Have you ever talked with someone and it seemed they didn’t understand a word you said (assuming you both speak the same language)? The problem may lie in your personality types. Our natural tendency is to speak to others the way we prefer to be spoken to. If you are a bottom line communicator – you naturally speak “bottom line” to everyone you interact with. The same is true if you are more of an “a to z” type. You would give information to the person you are speaking to. As long as you are speaking to someone who has the same communication style as yourself, there will be no problems. You will probably understand each other perfectly. But what if you are a bottom line communicator such as the “D” and “I” personality types and you are speaking to an “S” or “C” personality type? You are sure to have difficulty communicating your message in such a scenario. Since you are only giving bottom line information, the “S” or “C” personality type is sure to respond with information gathering questions. This is usually very annoying – particularly to the “D” personality type. The “D”s thought is “I already told you everything you need to know, now get to work!” The “I”s thought is “I am more of a big picture person so I don’t want to think through all these questions – just figure it out as you go!” The challenge is that an “S” or “C” personality type wants to do the best job possible, therefore they want to gather all information – even if the “D” or “I” personality type doesn’t think it is important. Here are the differences between their thought processes:
“D” or “I” types – “Don’t tell me anything I don’t need to know right now. Just tell me whatever I need to know about this specific task!”
“S” or “C” types – “Tell me everything, whether you think it’s important or not. If I don’t need to know it for this particular task, I may need to know it in the future. I’ll decide what’s important and what’s not so let me hear it all.”
It is important to identify which personality type you are interacting with so you can speak their “personality language” in order to create win/win situations. Instead of focusing on how you would want the information presented, you must present the information the way they need you to in order to achieve success! I hope this helps you with your interactions with the different personality types! Remember to always let your personality shine!