Are you actively conscious of the fact that you have a different listening style from some of your colleagues?
Have you paused to reflect on how your Listening Style influences how you receive and process information and how that impacts team dynamics?
Do you engage your colleagues based on their preferred Listening Styles?
In this Productivity Enhancement Newsletter, we share practical tips for improving your communication skills by exploring this important but overlooked issue.
Our classification of the Listening Styles is grounded in the widely used DISC Framework and behavioural assessments.
Thus, we have:
- Listening from Dominance
- Listening from Influence
- Listening from Steadiness
- Listening from Conscientiousness
LISTENING FROM DOMINANCE
Keys to getting heard when communicating with someone who listens from the Dominance behavioural quadrant include:
- Getting to the bottom line quickly. Limit the preamble and get to the essence of what the communication is about.
- Present with confidence. If you appear unsure of yourself and are apparently doubtful about your content, why should others give credence to it?
- "Ask don't tell" and "Suggest versus commanding" are important watchwords that should guide your communication. This is so regardless of the power distance between you and your audience!
LISTENING FROM INFLUENCE
- Engage. Engage. Engage. Interpersonal connection is important to individuals with a preference for the Influence behavioural toolkit. Reach out to them at a personal level.
- Keep it simple. This should apply to all styles. The I-Style Listener will readily find more interesting things to do with their attention than to wade through a ponderous presentation.
- See if you can share an experience in which they can participate. That will bring relevance into the mix and improve your chances of engaging them. You may get the bonus of gaining and active supporter of your ideas.
LISTENING FROM STEADINESS
- Focus on engendering trust! Eye contact. Be yourself. No pretenses. Transparency. "I don't know, but I will check it out and advise you."
- Speak from the perspective of answering "How to" questions. Ideas are great but how am I to execute them? What are the next steps? Where do I start?
- Provide assurance of ongoing support along the journey. Roadmap. Compass. Guide.
LISTENING FROM CONSCIENTIOUSNESS
- Appeal to logic. Present you arguments such that a critical thinker can relate to your conclusions. Starting from a faulty premise is an immediate disqualifier for ongoing credibility.
- Incorporate reliable evidence and data wherever possible. Do not rely on the power of your opinion - regardless of who you are. Also, do not overestimate your capacity to be persuasive.
- Be ready for tough questioning. You are likely to have to go through rigorous probing before being able to get buy-in.
BUT…
But, how do I recognize what Listening Style the other party is using.
Training is available to guide you into recognizing and relating appropriately to different behavioural styles.
Our publication “How DISCerning Communication Drives Teamwork” has been helpful to many.
Request your copy HERE
Invite us in to facilitate a “High Performing Team Initiative” for you and your team. Read what our clients have to say about us
But, I don’t accept the concept that there are only four types of people.
The faulty premise is the source of your challenge. The DISC Framework is a classification of behaviours – NOT people! I refer to the 4 large bags of behavioural tools that we use to navigate through life. It is never to be used to paste labels on individuals.
Classifications are essential to understanding things and making sense of life. We go to great pains to teach our children the difference between nouns and verbs. Without the use of classification, language becomes even more challenging.
Similarly, being able to have a classification that helps us to recognize behaviours and to seek appropriate responses to those behaviours is of great benefit to communicating more effectively with others.
info@extendeddiscsolutions.org
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