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What Is Your Impact on Others?
For many attending a professional development conference such as ASSE's Safety 2009, slated to run June 28 to July 1 in San Antonio, TX, is an event in itself - on a limited budget, the opportunity to network face-to-face comes only once a year. And in a world in which people are inclined to connect with one another electronically, many are out of practice when it comes to face-toface communication. E-mails, BlackBerrys and text messages are not going away, but it is still important to know how to maximize your influence on others via effective in-person communication.
The networking opportunities available at ASSE's Professional Development Conference and Exposition are listed in the sidebar on page 25. To effectively network, you need to know your impact on others. This article discusses the various communication styles and what each communicates to listeners.
We cannot not communicate. Nonverbal behavior speaks volumes. We have heard it before: Know who you are talking to and adapt your communication style to your listeners' style. As many times as we have heard these words to be the key for creating and managing relationships, the opposite appears to be true.
Whether observing a speaker or having a one-toone conversation with a client, it is clear that many speakers convey messages about themselves, and ignore their listeners' nonverbal and verbal cues. Imagine where you could take your relationships with others if you took the time to listen to what works for them.
We have preferences - certain skills and behaviors that make us who we are. Recognizing styles in yourself and others can help you influence and build relationships and become a better communicator.
Various instruments identify individual communication styles. An instrument that is easy to follow and apply is Swiss psychologist Carl Jung's four communication styles. These styles are based on tendencies to be task-oriented versus people-oriented, and easygoing versus take-charge. While these are simplifications, tendencies of...