ADVICE TO GRADUATING STUDENTS: WOULD YOU WRITE A PERSONAL EMAIL TO SOMEONE IN A LANGUAGE . . .
. . . that you knew they could not understand? Of course not. The idea of communication is to be effective, and you can’t be maximally effective if they cannot process the information you give them.
Manager Tools has taken this one step further, popularizing the so-called DISC model. According to this, people tend to have behaviors in a mix of four different categories: D = Dominant, I = Influence, S = Steadiness, C = Conscientious. If you know roughly what category a person is in you can communicate with them in a way that is maximally effective. I learned this approach many years ago, and once you learn it, you apply it without thinking.
Here is a good example. A senior executive replies to your first email: “Sally, great idea. Set up a meeting, BR Susan.” How do you think Susan will feel if she reads a reply such as “Dear Susan, I received your email and I want to thank you for the meeting… Best wishes, Sally.” Susan is a high D. She will feel an innate friction at unneeded politeness and verbiage.
It turns out this goes far further than just knowing the comfort zone where people communicate most easily. It’s about how you interact with them, how you motivate them, how you delegate to them, and how you give them feedback. And these are key factors in the business world if you want to get things done.
