Have you ever sat in a meeting, feeling like you and your colleagues are speaking entirely different languages?
Have you ever felt that, despite your best efforts to convey your message, it what you say seems to bounce off an invisible wall, never quite reaching its intended recipient?
Whether this applies to you, or someone you know, these instances are a sadly common phenomenon.
But much of the problem stems from communication styles, and if we can understand these better, everyone at work stands are much better chance of having more successful meetings.
There are four primary communication styles: Analytical, Functional, Intuitive, and Personal.
Analytical communicators prioritize data and detailed evidence.
Functional communicators seek clear, step-by-step information.
Intuitive communicators desire succinct, bottom-line insights.
Personal communicators focus on emotional impact and relational dynamics.
Based on one million respondents to our popular communication styles test, we see distinct differences in the communication preferences within different departments.
In human resources, for example, we see a predominance of personal communicators. These make up more than over a third of the workforce (at 37%).
Following closely behind this are HR’s functional communicators (which account for a quarter of HR professionals).
Broadly speaking, we can safely say that this data suggests HR departments tend to prioritize emotion-based dialogue and process-oriented discussions.
Shifting our focus to finance, however, and we observe a much different trend.
Here, intuitive and analytical communicators are equally represented, each comprising 30% of the department.
This equal split indicates that financial discussions are likely to be data-driven, numerically focused, and direct in nature.
The point here is not to highlight the specific differences between HR and finance departments, but rather to point out that you can’t expect everyone else to communicate in your preferred style.
And the more you can tailor your approach to match your audience’s style, the more effective your communication will become.
So, imagine you’re in a meeting, trying to convince executives from other departments to support a training session to improve their managers’ interviewing skills.
Rather than delivering your stock pitch, you might want to consider asking those executives the following question: “What can I share with you about this training that would be most valuable to you?”
Or you could ask, “What’s the one big question you want to have answered?”
The power of those questions is that they quickly reveal the preferred communication styles of everyone else in the room.
An Intuitive communicator might jump straight to the endgame and say: “Just tell me the bottom line, what’s this going to cost us?”
A Personal communicator could instead focus on the human element: ie “Who else is using this? How are they feeling about it?”
A Functional communicator will likely require detailed processes: “Tell me step by step how this is going to roll out?”
Meanwhile, an Analytical communicator seeks precision in data: “I’m unclear on this return on investment calculation you did. Explain how this is actually going to save us money.”
Each one of these responses gives you a roadmap for structuring the rest of your presentation or pitch:
For the Analyticals, you’d want to ensure that data and ROI calculations are ready to be discussed in detail.
For Functionals, you’ll need to have prepared a clear, ordered agenda that outlines each step of the process.
For Personals, incorporate stories or testimonials that highlight the emotional and human aspects of the topic.
And if your meeting room is full of Intuitives, you’ll be keeping your presentation concise and focused on the key outcomes or decisions needed.
A sign of great communicators is their ability to read the room and surface the preferred styles of their audience.
Another hallmark of the best communicators is their willingness to abandon their prepared script and adjust their presentation on the fly.
If your presentation is brimming with timelines and Gantt charts, and you just learned that your audience is largely cut-to-the-chase intuitive communicators, the smart speaker will shelve the flowcharts and skip right to the bottom line.
The key to great communication is far more about reading your audience than it is trying to master a particular script, template, body language or cadence.
By beginning meetings and presentations with strategically chosen questions, you set the stage for a communicative environment that respects and addresses the diverse needs of the audience.
Not only does this foster a more inclusive atmosphere, but it ensures that you’re delivering the messages your audience wants and needs to hear.
