Overcoming Communication Challenges: Our Energy

 

Do you find it effortless to communicate clearly with some co-workers or clients, but feel completely misunderstood with others?

 

Carl Jung, the famous Swiss psychologist posited that we have innate preferences that predict how we will act in certain situations – including communication. The four dichotomies that make up the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) are how we take in information, how we make decisions, where we get our energy, and how we organize our outer world.

 

Let‘s look at how we get our energy. We’re familiar with introversion and extroversion reflecting how we interact socially but Jung looked at it as a source of where we get our energy and what drains us. When it comes to communication - if we have an extroversion preference, we tend to process our thoughts out loud. Thoughts come into our minds, and we say them aloud, and in our speaking them, we get clarity. Compare that with the introversion preference, where we tend to process our thoughts in our minds before we speak at all.

 

Think about a “brainstorming session” you were in where a few people dominated the discussion while others may have said almost nothing . . . until they were asked. This is textbook Introversion/Extroversion dichotomy differences playing out in communication.

 

To improve our communication, we want to identify our individual preferences, and understand those opposite ours, so that we know how best to reach across the potential communication gap and have meaningful and productive communication.

 

Want to learn how to improve your collaborative communication and decision-making skills? As a Myers-Briggs Certified Coach, I work with both individuals and groups.

Lavonne Mullet Career Insights, LLC

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