Asian Week
AsianWeek Gift of Gab: Professional Communication for Results

Gift of Gab: Professional Communication for Results

By: Miriam Ling, Aug 06, 2008
Tags: Commerce |


SAN FRANCISCO - “The key to good communication,” according to Jerry Ervin, president of the business consulting firm Paragon Strategies, “is to understand the person you are communicating with.”
Ervin addressed a group of twenty at a professional development workshop on communication for results hosted by the National Association of Asian American Professionals-San Francisco and the Young Filipino Professional Association on July 30 at Paragon Strategies.
Asian Americans may need more help than others when it comes to communicating, according to Kathy Doan, vice president of program development for NAAAP-SF.
“Sometimes Asian Americans may bring cultural norms that may not be the most effective in communicating at work, such as deferring to elders in their families, which can limit their ability to get results in discussions with both superiors and peers,” Doan said. “They frequently ask the manager for permission or approval to do something, instead of making the decisions themselves.”
The workshop covered various communication styles and how to improve interaction among them. Ervin, who spent 13 years in advertising business development, said employees tend to focus on one of four goals: achieving internal and external goals, establishing client and employee experience, fostering client and employee relationships or making sure that all the Is are dotted and the Ts crossed.
Ervin correlated these to the four Social Styles - Drivers, Expressives, Amiables and Analyticals respectively - but noted that they should not be confused with personality types. For good communication, Ervin said, it’s important to understand co-workers’ Social Styles.
Drivers are goal-oriented employees; results are most important to them. “Drivers are 15 percent fact and 85 percent assumption,” Ervin said, and they only need a little bit of information to do their work. They are risk takers. Although they may fail everyday, they are not afraid to try new things.
Expressives are fun, passionate and friendly people. Opinionated and easily distracted, they are great starters but do not like repetitive tasks.
Amiables are willing, agreeable and focused relationships. According to Ervin, amiables hold the most power in the office because they know everyone and everything about them.
Analyticals are detail oriented. They need information - and lots of it. They love to process, and the time taken for processing is very important. They are reliable but can be slow in their perfectionism.
Communication problems often arise because people are simply not good listeners.
“We think we are,” Ervin said, “but in reality we hear what we want to hear.”
People tend to only think of what they want to achieve, instead of taking the time to understand how to communicate better with another Social Style.
For example, Drivers don’t need that much information. Giving them the results or a summary of the report will suffice. On the other hand, Analyticals are the complete opposite. Not only do you need to give them information, but you also need to let them have some time to process the information. When working with Amiables, let them go to a group - they want a consensus; they need help making decisions. As for Expressives, give them small tasks that differ from the last because of his/her dislike for repetition.
Above all, Ervin stressed, be patient and listen. Understanding how to talk to each Social Style is key to good communication.