Communication: You are responsible for the response you get

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When communicating something that requires a response, the response becomes a measure to how well you are communicating. 

“If you ask for something and don’t get it, then you did not ask the right way.”

 Imagine the classic Englishman abroad, ordering breakfast from a waiter who doesn’t speak English. The time-honoured tactic of repeating the same order of “sausage, egg and chips” at increasingly louder volume, is not going to work!

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Learning a few words of the local language, using hand actions, or even a drawing will give you a better chance of getting your delicious breakfast. As the communicator, the responsibility for being understood rests primarily with you.

 If you email people instructions you want them to follow, and they don’t respond, then sending more emails is unlikely to improve the situation. After all, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different response is the definition of insanity! If you are not getting the results you want with your current style of communication, try a different approach. Again, as the communicator, you are responsible for the response you get.

Having an awareness of what is important to other people, what motivates them and what kind of communication resonates with them, gives you a great advantage when it comes to getting the response you want! Imagine how you would assign an important task to someone who enjoyed working in a team and feeling supported compared to someone who relished autonomy and craved responsibility – differently yes?

 It is no surprise that communication is one of the greatest challenges in business today. Consider the following examples in which different people might represent the successful conclusion of a meeting, depending on how they think and prefer to communicate.

👀 Visual preference (seeing)

  • A list of agreed actions written on a whiteboard with names against each one. 

👂🏻Auditory preference (hearing)

  • People verbally agreeing actions.

  • Pleasant talk to each other at the close of the meeting, making comments such as:

    • “I’m really pleased with the progress so far.”

    • “I know precisely what my next actions are.”

    • “Give me a shout if I can help with anything.” 

🖐🏻 Kinaesthetic preference (feeling)

  • Friendly handshakes between people in the room.

  • A warm, satisfied feeling of success.

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The coaching service I provide creates greater awareness of what’s important to you and the others you relate with; customers, suppliers, team-mates, managers, boards of directors, partners…. the list goes on! Combining Motivational Maps® (to diagnose people’s motivational profiles) and NLP (to access more resourceful thinking) forms an effective solution for any sub-optimal relationships or change management activities.

  • Common signs that you are communicating well are if you…

    •  have a team of people who are 100% committed to the team’s objectives;

    • have customers who continually choose you to do business with.

If you don’t see these signs, how is it a problem and what do you want to change? As the communicator, you are responsible for the response you get!