While nonverbal communication still tells us a lot about each other, what we say has a large impact on who we are and how we communicate.
Recently at one of our People Centric Management Series sessions, we took a quiz on Communication Styles to determine what type of communicator we were: Empathizer, Go-Getter, Whiteboarder or Outliner.
Results revealed I was a sensor, which made perfect sense when we discussed how sensors talk and what they say. I sometimes talk so fast I trip over my words, I want the bottom line of “if it will work” and “what will it cost,” and my husband teases me that I wake up ready to “get going” and teaching our 4-year-old to do the same.
By identifying and understanding our communication styles and the styles of those we interact with, we are able to build better relationships with each other by adjusting to the needs of others. It is common for our team to use these terms to talk to each other and get everyone what they need.
For instance, I recently worked on a project with someone and early in the conversation, I could tell he was a Outliner. He needed more details than I first provided and needed time to think and process the information. My “get it done now” style had to step back to allow his process to work in order to obtain the best results from him. We set a reasonable deadline for him to complete his part in an effort to set boundaries. By creating that healthy communication at the beginning, we were both happy with the end result of our project. We encourage your team do the same.
