To excel as a business leader, you have to do more than just put the right people in the right roles – you have to learn how to become a better communicator.
Effective communication is crucial in the workplace. In fact, 9 in 10 workers believe that ineffective communication impacts their work performance.
Yet many leaders struggle in this area. They have difficulty rallying their teams or getting their messages across.
How can you do things differently? Dr. William Marston’s DISC theory is a great place to start. It can help you understand your own communication style and the style of others so that you can adjust your behavior to get better results.
Here’s how to put this theory into practice using four key principles.
4 Principles for Becoming a Better Communicator
1. Become a Better Listener
If your goal is to become a better communicator, the first step is to become a better listener. If we can understand and connect with the other person, we can make the relationship better and improve communication.
How do you achieve that? I follow four principles that I’ll outline below:
- Active Listening
Remain active and engaged when the other person is talking. You must avoid interruptions and minimize distractions at this time. Give the person your full attention, and show that you’re listening through your responses and body language. - Listening to Understand (not to respond)
Start asking better questions and follow-up questions so that you can understand the other person on a deeper level. Ask without judgment and with the goal of simply seeing things from that person’s perspective. In the workplace, you could ask questions to better understand why your employee is underperforming or took a certain action.
For example: Why do you think that was the proper way to do a task? Or can you tell me more about that so I understand?
Repeat back what you heard and ask if you heard it properly.
When you think you understand, solicit feedback.
- Empathetic Listening
Practice empathetic listening to understand the feelings behind what the other person is saying. You want to go beyond words. If someone is struggling or underperforming, focus on their perspective and avoid being judgmental. - Being Fully Present
Be present. Try to avoid being distracted and tune out other noise. Silence any notifications.And, do not interrupt.
We all do this more than we realize – I still catch myself doing it, as hard as I try not to. We want to make our point, so it can be easy to interrupt others without realizing it. Be intentional, listen, and watch out for this.
Becoming a better listener is step one. Next, let’s focus on the DISC theory we mentioned earlier.
2. Understand DISC and Its Styles
DISC is an acronym that represents four main behavioral styles outlined in the DISC model of personalities. There are four main styles:
- Dominance: Those who fit into this personality style are focused on accomplishing results and seeing the bigger picture. If you’re a D-style, you may be outspoken, blunt, or even demanding in high-pressure situations. You may come off as insensitive, but in reality, you are laser-focused and prefer to take charge.
- Influence: If you’re an I-style, then you like to persuade or influence others. I-style individuals can make friends with virtually anyone. They love talking and socializing, and they tend to focus more on the positive than the negative. But if you fall into the I quadrant, you may struggle under pressure and more easily feel rejected.
- Steadiness: People who fall under the S-style are all about loyalty, cooperation, sincerity and dependability. They don’t like to be rushed, and they typically have calm and intentional dispositions.
- Conscientiousness: If you’re a C-style person, you’re all about expertise, accuracy and competency. You prefer being independent, but you fear being wrong. You might hold yourself to high standards, and criticism can be difficult for you to handle.
Having a deeper understanding of the DISC styles will help you move through the rest of the steps to becoming a better communicator.
3. Identify Which DISC Style You Fit Into
Now that you know what the DISC styles are, take the time to identify which style you fit into. It is crucial to work through this step carefully, as you may need to adjust your communication style to better communicate with others.
The simplest way to identify your style is to take an assessment. There are plenty of tests online, both paid and unpaid.
Truity offers a free version that you can use to learn your DISC style.
Once you understand which style you fit into, the next step is to learn which style others fit into and adjust your behavior accordingly.
4. Identify Which DISC Style Others Fit Into and Adjust Your Behavior
More than 40% of workers believe that poor communication affects their trust in leadership and their team.
One way to prevent ineffective or poor communication is to understand that you may need to communicate differently with certain DISC styles. To start, have your employees take an assessment to learn their styles and document them.
It’s great to have this information on file, but you likely won’t have time to memorize all of your employees’ styles.
Instead, you can take three steps to identify the DISC styles of others:
- Observe others and their behaviors
- Assess the person’s traits and how they handle high-pressure situations
- Identify which team members are a D, I, S, or C
It takes time to assess people and determine their styles, but it is possible and worth the effort. Once you have a better understanding of which quadrant each person fits into, you can then adjust your behavior to improve your communication with them.
Better communication will help you cultivate and maintain a healthy work culture, which can help improve talent retention and boost productivity.
But how do you adjust your communication style when interacting with different DISC styles? First, let’s clear up a few important things:
- Changing your style does not mean changing who you are as a person
- Adjusting your communication simply means that you’re matching the other person’s style so they’re more comfortable and you have a better conversation
For example, let’s say that I’m talking to someone who is a slow talker – a trait often attributed to C’s – I’ll adjust my communication style to speak more slowly. If they’re a fast talker, as is common with I’s, I’ll talk faster to make them feel more comfortable.
In this final transformative step, there are a few things you’ll need to do as a leader:
- Take charge. You can’t change others. The only thing you can change is your behavior.
- Be open and willing to adapt to communicate with others.
- Consider how to handle situations where you need to communicate with personalities who don’t match your style of communication.
As a business leader, it’s your responsibility to take charge and adapt to change. You cannot expect others to adjust their communication styles for your benefit.
However, you can set an example that may inspire leaders in your organization to learn more about DISC and how to communicate better with other styles.
The Takeaway
Learning how to become a better communicator can help improve productivity and employee morale while simultaneously boosting your business’s growth.
Improving your listening skills and taking the time to understand your own DISC style and the styles of others can help you communicate better with your entire team.
To learn more about improving your communication and becoming a better leader or to schedule an appointment, click here.