by Kathy Reiffenstein
In the last two posts, we’ve looked at the four communication styles, based on Carl Jung’s work: Intuitor, Thinker, Senser and Feeler.
And while it’s interesting to learn about how different people look at the world and communicate their ideas, we have to ask ourselves…so what? How can we take this information and apply it to our communications to improve our effectiveness? [Can you tell that’s a Senser speaking??]
So let’s take a look at how we can leverage our knowledge about each of the styles to see how each style can communicate most successfully with the others.
INTUITORS
The Intuitor’s biggest challenge is communicating in concrete enough terms to meet the needs of the other styles.
To interact with a Thinker, try to be less abstract and offer some tangible facts and analysis to support your theory or argument.
To interact with a Senser, translate your concepts and theories so the Senser can see the practical application.
To interact with a Feeler, ask for her insights about how to get the other people in the department on board with your theories.
THINKERS
The Thinker’s biggest challenge is recognizing when more research and analysis is unnecessary and will just delay a decision.
To interact with an Intuitor, be willing to engage in some speculation and brainstorming without immediately applying constraints and limitations.
To interact with a Senser, show her how your facts and analysis are directly related to the end result or the decision at hand.
To interact with a Feeler, show a little enthusiasm and enlist her support in explaining the rationale behind the rules or regulations you’re responsible for.
SENSERS
The Senser’s biggest challenge is not discounting others’ points-of-view in her race to get things accomplished.
To interact with an Intuitor, be patient and allow the Intuitor to do some brainstorming or conceptualizing, recognizing that you can always guide the conversation to more practical ground.
To interact with a Thinker, back up your argument with facts and logic and don’t press the Thinker for an immediate decision.
To interact with a Feeler, take a few moments at the beginning of a conversation to establish rapport or ask the Feeler how she’s doing; this investment of time will pay off in increased cooperation and productivity.
FEELERS
The Feeler’s biggest challenge is being so concerned about other people’s feelings that she avoids difficult conversations.
To interact with an Intuitor, don’t overreact when she proposes an idea that you know will be unpopular with your colleagues.
To interact with a Thinker, frame your communication with facts rather than intuition or “gut feel.”
To interact with a Senser, get to the point and position any people concerns in terms of how they will impact the project deadline or bottom line.
OPPOSITE STYLES
Rather than viewing opposite styles as sources of conflict, view them as complementing each other and compensating for each other’s weaknesses.
An Intuitor is complemented by a Sensor:
• to ask practical questions
• to anticipate criticism
• to translate strategy into workable projects
• to get things done
A Thinker is complemented by a Feeler:
• to reconcile differences in a work group
• to anticipate how others will react
• to maintain good morale
• to generate enthusiasm
A Feeler is complemented by a Thinker:
• to maintain objectivity
• to ensure consistency
• to identify risks
• to criticize
A Senser is complemented by an Intuitor:
• to introduce alternatives
• to look at long term opportunities or consequences
• to assess complex problems
• to see connectedness, e.g., synergies, partnerships, product spin-offs
Remember – no style is good or bad. And each style is appropriate and effective in certain situations. The key is understanding and respecting each other’s differences. If we feel that others “get us”, we have the groundwork for good communication.
Armed with these insights about the four communication styles – and with a little bit of practice applying them – you now have the tools to dramatically improve your communications in the workplace and beyond.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
COMMUNICATION STYLES - PART II
by Kathy Reiffenstein
Shaw's words are still true today. It's common practice to think that as long as we articulately convey some information or opinion, the listener will automatically understand it. Yet how many times do we shake our heads in frustration when that listener misunderstands our "clear" words?
The culprit is most likely different communication styles...different filters through which each of us sees the world, makes decisions and verbalizes our ideas. In the last post, we covered two of the four communication styles, based on psychoanalyst Carl Jung's work: the Intuitor and the Thinker. This post will cover the remaining two styles: the Senser and the Feeler.
THE SENSER
If you want something done, give it to a Senser. This style thrives on action, deadlines and results. Sensers have a high need to achieve but are very practical, so they only commit themselves to a project or an idea once they know how it will work and determine it has a good chance of succeeding. They are down-to-earth, energetic and very detail-oriented.
Although Sensers can conceptualize, they prefer dealing with specifics that can be quantified, like sales volume, quarterly profits and volume of calls versus more qualitative measures of performance. Sensers have high standards...they're frequently perfectionists...and impose these standards on others, sometimes leading others to think they are too demanding. Resourceful and well-organized, they like to make things happen. They are very direct in their communication, with little patience for people who can't get to the point and little time for small talk.
