Today I want to talk about communication and health.
I have during my many years at the health care center noticed that many patients ask for help with problems that are not primarily medical – I would say they are social and psychological issues. But the problems affect their wellbeing and they feel sick and maybe experience stomachache and other stress related symptoms. I have made an effort to listen carefully and I would say that most of these problems are due to lack of communication between the individuals involved. Maybe you have been in a situation like this too?
Decent and smooth communication is not easy to achieve! Not only do my patients present these difficulties as symptoms – it is hard to communicate good help to them too. It is easy to get misunderstandings.
Facts like this have raised my curiosity in this subject. Why do some people have an easy communication with everybody? And why do some people never raise their voice while others always fill the air space and so on. In my search for knowledge I came across a personality analysis called Ensize. It gave me many answers and since I started to work with these analyses I feel more comfortable in almost all conversations. It gave me a map of communication – I found my own spot on the map and today I can roughly place my counterparts on their spots on the map. With that knowledge I can adapt my communication for better results.
Do you ever meet people you feel you don’t understand? Employees, costumers, friends, family? You feel as if they come from another planet. It is not always what they say/do but the way they say/do it. These people are most likely standing on another part of the communication map.
What is this peculiar map? It has 4 dimensions on how we relate to our surroundings, it shows if we find ourselves stronger or weaker than other people and it also shows if we look at the world with hostility or with friendship. In Ensize it is shown by 4 different colors but there are other programs showing the same thing with other symbols.
You can combine the colors with animals – I find this comparison easy to understand.
Red – the shark – what’s in it for me – I will show the way – WHERE?
Yellow – the dolphin – have fun, find inspiration – WHO?
Green – the whale – help others, we are in it together – WHY?
Blue – see urchin – facts and facts, analysis – WHAT?
Can you identify yourself among these? And can you identify your customers, employees, friends, family? Once you do it will be easier for you to communicate with them. It also shows that you can’t communicate in the same way with all your customers, colleagues or friends. You have to adjust your communication to fit their communication pattern – that way they will feel seen and you will get more business, better cooperation and so on.
This is all about health. If your communication runs smoothly there will be less misunderstandings and you will feel less stress. If your communication leads to more business you will be happy and that is good health. – It is as simple as that.
If you want to get to know yourself better I recommend you to do the Ensize analyses. It is easy – you answer some questions on Internet – takes about 30 minutes. Some days later I send the result via mail and you and I have a 1 hour talk via Skype/telephone (or irl). After the talk you have the material to keep for future refining of your communication skills. Book an analysis here.
I can also recommend having Ensize workshops for your team – to grow their communication skills. It will make the team more confident together, they will be more confident in their meetings with your costumers and suppliers, projects will run more smoothly and so on. All participants do the analysis ahead and the result will be integrated in the workshop for best result. Send a request here.
Until next week – keep smiling!
