Here's The Secret To Any Successful Marriage
When my wife Pam and I were first married, we took a class on communication. The class was full of unsuspecting husbands and eager wives. Like most of the husbands, I was just trying to “pass”/survive the 6 week class. (By the way, click here for a hilarious YouTube video about marriage called...It's Not About The Nail)
Many of the wives, on the other hand, were hoping that the instructor could “fix” their husbands and magically turn them into empathetic communicators.
While the class was geared towards married couples, many of the concepts we learned are just as applicable to the type of effective communication we use in our business today.
One of the books that we've used over the years for improving communication is “The 5 Love Languages”, by Gary Chapman. This book contains an assessment that looks at individuals in the following five areas of most importance to them:
- Words of Affirmation
- Acts of Service
- Receiving Gifts
- Quality Time
- Physical Touch
Just as communication is important in marriage, we often work with our clients to improve communication with their staff and management teams. For business communication, we typically use the DISC assessment tool.
The DISC analysis measures how each of the team members communicate in the following areas:
- Dominance / Decisive
- Influence / Interactive
- Steadiness / Stabilizing
- Compliance / Cautious
Whether it's a spouse, child, co-worker, or employee, once you understand their communication style, it provides you better insight on how best to motivate and encourage them....and that's a WIN for everyone involved!
(P.S. - Pam and I celebrate our 22nd Wedding Anniversary on July 13th!)