Because Sensers are so focused on achievement, they may emphasize short term results over long term planning. Always confident and assertive, this style may be criticized for being too opinionated and not caring about others' points-of-view.
Example:
The Senser is the person who, when listening to a presentation from a new salesperson giving some background on his company's history and product line, cuts the salesperson off by asking, "What's the cost of the product and what are your delivery time frames?"
Key Strength: Results focus and detail orientation, with a strong bias to action.
Key Weakness: Over-bearing with a tendency to ignore long term implications of actions.
THE FEELER
People who favour the Feeler style value relationships and harmony in their interactions with others. They are responsive to other peoples' needs, feelings and moods. They are quick to provide support, empathy and encouragement. A Feeler will typically be the person making sure that everyone else feels valued, gets their opinion heard and is happy. They are good at facilitating consensus and mediating disagreement.
Feelers focus on morale and facilitate teamwork, being the glue that holds the group together. They are great listeners and can often provide useful insights into organizational politics. A Feeler is friendly and approachable and is good at pointing out others' strengths. Because relationships are so important to a Feeler, goals and deadlines are sometimes sacrificed for the sake of the relationship. They tend to be more tactful than honest, not wanting to hurt anyone's feelings. In fact, they may tend to avoid or delay making decisions until everyone is happy with the decision.
Since Feelers rely more on "gut feelings" than logic, they may become defensive when confronted, appearing overly sensitive and subjective. This style can be criticized for being too emotional.
Example:
The Feeler is the person who spends time at the beginning of a meeting going around the table asking how everyone is doing, even though this takes up 20 minutes of the agenda, causing the meeting to start off behind schedule.
Key Strength: Empathy with others' feelings.
Key Weakness: Tendency to put harmony ahead of deadlines, goals or tough decisions.
Now that you have some insight into the four Communication Styles, you can see that each looks at the world through quite a different lens. Understanding these different perspectives can help you realize why communication is sometimes so challenging. And why sometimes it is only an illusion that it has been accomplished.
In the next post we'll look at how each of the four Communication Styles can interact most effectively with the others.
"The problem with communication is
the illusion that it has been accomplished."
George Bernard Shaw, 20th century Irish playwright and Nobel laureate
Shaw's words are still true today. It's common practice to think that as long as we articulately convey some information or opinion, the listener will automatically understand it. Yet how many times do we shake our heads in frustration when that listener misunderstands our "clear" words?
The culprit is most likely different communication styles...different filters through which each of us sees the world, makes decisions and verbalizes our ideas. In the last post, we covered two of the four communication styles, based on psychoanalyst Carl Jung's work: the Intuitor and the Thinker. This post will cover the remaining two styles: the Senser and the Feeler.
THE SENSER
If you want something done, give it to a Senser. This style thrives on action, deadlines and results. Sensers have a high need to achieve but are very practical, so they only commit themselves to a project or an idea once they know how it will work and determine it has a good chance of succeeding. They are down-to-earth, energetic and very detail-oriented.
Although Sensers can conceptualize, they prefer dealing with specifics that can be quantified, like sales volume, quarterly profits and volume of calls versus more qualitative measures of performance. Sensers have high standards...they're frequently perfectionists...and impose these standards on others, sometimes leading others to think they are too demanding. Resourceful and well-organized, they like to make things happen. They are very direct in their communication, with little patience for people who can't get to the point and little time for small talk.
Because Sensers are so focused on achievement, they may emphasize short term results over long term planning. Always confident and assertive, this style may be criticized for being too opinionated and not caring about others' points-of-view.
Example:
The Senser is the person who, when listening to a presentation from a new salesperson giving some background on his company's history and product line, cuts the salesperson off by asking, "What's the cost of the product and what are your delivery time frames?"
Key Strength: Results focus and detail orientation, with a strong bias to action.
Key Weakness: Over-bearing with a tendency to ignore long term implications of actions.
THE FEELER
People who favour the Feeler style value relationships and harmony in their interactions with others. They are responsive to other peoples' needs, feelings and moods. They are quick to provide support, empathy and encouragement. A Feeler will typically be the person making sure that everyone else feels valued, gets their opinion heard and is happy. They are good at facilitating consensus and mediating disagreement.
Feelers focus on morale and facilitate teamwork, being the glue that holds the group together. They are great listeners and can often provide useful insights into organizational politics. A Feeler is friendly and approachable and is good at pointing out others' strengths. Because relationships are so important to a Feeler, goals and deadlines are sometimes sacrificed for the sake of the relationship. They tend to be more tactful than honest, not wanting to hurt anyone's feelings. In fact, they may tend to avoid or delay making decisions until everyone is happy with the decision.
