In communication, many disagreements are caused by different perceptions that created different realities. It can be very frustrating thinking that you have said or done the “right thing” only to find that the person you’re communicating with doesn't see it in the same way. The good news is that when you know your own priorities, and recognize the other person’s priorities, you can reduce miscommunication and develop more productive relationships.
Everyone has a dominant priority system and communication style – behaviors that we’re more comfortable with, and use most frequently. People tend to prioritize their world based on a combination of four primary priority systems (or priosys®):
1. Process-Oriented
2. Results-Oriented
3. Relationship-Oriented
4. Recognition-Oriented
Once you understand these perspectives, it becomes much easier to recognize the associated behaviors in other people. To build rapport and facilitate better communication, you can flex your communication style and adapt your priorities to more closely align with those of the other person.
This will help to make interactions more comfortable for them – which might be counter-intuitive to how you may have previously approached communication; e.g., how can I get the other person to change? To be clear, communication style flex and priority adaptation suggests changing HOW you communicate – not suppressing your point of view, nor avoiding difficult conversations.
To learn more about how to flex your communication style or better understand priority systems (e.g., take the priosys® online assessment) contact me HERE. This article is a summary of my recent workshop for the Bergen County Professional Women's Network (BCPWN) on the same subject.
No comments:
Post a Comment