How to Identify Basic Communication Style Differences
Do you know that 75% of people you interact with communicate in different ways than you do?
Knowing how to recognize the basic communication styles and differences will allow you to use your other leadership tools and skills more efficiently and effectively.
The two communication styles we want to point out are: Assertiveness and Responsiveness
To identify assertiveness, people are either more “tell oriented”, meaning they may talk louder, are faster paced. They have more opinions, are faster to make decisions, and have more eye contact. Or they are more “ask oriented”, meaning they are slower paced, softer spoken, slower to make decisions and have less eye contact.
To identify responsiveness, people are either more “controlled”, meaning they are more fact and task oriented, less expression and more monotone. Or they are more “emotive”, meaning they are more feeling and people oriented. They use more gestures, have more inflection, and are more varied pace.
It’s important to remember that one style is not better, or stronger than another. Each of them will have their own individual strengths and areas of opportunity. (We’ve talk more about that in a later post!)
Now, make a list of 5 people that you work with regularly and ask yourself:
Is this person more of an “ask” person, or a “tell” person?
Are they more “emotive” and “people oriented”, or are they more “controlled” and “task oriented”?
One glaring way to see this is in how others start an interaction with you. Do they begin by talking about your day, weekend or evening and how things are going? Or do they get right down to business, and then maybe after business has been completed, they might ask about your day and how things are going?
First, understand your style, how you communicate, and how you like to be communicated with. Then, create a better understanding of how other styles communicate and how they like to be communicated with. This opens up a whole new opportunity to improve communication and relationships in the workplace.
Remember, 75% of people you interact with communicate in different ways than you do. Learning how to flex allows the other person to feel more comfortable and will be more open and appreciative of your approach.
