Communication types: 6 sorts and 4 frameworks

How usually do you attain the top of the day and marvel what you spent all of your time doing?

As a product supervisor, you’re seemingly spending a big portion of your day out and in of conferences, responding to messages, and writing emails. It is because a big a part of your job includes communication.

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Desk of contents

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The elements of clear communication

Efficient communication is important to the success of any staff, product, or enterprise. Should you break down what communication is, a number of completely different elements work collectively to create a whole and efficient message.

These elements embody:

• Sender — The one who initiates the message aspiring to convey particular which means or data to the receiver
• Message — The data, thought, or message that the sender intends to speak to the receiver
• Encoding — The method of translating the message right into a kind that may be transmitted, reminiscent of phrases, symbols, gestures, or indicators
• Channel — The medium by means of which the message is transmitted, reminiscent of oral, written, or non-verbal communication
• Receiver — The one who receives the message, decodes it, and interprets the which means of the message primarily based on their very own perceptions, experiences, and information
• Decoding — The method of deciphering the message and understanding the which means of the message by the receiver
• Suggestions — The response or response of the receiver to the message, which supplies data to the sender on whether or not the message was understood and the way it was perceived
• Noise — Any interference or barrier that may disrupt the communication course of, reminiscent of distractions, bodily distance, language boundaries, or technical points

Efficient communication requires every of those elements to work collectively easily. So, you’ll be able to see how straightforward it may be to miscommunicate!

Understanding communication types and utilizing communication frameworks might help you establish what your default place is likely to be and the way you would possibly higher adapt your communication fashion to your staff dynamics.

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6 forms of communication types

Communication types are the methods during which individuals specific themselves, work together with others, and reply to completely different conditions. These types can have a big affect on staff dynamics and productiveness, particularly in cross-functional groups.

Let’s zoom in on the next six communication types:

1. Assertive communication
2. Aggressive communication
3. Passive communication
4. Passive-aggressive communication
5. Collaborative communication
6. Nonverbal communication

1. Assertive communication

This fashion includes expressing your ideas, emotions, and opinions in a transparent, direct, and respectful method with out violating the rights of others.

Assertive communication is taken into account one of many healthiest communication types as a result of it respects each the speaker’s and the listener’s rights. The assertive fashion is about being assured with out being overly aggressive.

2. Aggressive communication

This fashion includes expressing your ideas, emotions, and opinions in a manner that disregards the rights of others and could be intimidating, threatening, or humiliating.

Aggressive communicators are inclined to dominate conversations, disregarding others’ emotions or rights. This fashion could result in short-term outcomes however can hurt relationships and staff dynamics in the long term.

3. Passive communication

This fashion includes avoiding expressing your ideas, emotions, and opinions, and sometimes leads to giving in to others’ calls for and ignoring your individual wants.

Passive communicators could battle to voice their wants and sometimes really feel ignored or ignored in discussions. Over time, this could result in emotions of resentment and frustration.

4. Passive-aggressive communication

This fashion includes expressing your ideas, emotions, and opinions not directly, usually by means of sarcasm, manipulation, or sabotage.

Passive-aggressive communicators could seem agreeable on the floor however could specific their anger or dissatisfaction by means of delicate, oblique behaviors. This fashion can create confusion and distrust inside groups.

5. Collaborative communication

This fashion includes working along with others to seek out mutually useful options and construct optimistic relationships.

Collaborative communicators search enter from others and try for a win-win answer that respects everybody’s wants. This fashion might help foster a way of teamwork and cooperation inside teams.

6. Nonverbal communication

This fashion includes utilizing physique language, facial expressions, and tone of voice to convey which means and emotion.

Nonverbal communicators convey messages by means of their bodily conduct and voice tonality, which might usually talk simply as a lot, if no more, than phrases. Nonverbal cues can significantly affect the way in which a message is perceived and understood.

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4 communication frameworks

It’s important to acknowledge and perceive your individual communication fashion and be taught to adapt it to completely different conditions and folks to speak successfully and construct optimistic relationships.

There are a number of communication fashion frameworks designed to assist individuals higher perceive people’ communication preferences. Essentially the most generally used frameworks are:

1. DISC (dominance, affect, steadiness, and conscientiousness)
2. Myers-Briggs Sort Indicator (MBTI)
3. Thomas-Kilmann Battle Mode Instrument (TKI)
4. Social Kinds mannequin

Each frameworks are designed to assist people and groups achieve perception into their communication fashion and learn to adapt and work successfully with others who’ve completely different types.

