I’ve been meaning to write an article about different communication styles one would normally experience in a workplace, and how they can have profoundly different effects on the final outcome. Human being is extremely complicated so predicting the emotional response is almost impossible. Nonetheless there are still some very useful techniques:

Focus on the value

If someone did something that causes your any inconveniences. Don’t go and tell him about how he has victimized you. Instead try to stay neutral and let him know things would be much better if he has done it differently. It will be even more effective if you can show him how. This altruistic act would be perceived as you are offering so accepting will come effortless. I found out telling people about how he does certain things wrong almost always triggers negative emotional response. The result will be likely to be that he agrees with your point but at the same time he is reluctant to improve as that proves his mistake in the first place.

Be helpful

After you have communicated the value the next logical step is to tells him how. It’s important to see things from other people’s perspective especially when you want to change their behavior. Make a strategy that would solve the problem first before the communication starts. The key is to show you are on the same side.

Don’t be dogmatic

The purpose of communication is to understand each other’s point of view better. This is achieved by talking and listening. A leader might think it’s a waste of time to listen to what subordinates has to say but my experiences repeatedly showed otherwise. Every thing happens for a reason and sometimes for a good one. Listening will help you identify whether a mistake happened because of training, tool or the interview process. This knowledge will ultimately move the company to a better situation. At the end of day when you are a leader you only got yourself to blame.

These techniques are useful in pretty much all circumstances. Try to practice on this with your peer first so later when you start to lead you would have mastered this art already.

(Image from P Shanks, CC License)