It is impossible not to communicate. Every minute that you spend with others you are communicating. Even if you are silent, your body and facial expressions send a message. Over the years, people develop specific communication styles or ways of communicating. You may have noticed that you like to be the centre of attention or that you prefer to step back and observe others. Your conscious and unconscious decisions about how to communicate are determined to a large degree by your communication style.
Every time you communicate you send a message to another person and he/she receives a message. The other person does not necessarily receive the exact message that was sent. That is because the person receiving your message has his/her own interpretation. Misinterpretation often occurs when people with different styles communicate. For example, if you have a reserved or calm style, but the person you are talking to has a warm and lively style, what you say may be interpreted as being negative, unless the person understands that being reserved and calm is your way of communicating. Carl Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology.
He coined the words Extrovert and Introvert. He examined the way people prefer to interact with the world. For example, an Extrovert is likely to talk first, think later. It is not uncommon for an Extrovert to berate themselves with something like: “Will I ever learn to keep my mouth shut?” By contrast an Introvert will probably rehearse things before saying them and prefer that others would do the same. An Introvert will often respond with “I’ll have to think about that” or “Let me tell you later.”
Your first step in ensuring that your messages are received well and that you understand others is understanding how you communicate. The Communication Styles tool will help you to analyse all aspects of your style so that you can be more aware of how you are communicating and be alert to others’ styles as well.
Please take a look at this sample communication styles report