Since Feelers rely more on "gut feelings" than logic, they may become defensive when confronted, appearing overly sensitive and subjective. This style can be criticized for being too emotional.
Example:
The Feeler is the person who spends time at the beginning of a meeting going around the table asking how everyone is doing, even though this takes up 20 minutes of the agenda, causing the meeting to start off behind schedule.
Key Strength: Empathy with others' feelings.
Key Weakness: Tendency to put harmony ahead of deadlines, goals or tough decisions.
Now that you have some insight into the four Communication Styles, you can see that each looks at the world through quite a different lens. Understanding these different perspectives can help you realize why communication is sometimes so challenging. And why sometimes it is only an illusion that it has been accomplished.
In the next post we'll look at how each of the four Communication Styles can interact most effectively with the others.
Monday, April 12, 2010
COMMUNICATION STYLES – PART I
by Kathy Reiffenstein
Communication is a critical skill for being effective and getting things done in both our business and personal lives. Yet it is a skill that we often take for granted. I mean…everyone knows how to talk, right? [especially we women!]
Do you ever wonder, though, why some conversations go so smoothly and some are so difficult? When communicating seems to be a struggle, perhaps you’ve thought it was because the other person was simply a poor communicator or you were just having a bad day. When communicating seems to go well, perhaps you’ve thought it was because the other person thinks just like you do. In fact, the real reason is different communication styles.
The theory of communication styles was developed from the work of Carl Jung, a 20th century Swiss psychoanalyst, who said that individuals develop different preferences for how they process information and make decisions; in turn, these preferences affect how people communicate with each other. From Jung’s work [which also formed the basis for the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator], four communication styles were identified: Intuitor, Thinker, Senser and Feeler.
In this post, we’ll cover the Intuitor and Thinker styles, looking at the characteristics of each style. In the next post, we’ll cover the Senser and Feeler styles and in the last post in this series, we’ll look at how the styles interact. As you read the descriptions, see if you can identify your own style or the styles of colleagues and family.
It’s important to note that none of these communication styles are inherently “good” or “bad.” Each style has unique strengths and potential weaknesses. The value comes in understanding your own style and the styles of others as a way to make your communication and interactions more productive.
THE INTUITOR
This is the big picture thinker, the person who is inspirational, visionary and conceptual. Intuitors value complex ideas, innovation and long-term thinking. They are happy dwelling in the world of theories and possibilities and gain more satisfaction from coming up with ideas and concepts than from actually implementing any of them. They are creative problem solvers and inspire others to think out of the box.
Intuitors communicate concepts, insights and fresh ideas but are often short on facts or how things will work in the real world. Because they focus on possibilities, they move quickly from topic to topic, often coming to conclusions without much explanation, assuming everyone else thinks the way they do and can follow.
Intuitors are not particularly action oriented, preferring to continue brainstorming. They are very convinced of the value of their ideas and contributions and may become irritated or defensive when others challenge their conclusions.
This style is frequently criticized for being unrealistic and impractical.
Example:
The Intuitor is the person who, in a meeting to finalize the details of the product launch for the new cell phone, starts brainstorming other alternatives to the already agreed upon phone colours and features.
Key Strength: Big picture, conceptual thinking.
Key Weakness: Reluctance to focus on practicalities, details and deadlines.
THE THINKER
This style values logic, objectivity and analysis. Thinkers are not easily influenced by emotions and, in fact, believe emotions really have no place in decision making. They find it valuable to analyze data or past actions as input to developing current solutions, relying on facts and reason versus intuition and emotion.
Thinkers are cool under pressure and tend to treat everyone fairly. They are concerned more with honesty and accuracy and less with tact and this frequently gets in the way of building and nurturing relationships, leading others to perceive them as blunt and insensitive.
Because they are so logical and factual, Thinkers assume everyone understands them and sees things the same way they do. They are often criticized for being too cautious and conservative, getting bogged down in analysis causing others to see them as indecisive.
Example:
The Thinker is the person who, when everyone in the meeting has agreed that it’s a good idea to close the office early on Friday as a thank you to hard-working employees, says she’ll get back to you tomorrow with her decision after she’s had time to think about it.
Key Strength: Logical, objective thinking based on facts.
Key Weakness: Tendency to get bogged down in analysis and delay decisions.
So the next time you’re having a conversation with your colleague and you’re frustrated because she doesn’t seem to understand your point, stop and think about communication styles. No doubt your Thinker is trying to communicate with her Intuitor [or vice-versa] and that’s what’s causing the difficulty.
