What.is.Your.Communication.Style?

Think back to the last time you were confused or a bit annoyed when talking to somebody. Was that an unpleasant experience for you because of the conversation topic or a disagreement of opinion…or was it simply because of mismatched communication styles?  Here are a few things that make up a communication style:  There is no question that culture has a huge impact on how people learn to communicate with one another.
 * § Pitch
 * § Intonation
 * § Turn-taking rules
 * § Number of topic details included in the conversation
 * § How long before one gets to the point?
 * § Is there a point?
 * § Use of non-verbal behavior

So let’s think back to our conversation on Being and Doing cultures. If you come from a Being culture, chances are that you will have some difficulties communicating with somebody from a Doing culture?

**Why? Well, here are a couple of reasons: **

**1. ** The Doing (D) person is eager to get to the point. The Being (B) person would rather spend some time getting to know the person they’re speaking with, and talk about personal stuff before getting to the point.

**<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">2. **<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> Given the concern for deadlines and schedules of D people, they are very careful about the amount of details they include in a conversation. Only the details that are DIRECTLY related to the topic will make it. The others will be left out. This can be quite challenging for B people who need a much larger amount of details in order to fully understand an issue, and feel comfortable talking about it.

**<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">3. **<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> The <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> monochronic D people, used to do things linearly, are usually careful to allow the person they’re speak with enough time to finish their thought before responding. The polychronic B people are comfortable with a more flexible turn-taking style, which can be perceived as rude by D people.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Remember, of course, that not everyone in a culture will communicate in the same way. But there are general “rules” related to communication that members of a culture subscribe to – often unknowingly. Just think about what your parents and teachers taught you about “good” communication. They were teaching you your culture’s “rules” for communication. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #111111; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','Lucida Grande','Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Sans',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Now, think back to your most recent frustrating conversation: did it have anything to do with culture?