Skip to main content

The Four Communication Styles

Everyone has a signature style of communicating. 
The most effective communicators tailor their style to fit their audience!



Director: Directors are hard-charging, want information in quick, bottom line bullet points, are action-oriented leaders, focused on results. The director’s style of communicating is assertive and task-oriented. The Director’s style is to assume that quick action and decisiveness yield the best results. Directors frame the world as a competitive place of action and decisiveness.

Expresser: Expressers focus on leading through their creative ideas. They want a fuller exploration of different options and ideas. The expresser's style of communicating is assertive and people-oriented. Their operating assumption is that people should feel free to voice their opinions, think outside of the box, and articulate what they feel. They truly enjoy entertaining. Expressers focus on the world as an intricate place where people are acknowledged for their lifetime achievements and creativity.

Thinker: Thinkers are detail-oriented leaders and focused on what it takes to get the job done right. They want to hear the detailed thinking behind a proposal. The communication style of the Thinker tends to be less assertive than that of the Director or Expresser. Like Directors, Thinkers are also task oriented; they assume that there’s a best way to do things – and it’s their job to make sure no mistakes are made. They often feel rewarded when a goal is achieved. They frame the world as a place in which to solve problems and get things done.

Harmonizer: Harmonizers lead by supporting others, who want to understand the impact of any proposal on people. Their style of communication is also far less assertive than that of the Director or Expresser. Similar to Expressers, Harmonizers are also very people oriented. They operate on the assumption that they need to look after the needs of the team and other people’s welfare. There is a feeling of accomplishment when the team does well. They often see the world as a place where personal relationships are an extremely important part of their lives and they prefer to collaborate in the workforce.

Popular posts from this blog

Speech crafting & delivery dynamics

Explore books related to crafting a speech and delivering with dynamism Trivium , Wooden Books This book is a part of a four series of nonfiction novels(Quadrivium, Sciencia, Designa, and trivium). Liberal arts based books that talks about grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Not really meant to gain ideas, but helps for people to understand the fundamentals of spoken language. If you do decide to pick up this book, skip over the poetry section, it doesn't provide much unless you are actually writing a poem.  Language, Cognition, and Human Nature , Steven Pinker This book is for people who are proficient readers and are really looking into how language connects to cognition, social relationships, child development, human evolution, and theories of human nature. It is not a book for your typical audience, it is just a mere collection of 13 essays each outlining broad topics. It can be dry and tedious but if you are a linguistic enthusiast this could be a book of your liking....

Your Dream Team

With Toastmasters contest season fast approaching, I thought I'd share a contest speech that survived three contests last year, went through 15 drafts (I have them all), numerous practice sessions in front of two clubs, in the living room in front of a big dog and a cell phone, and in the driveway working on my footwork! I received good feedback on using parts of the speaking area (contest-speak for stage) to emphasize transitions from one point to the next - and to refer back to earlier points.  There are two "maps" one for the speaker's perspective and one for the audience's perspective.  The solid lines are movement, while the dashed lines are prompts to refer back to an earlier area. Did I get carried away?  I don't think so.  Having every detail mapped out and refined gave me the confidence to compete and improve each time - and confidence-building is what we do! Speaker's Perspective Audience's Perspective -RM Image ...

7 Public Speaking Tips From Simon Sinek

Anyone who has done research in Leadership over the last few years has come across Simon Sinek. Simon is a brilliant individual with insight into leadership, but he is also an amazing public speaker. During an interview, Simon identified seven secrets to his public speaking success that may help you. 1. Don’t talk right away According to Mr. Sinek, immediately beginning a speech is a sign of nervousness. On the other hand, in spite of how awkward it feels, walking out on stage and wait a few seconds before speaking shows the audience you are confident.