Carl Jung, a well known Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist, founded analytical psychology. He offered definitions of Extrovert and Introvert following research where he examined the way people prefer to interact with the world. We know that extroverts engage verbally, quickly and sometimes without thinking through consequences. In contrast an Introvert will probably rehearse things before saying them and prefer that others would do the same. An Introvert may be seen as a slow decision maker and will often respond with “I’ll have to think about that” or “Let me tell you later”.

It is impossible not to communicate. Every minute that you spend with clients and your fee earners you are communicating. Even if you are silent, your body and facial expressions send hundreds of messages. In a world of different people, cultures, attitudes and beliefs there are many benefits to be gained from understanding the simple communication styles, how you might contrast with others with whom you work with, and how you can adapt your style to get the best from your relationship with them.

We learn our preferences when we are young – usually because our parents and role models praise certain qualities over others and we learn to promote such behaviour in order to gain reward. In turn we create a belief system that values what we do above the communication patterns that others might adopt and if we become intolerant, we lose ground in our empathy for others – whether they are clients, staff or prospects. Your conscious and unconscious decisions about how to communicate can hold you back from developing stronger more positive relationships with others.