The Talk Still Says a Lot

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: sensor, feeler, thinker or intuitor. 

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 to be if it will work and what will it cost, and my husband teases me that I wake up ready to get going. I teach 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. 

For instance, I recently worked on a project with someone and early in the conversation, I could tell he was a thinker. 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. By creating that healthy communication at the beginning, we were both happy with the end result of our project.

So what is your communication style, and how do you need to adapt it to work with others?