Several trends are making competence in communication more important today than ever before. Here are five recent trends in workplace communication: 1) The Accelerating Pace of Market Changes The need to respond quickly to market changes creates the need for a less rigid and bureaucratic work environment. Information must flow up, down, and across traditional channels. …
Each communication style is equally important and valuable. However, a particular style might be more effective in a given situation. If you’re trying to brainstorm, an Expresser style is valuable. If you’re trying to explain a process to a group of engineers, a Thinker style is valuable. If you want to build trust, a Harmonizer …
The art of communicating authentically is a learned skill. It takes coaching and practice to do it well. Communicating authentically means being honest, open and thoughtful in what you say – and in how you listen and respond to what you hear. This post describes four skills to help leaders communicate authentically. Speak for Yourself Effective leaders …
Understanding intent is key to improving the quality of communication. This post describes the four types of intent in detail and provides useful tips for people who want to display positive intent. Introduction There are four types of intent that underlie all communication: affirming, controlling, defending, and withdrawing. Everyone displays all four types of intent, but …
Understanding your style of communicating would be relatively easy if you limited yourself to one of the four basic styles. However, depending on the situation, you may alternate between one, two, or even three styles. It’s like walking. You naturally walk at a certain pace. But then you shift gears to match the pace of …
When you take the Straight Talk® Survey, the first payoff is discovering the communication styles you use most often – Director, Expresser, Thinker, or Harmonizer. We tend to favor two styles over the others, but we have the ability to use any of the styles in different situations. To read about the four basic communication styles, Download the PDF. …
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