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.