Different people have different communication styles. They may also communicate in different ways in different situations. Let’s look at two different styles.
Some people start by describing the destination.
They then describe the journey to the destination.
Some leaders take this approach when communicating the team’s goals. Gathering their people together, they may say something along the following lines.
The Team’s Goals
The specific goals – the outcomes –
we aim to achieve as a team are:
*
*
*
The specific benefits of
achieving these goals will be:
*
*
*
The specific strategies we aim to
follow to achieve these goals are:
*
*
*
Such leaders often start meetings by reminding people of the team’s goals. They keep giving people the context. They then move on to focusing on specific aspects of the journey towards reaching the goals.
Some people follow a similar approach in one-to-one meetings. They start by describing what they may see aims of the meeting. When appropriate, they also believe giving other people the chance to add to the agenda.
Depending on the situation, they may say something along the following lines.
The Goals – As far
as I understand it:
The aims of today’s meeting are:
*
*
*
The topics that it would be good to cover
– but you may want to add to these – are:
*
*
*
Are there any other things that you would like us to explore in the meeting?
Different people adapt this approach in different situations. A mentor will often start a session by inviting a person to describe the topics they would like to explore. They then focus on these aims in the session.
A keynote speaker may start by describing the aims of a presentation. They may follow the old formula of: “Tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them and tell them what you’ve told them”.
A writer may give the executive summary – the key points – at the start of an article or book. They may then aim to bring these themes to life by giving examples that resonate with the reader.
People who take this approach often start by describing the destination. They may then describe the journey towards achieving these aims. Some people take another approach.
Some people spend lots of time describing the journey.
They may then get round to describing the destination.
Different people follow this communication style in different ways in different situations. The way they do this can have both pluses and minuses.
Some people may spend a lot of time describing the historical journey of why they or their team has arrived at a certain place.
This can be helpful but it can also be frustrating for listeners who are future focused and want to help the person or team to achieve success.
Some people may describe what they see as the obstacles that they or their team face.
This can be helpful but can also be frustrating for people who want to help the person or team to find solutions to challenges and achieve their future goals.
Some people may be process focused and describe a long list of tasks to be done.
This sounds reasonable, but the first job is to clarify the real results that they or their team want to achieve. It is then to ensure that the tasks they do will help them or their team to achieve the desired picture of success.
Let’s return to your own life and work. Looking ahead, can you think of a situation where you may want to start by describing the destination? How can you do this in your own way?
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to complete the following sentences.
Leave a Reply