Whereas communication types are broad classes that describe basic patterns of conduct, communication fashion frameworks present extra detailed insights into particular person preferences and tendencies.

For instance, the assertive communication fashion is a broad class that describes people who’re assured and direct in expressing their wants and opinions. The DISC framework, alternatively, supplies a extra nuanced understanding of assertive communication by measuring a person’s behavioral preferences.

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1. DISC (dominance, affect, steadiness, and conscientiousness)

The DISC framework measures a person’s behavioral preferences primarily based on 4 major dimensions:

• Dominance — People who find themselves assertive, results-oriented, decisive, and sometimes aggressive. They like environments the place they’ve management and authority
• Affect — Individuals with excessive affect are outgoing, enthusiastic, and thrive on social interactions. They’re usually persuasive and may encourage others with their optimism
• Steadiness — People with a excessive steadiness issue are reliable, cooperative, and worth stability and consistency. They’re affected person and good listeners, usually serving as calming influences in a staff
• Conscientiousness — Conscientious people are analytical, detail-oriented, and cling carefully to guidelines and procedures. They’re meticulous of their work and extremely worth accuracy

Every dimension represents a unique communication fashion. Dominant persons are usually assertive and decisive, whereas influential individuals are usually outgoing and enthusiastic. Regular persons are normally affected person and cooperative, whereas conscientious persons are detail-oriented and analytical.

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2. Myers-Briggs Sort Indicator (MBTI)

The MBTI framework, alternatively, makes use of a mixture of 4 dichotomies to categorize people into one among 16 character sorts. Every character sort is related to a unique communication fashion.

Listed below are the 16 character sorts and what they imply:

1. INTJ (Introverted, Intuitive, Pondering, Judging: — Impartial, authentic, analytical, and decided
2. INTP (Introverted, Intuitive, Pondering, Perceiving) — Logical, authentic, artistic thinkers preferring flexibility
3. ENTJ (Extraverted, Intuitive, Pondering, Judging) — Assertive, outspoken leaders who get pleasure from complicated challenges
4. ENTP (Extraverted, Intuitive, Pondering, Perceiving) — Resourceful problem-solvers, adept at producing potentialities
5. INFJ (Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Judging) — Search concord and understanding, impressed by future potentialities
6. INFP (Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceiving) — Idealistic, loyal to their values, taken with serving to others
7. ENFJ (Extraverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Judging) — Empathetic, responsive, and accountable, extremely attuned to the sentiments of others
8. ENFP (Extraverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceiving) — Warmly enthusiastic, imaginative, and seeing life as filled with potentialities
9. ISTJ (Introverted, Sensing, Pondering, Judging) — Sensible, matter-of-fact, with a give attention to rapid wants
10. ISFJ (Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, Judging) — Quiet, pleasant, accountable, and conscientious
11. ESTJ (Extraverted, Sensing, Pondering, Judging) — Sensible, real looking, matter-of-fact, with a pure head for enterprise or mechanics
12. ESFJ (Extraverted, Sensing, Feeling, Judging) —Heat-hearted, talkative, widespread, conscientious, born cooperators
13. ISTP (Introverted, Sensing, Pondering, Perceiving) — Tolerant, versatile, fast problem-solvers, taken with the way in which issues work
14. ISFP (Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, Perceiving) — Quiet, pleasant, delicate, and sort, benefit from the current second
15. ESTP (Extraverted, Sensing, Pondering, Perceiving) — Versatile, tolerant, pragmatic problem-solvers, centered on rapid outcomes
16. ESFP (Extraverted, Sensing, Feeling, Perceiving) — Outgoing, pleasant, accepting, get pleasure from working with others to make issues occur

For instance, an introverted thinker (INTP) is more likely to talk in a logical and analytical manner, whereas an extroverted feeler (ENFJ) is more likely to talk in an empathetic and people-focused manner.

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3. Thomas-Kilmann Battle Mode Instrument (TKI)

The TKI framework categorizes people primarily based on their conduct in battle conditions. It identifies 5 major conflict-handling modes:

1. Competing
2. Accommodating
3. Avoiding
4. Collaborating
5. Compromising

Competing

People with a competing fashion are assertive and uncooperative. They see battle as a win-lose state of affairs and sometimes assert their very own targets and pursuits on the expense of others. This fashion could be useful when fast selections are wanted, however could result in strained relationships if overused

Accommodating

The accommodating fashion is characterised by being cooperative and unassertive. People with this fashion are sometimes keen to neglect their very own pursuits to fulfill the considerations of others. This fashion can promote concord and stop conflicts from escalating, however it may possibly additionally lead to their very own wants and considerations being ignored.