The value of understanding your own communication style is greater awareness of what influences you to communicate in a certain way, new tools to help you communicate more effectively and better insight into how others perceive you.
The value of understanding others’ communication styles is flexibility in interactions and appreciation of the assumptions and motivations that affect how others communicate.
This combination of understanding and appreciating both yours and others’ styles can only lead to more productive, successful, meaningful dialogue.
In the next post, we’ll look at the remaining two styles, Senser and Feeler.
Communication is a critical skill for being effective and getting things done in both our business and personal lives. Yet it is a skill that we often take for granted. I mean…everyone knows how to talk, right? [especially we women!]
Do you ever wonder, though, why some conversations go so smoothly and some are so difficult? When communicating seems to be a struggle, perhaps you’ve thought it was because the other person was simply a poor communicator or you were just having a bad day. When communicating seems to go well, perhaps you’ve thought it was because the other person thinks just like you do. In fact, the real reason is different communication styles.
The theory of communication styles was developed from the work of Carl Jung, a 20th century Swiss psychoanalyst, who said that individuals develop different preferences for how they process information and make decisions; in turn, these preferences affect how people communicate with each other. From Jung’s work [which also formed the basis for the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator], four communication styles were identified: Intuitor, Thinker, Senser and Feeler.
In this post, we’ll cover the Intuitor and Thinker styles, looking at the characteristics of each style. In the next post, we’ll cover the Senser and Feeler styles and in the last post in this series, we’ll look at how the styles interact. As you read the descriptions, see if you can identify your own style or the styles of colleagues and family.
It’s important to note that none of these communication styles are inherently “good” or “bad.” Each style has unique strengths and potential weaknesses. The value comes in understanding your own style and the styles of others as a way to make your communication and interactions more productive.
THE INTUITOR
This is the big picture thinker, the person who is inspirational, visionary and conceptual. Intuitors value complex ideas, innovation and long-term thinking. They are happy dwelling in the world of theories and possibilities and gain more satisfaction from coming up with ideas and concepts than from actually implementing any of them. They are creative problem solvers and inspire others to think out of the box.
Intuitors communicate concepts, insights and fresh ideas but are often short on facts or how things will work in the real world. Because they focus on possibilities, they move quickly from topic to topic, often coming to conclusions without much explanation, assuming everyone else thinks the way they do and can follow.
Intuitors are not particularly action oriented, preferring to continue brainstorming. They are very convinced of the value of their ideas and contributions and may become irritated or defensive when others challenge their conclusions.
This style is frequently criticized for being unrealistic and impractical.
Example:
The Intuitor is the person who, in a meeting to finalize the details of the product launch for the new cell phone, starts brainstorming other alternatives to the already agreed upon phone colours and features.
Key Strength: Big picture, conceptual thinking.
Key Weakness: Reluctance to focus on practicalities, details and deadlines.
THE THINKER
This style values logic, objectivity and analysis. Thinkers are not easily influenced by emotions and, in fact, believe emotions really have no place in decision making. They find it valuable to analyze data or past actions as input to developing current solutions, relying on facts and reason versus intuition and emotion.
Thinkers are cool under pressure and tend to treat everyone fairly. They are concerned more with honesty and accuracy and less with tact and this frequently gets in the way of building and nurturing relationships, leading others to perceive them as blunt and insensitive.
Because they are so logical and factual, Thinkers assume everyone understands them and sees things the same way they do. They are often criticized for being too cautious and conservative, getting bogged down in analysis causing others to see them as indecisive.
Example:
The Thinker is the person who, when everyone in the meeting has agreed that it’s a good idea to close the office early on Friday as a thank you to hard-working employees, says she’ll get back to you tomorrow with her decision after she’s had time to think about it.
Key Strength: Logical, objective thinking based on facts.
Key Weakness: Tendency to get bogged down in analysis and delay decisions.
So the next time you’re having a conversation with your colleague and you’re frustrated because she doesn’t seem to understand your point, stop and think about communication styles. No doubt your Thinker is trying to communicate with her Intuitor [or vice-versa] and that’s what’s causing the difficulty.
The value of understanding your own communication style is greater awareness of what influences you to communicate in a certain way, new tools to help you communicate more effectively and better insight into how others perceive you.
The value of understanding others’ communication styles is flexibility in interactions and appreciation of the assumptions and motivations that affect how others communicate.
This combination of understanding and appreciating both yours and others’ styles can only lead to more productive, successful, meaningful dialogue.
In the next post, we’ll look at the remaining two styles, Senser and Feeler.
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