded by other people, focuses on the big picture instead of details, considers their emotions when making decisions, and values organization.
#2. How do ENFJs deal with stress?
Normally, ENFJs deal with stress constructively by trying to eliminate the cause of stress. However, under extreme stress, ENFJs tend to feel helpless. In turn, they might criticize themselves and get stuck making decisions, which can lead to frustration.
#3. What does an ENFJ do when they are angry?
When ENFJ people are angry, they need to express their emotions. Mature ENFJs either talk it out with the person who made them angry or vent their feelings to their closest people. Meanwhile, immature or unhealthy ENFJs are prone to passive aggression. They may make snarky remarks, exploit other people’s weaknesses, or hold grudges.
#4. How do you cheer up an ENFJ?
The best way to cheer up an ENFJ is to get in their shoes and provide them with the emotional support they need. Shower them in compliments, emphasize their strengths, and give them space to talk about their feelings. In other words, make them feel as appreciated as they make you feel!
Key Takeaways
There you go—now you know not only what the key ENFJ strengths and weaknesses are but also how to use them to your full advantage!
Before you go, here’s a brief recap of the key points of this article:
- Some of the most prominent ENFJ strengths are their leadership, interpersonal, persuasion, and organizational skills.
- Hypersensitivity, idealism, and the tendency to self-sacrifice are some of the key ENFJ weaknesses.
- To make the best use of the ENFJ strengths and weaknesses, learn to prioritize your needs, manage conflict, and set feasible goals.