Avoiding

Avoiding fashion is each unassertive and uncooperative. These with this fashion are inclined to sidestep or postpone battle, usually withdrawing from threatening conditions. Whereas this fashion can present short-term aid from battle, it may additionally result in unresolved points.

Collaborating

The collaborating fashion is each assertive and cooperative. People with this fashion try to fulfill each their very own considerations and the considerations of others, usually looking for win-win conditions. This strategy can result in artistic options and elevated satisfaction amongst staff members, however it could even be time-consuming.

Compromising

Compromising fashion is reasonably assertive and cooperative. Those that undertake this fashion usually search a good stability between their pursuits and the pursuits of others. It may be a helpful strategy when each events have equal energy and mutually unique targets, however it could additionally lead to suboptimal options the place either side lose one thing.

Every mode represents a novel manner during which people would possibly talk throughout battle. Understanding these types might help to handle and resolve conflicts extra successfully in staff settings.

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4. Social Kinds mannequin

The Social Kinds mannequin is a sensible framework that provides useful insights into communication preferences. It defines 4 social types: analytic, driver, expressive, and amiable. These types are primarily based on two axes: task-focused vs. people-focused and asks vs. tells.

Listed below are the 4 social types and what they imply:

• Analytic people are usually task-oriented and ask-oriented, with a choice for data-driven resolution making
• Driver people are additionally task-oriented however are usually tell-oriented, usually making fast selections and displaying a choice for management
• Expressive people are people-oriented and tell-oriented, usually enthusiastic and susceptible to creating impulsive selections primarily based on intestine emotions
• Amiable people are people-oriented and ask-oriented, preferring consensus decision-making and prioritizing relationships

Understanding and adapting to those social types might help you improve relationships, obtain aggressive benefit, and leverage the strengths of different types.

Making use of communication frameworks in your group

To make use of the frameworks described above, you first want to begin with your self. For instance, you might use this free quiz from 16Personalities, which follows the MBTI framework that will help you consider your character sort. Should you undergo this train as a staff, you’ll be able to then share your outcomes and begin to perceive the place your staff members could also be coming from when speaking with you.

Whatever the framework used, it’s essential to know that communication types usually are not mounted and may (and may) fluctuate relying on the state of affairs and particular person preferences. For instance, an assertive communication fashion could also be acceptable in a high-stakes negotiation, whereas a passive communication fashion could also be extra acceptable in a state of affairs the place relationship-building is a precedence.

It’s additionally essential to acknowledge that completely different communication types may cause battle and misunderstanding in groups. For instance, an aggressive communication fashion could be intimidating and disruptive, whereas a passive communication fashion can result in frustration and lack of engagement, relying on the context.

The important thing to efficient collaboration is adaptability and empathy. This implies having the ability to acknowledge and reply to completely different communication types in a manner that promotes understanding and collaboration.

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How can product managers be higher communicators?

As a product supervisor, efficient communication with cross-functional groups and stakeholders is important to the success of your product. Since you’re the one who units the product imaginative and prescient, technique and roadmap, and since you perceive buyer issues extra intimately than anybody else, it falls in your to find out the easiest way to convey this data to numerous departments all through your group. That’s rather a lot to speak and to lots of people!

Listed below are some primary ideas that will help you talk extra successfully in your day-to-day interactions with each your individual staff and stakeholders throughout your enterprise:

• Perceive your individual communication fashion and learn to adapt it to completely different conditions and folks
• Hear actively and observe empathy to know others’ views
• Be clear and concise in your communication and keep away from jargon or technical language that others could not perceive
• Encourage open communication and suggestions from staff members. Search to be inquisitive about what works and what doesn’t work
• Use completely different communication channels (e.g., e mail, video calls, in-person conferences) to accommodate completely different preferences

Acknowledge the worth of excellent communication

Communication is a big a part of being an efficient product supervisor. Understanding completely different communication types is important for efficient collaboration and staff dynamics.

Utilizing communication frameworks might help establish what your default positioning is likely to be and the way you might have to adapt to others. Product managers who’re conscious of their very own communication fashion and adapt it to completely different conditions and folks can construct higher relationships and obtain extra profitable outcomes.

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