What's your personal communication style?
Underpinning business success is good communications. From leading a team to project collaboration and resource management, there are very few activities that don’t rely on you to successfully share information and ideas.
Communication matters. Without effective communication you can’t make yourself heard, connect to your colleagues, listen to your staff, motivate those around you, understand your boss, and improve customer relationships.
Good communication has many benefits because it:
Helps build teams
Prevents and resolves problems
Boosts employee morale
Improves productivity
Enables greater innovation
Provides clarity of direction
Makes for a better workplace
Contributes to positive mental health and wellbeing
Because communication is a two-way process, the first step is to be self-aware and understand your own personal communication style. Once you do this you’ll be able to deliver messages in a way the receiver will understand and appreciate, and you will also feel more confident and in control.
Early years plays a part
It’s worth remembering that your personal communication style has been shaped in part by your early years. This may centre around your family and perhaps the place and culture you grew up in, but will also include your education, first jobs and the many people and situations you have come into contact with.
There are also various tools you can use to help determine your personal communication style and a popular method is DISC personality profiling. DISC is an acronym that stands for four main personality profiles. These are (D)ominance, (I)nfluence, (S)teadiness and (C)ompliance. By using DISC, you can find out which style you identify with most - your comfort zone in effect. And with that knowledge, you will be able to understand your natural tendencies and preferences and learn how to adapt these to communicate with others more effectively.
By way of example, if you have a D preference you want communication that is short, direct and to the point, whereas I’s appreciate a light, friendly tone with a personal touch. Those with an S preference appreciate you asking how they are, and taking time to listen to what they have to say, whereas C’s want lots of detail and information and will often send lengthy emails.
The secret to working harmoniously
So, if you’d like some help to adapt your natural communication style to improve the way you connect and build relationships please get in touch. I can offer DISC profiling for individuals, as part of a personal development programme, or for teams to help build a happier, more engaged and effective team who work harmoniously together to achieve business growth and success.