How To Communicate Clearly With The Five Most Common Strengths
It’s not a stretch to say that if you don’t have good communication at work, then you’ve got nothing. The best leaders, the best processes, the most cutting-edge, top-of-the line technology cannot make up for ineffective communication where employees are struggling through minor misunderstandings (at best), and causing costly losses and sowing discontent (at worst).
The problem is that, as with most things, people communicate the way they wish to be communicated with. You may know this is as the golden rule, “treat others the way they wish to be treated.” And hey, the golden rule is a very well-intentioned way to operate! You try to treat others, or in this example, communicate with others, in the way that you yourself would prefer because you believe it’s the best way to go about it. If you hate messages being sugar coated, then you’ll likely deliver information in a way that’s clear, and straight to the point (no fluff involved). If you prefer the more personal interaction that face-to-face offers, then you’ll opt out of sending an email in favor of a quick in-person conversation.
Even though the golden rule comes from a place of good intent, it’s not the most effective way to operate. Because other people aren’t you, and it’s just a simple fact that other people will have a different set of communication preferences.
Those high in Individualization (people good at identifying others’ uniques) are probably thinking, “Uhhh yea! I’ve been saying this all along.” The key to good communication is not about you. Instead, it’s all about treating others the way they wish to be treated, sometimes referred to as the platinum rule. This shift may seem subtle, but it makes a huge difference. And having a solid knowledge of your team’s Strengths can help you understand their communication style and use that information to tweak your messaging so that you’re actually heard.
CliftonStrengths in Practice
Here are the five most common Strengths, and examples of how you can adapt your communication to better resonate:
Achiever: Achievers love accomplishing things. When communicating with them, you might try and connect whatever message you’re relaying to how it will help them move a project forward.
Responsibility: those high in responsibility like to follow-through on commitments. Don’t loop them in last-minute, and try to always keep them in-the-know of the latest, relevant details so they can complete a task according to their high standards.
Learner: Whereas with Achievers you might keep the “extra” info short, Learners are people who enjoy context and information, especially about new things. They’ll actually like getting more robust information on a new task or project.
Relator: Don’t skimp on the more relational parts of communication with Relators. They’re people-people… building relationships is important to them, and they’ll welcome a warm hello and hearing about what you did this weekend.
Strategic: People high in strategic can quickly problem-solve, and sometimes it can be confusing and frustrating. Rather than get annoyed when they jump to what seems a random conclusion, ask Strategic to communicate their solve.
Using Strengths to better connect and communicate doesn’t stop at helping you communicate with others. It’s also about helping you know when and how to contribute your unique communication talents. For example, if you’re high in Harmony, you might be particularly well-suited to deliver a difficult message in a way that softens the blow. If you’re strong in Focus, you can help parse down a long email or company-wide communication to its finest, most relevant points.
Both as a tool to more clearly communicate with others, and as a guide for understanding where you excel in communication (and how to make the most of those talents), Strengths provides a straightforward, actionable way to cut through the clutter and communicate with better resonance and clarity.