How can you determine an organization’s style? If it’s a relatively small organization, start with the CEO. Nine times out of ten, their style will dictate the style of the organization. For a larger organization, with say more than 100 employees, the division heads or senior management team will determine the culture. If they tilt toward …
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Even if people follow all the ground rules, it’s difficult to travel the road to productive conversation if certain people in the room feel they can’t trust one another. If that’s the case, what can you do? First, if you’re one of those people, check your feelings with someone you can confide in. Express yourself, …
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If everyone were a master communicator – incapable of distorting the facts, clear about their own motives, able to accept responsibility to see each perspective clearly – then perhaps ground rules would not be necessary. But no one is a perfect communicator. Even the best communicators fall into traps and pitfalls. Ground rules are the …
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Leaders can use this tool to help people express their underlying conflicts and resolve them. It gives people a way to talk about their differences without triggering defensive responses. When used regularly, Inner Scripts can dramatically increase morale and cut down on the time spent dealing with conflicts. Click Here To Download The PDF. What …
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Is your goal to deal with a tough, multifaceted issue? Or is to exchange information? Is it a “get to know you” meeting? Or are you looking for creative input? These different goals each require a different type of meeting, and a different style of communication. Essentially, there are five types of meetings: Informational – people exchange …
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Effective facilitators organize the conversations that other people have. Their role is to guide the conversation by defining the desired outcomes, deciding the sequence of topics, ensuring that everyone’s voice is heard, asking relevant questions, limiting non-productive communication, and summarizing the conclusions reached. Highly effective facilitators focus on doing the following 15 things: Establish the …
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Each communication style tries to manage conflict in different ways. The following chart shows how each style approaches conflict and responds to it, both in positive and negative ways. Conflict “Triggers” Each communication style has certain “triggers” that spark them to react in negative ways. Directors are triggered by the perception that the span of …
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When discussing an issue or solving a problem, people often jump to conclusions before they spend time talking about what the problem is – or what data they have at hand. The Circle of Assumptions teaches us an orderly way to think about problems, starting with data and building toward conclusions. It enables us to …
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To become proficient in identifying other people’s styles, you need to understand how communication styles work. Of the nearly infinite things we could be aware of at any one time we focus on only a few. At the center of this selection process sits our attention. It is the roving lens of the mind, constantly scouring …
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If you’re a manager, you already know that managing people can be a challenge. Managerial success depends on understanding how each style operates. Everything you do, from managing your time to making a sales pitch, can be improved by using what you’ve learned about communication styles. Motivating Different Styles Studies show that people are motivated …
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