Improved Communication Skills in the Workplace: What you Need to Know

Great communication skills are crucial to help you land jobs, build relationships, and advance in your career. Being a good communicator means you can clearly express your thoughts and emotions as well as effectively relay information. In other words, your listeners know in what way they should interpret your message. Furthermore, you’re able to understand the needs and concerns of others. Communication is an umbrella term that encompasses many crucial topics. The following are some of the most important areas to consider for improved communication skills at work.

1. Verbal communication
2. Nonverbal communication
3. Active listening
4. Choosing the right communication method
5. Giving constructive feedback
6. Setting boundaries and saying no
7. Apologizing
8. Having potentially difficult conversations
9. Knowing how your tone, mannerisms and choice of words impact others
10. Giving effective presentations
11. Conflict management
12. Negotiation
13. Communication at the team level

How do you get better at communicating with others? The first step is to increase your awareness about how you tend to communicate and why. This is the basis for improving your communication skills. For example, if you don’t realize how your tone impacts others, you may come across as aggressive, even if this is not your intention.

Communication Styles Inventory for Improved Communication Skills

What kind of communication styles exist? There are several classifications out there, but one model that has strong scientific backing is the behavioral model of communication developed by De Vries and his colleagues. This model focuses on interpersonal communication and excludes more abstract levels of communication like interpreting what people say.

To develop their model, the researchers made a list of all the adjectives and verbs that describe how people communicate. Then they clustered the words and came up with seven distinct communication dimensions.

To empirically test these communication styles, De Vries and his colleagues went on to develop the Communication Styles Inventory (CSI), which ultimately yielded six broader dimensions with four facets each. The CSI consists of 96 questions (four questions per facet). To complete the questionnaire, you rate each item on a scale from 1(completely disagree) to 5 (completely agree). Here is an overview of all the dimensions, corresponding facets and example questions.

1. Expressiveness for Improved Communication Skills

Those who are high in expressiveness are talkative, confident and energetic. They often dominate conversations and are the center of attention.

Talkativeness:

I have a hard time keeping myself silent when around other people.

Conversational Dominance:

I often determine which topics are talked about during a conversation.

Humor:

Because of my humor, I’m often the centre of attention among a group of people.

Informality:

I address others in a very casual way.

2. Preciseness for Improved Communication Skills

Those who score high on the preciseness scale are clear and efficient in their communication. They don’t waste words and have a businesslike composure. People who prefer this style of communication seem structured, serious, and thoughtful.

Structuredness:

I always express a clear chain of thoughts when I argue a point.

Thoughtfulness:

I choose my words with care.

Substantiveness:

Conversations with me always involve some important topic.

Conciseness:

With a few words I can usually clarify my point to everybody.

3. Verbal Aggressiveness

People with high verbal aggressiveness are very authoritarian in their communication. They expect people to do what they say and are not afraid to show anger when annoyed. People who are verbally aggressive are often perceived as threatening and non-supportive.

Angriness:

I tend to snap at people when I get annoyed.

Authoritarianism:

I expect people to obey when I ask them to do something.

Derogatoriness:

I have humiliated someone in front of a crowd.

Nonsupportiveness:

I always take time for someone if they want to talk to me (reverse coded).

4. Questioningness for Improved Communication Skills

Those who score high on questioningness like to present different points of view. They are often perceived as unconventional and inquisitive. Furthermore, they are not afraid to debate with others and ask lots of questions to understand people’s motives.

Unconventionality:

In discussions, I often put forward unusual points of view.

Philisophicalness:

I like to talk with others about the deeper aspects of our existence.

Inquisitiveness:

I ask a lot of questions to uncover someone’s motives.

Argumentativeness:

I try to find out what people think about a topic by getting them to debate with me about it.

5. Emotionality

People who score high in emotionality readily express what they are feeling. If they are touched by something, then you can tell. The same holds true when they are stressed, worried, or hurt. People with high levels of emotionality can get pretty tense in stressful situations and as a result may have problems expressing themselves.

Sentimentality:

People can tell that I am emotionally touched by some topics of conversation.

Worrisomeness:

When I worry, everybody notices.

Tension:

Because of stress, I am sometimes unable to express myself properly.

Defensiveness:

When people criticize me, I am visibly hurt.

6. Impression Manipulativeness

Those who prefer this communication style regulate information in social interactions to influence how others perceive events, persons, or objects. They may use charm or say things others like to hear so that they’re considered likeable and can reach their goals. People who score high in this dimension can hide their true feelings well and may ‘forget’ to mention something when its convenient for them.

Ingratiation:

To be considered likeable, I sometimes say things my conversation partner likes to hear.

Charm:

I sometimes use my charm to get something done.

Inscrutableness:

I am able to hide negative feelings about other people well.

Concealingness:

I sometimes ‘forget’ to tell something when this is more convenient for me.

Communication Styles and Personality: Why People Communicate the Way They Do

Why do people communicate the way that they do? To answer this question, we need to talk about personality, which refers to relatively stable traits and unique characteristics that give consistency and individuality to a person’s behavior.

The way a person feels most comfortable communicating is based on the kind of personality that they have. In other words, communication style reflects personality.

When making the Communication Styles Inventory De Vries and his colleagues showed how the different communication styles correlate with major personality models such as the Big 5 and HEXACO model of personality. It’s also important for us to consider this for improved communication skills at work.

Big Five

The Big Five personality theory was established by D. W. Fiske in 1949 and later expanded upon by other researchers including Norman (1967), Smith (1967), Goldberg (1981), and McCrae & Costa (1987).

The Big Five model of personality (also known as the Five Factor Model or the Big Five Inventory) is the most extensively studied model of personality and has gained broad support in numerous languages. The five factors include:

1. Openness

Describes people who have a broad range of interests. People who are high in openness are curious, broad-minded, and imaginative. They want to learn new things and have new experiences.

Questioningness corresponds most strongly with the personality trait openness.

2. Conscientiousness

Describes a propensity to be dependable, meticulous, thoughtful and goal oriented. Furthermore, conscientious people are organized and have good impulse control.

3. Extraversion

Extraversion describes those who are outgoing, assertive and sociable. People high in extraversion like to be around others and feel energized in social situations. They are also talkative and readily express their emotions.  

Expressiveness corresponds most strongly with extraversion.

4. Agreeableness

People who are high in agreeableness tend to be courteous, cooperative, and tolerant. They strive for harmony and often exhibit prosocial behaviors such as kindness, altruism and showing interest in others.

Verbal Aggressiveness corresponds most strongly with agreeableness (in the negative direction). This means the higher you score on agreeableness, the less likely you are to have an aggressive communication style.

5. Neuroticism

Describes a predisposition towards negative and intrusive thoughts as well as emotional reactivity. People who are high in neuroticism are prone to mood swings, anxiety, and irritability.

Emotionality corresponds most highly with neuroticism.

HEXACO Model of Personality

1. Honesty-Humility

Traits include:

• strong sense of fairness
• sincerity
• low levels of entitlement
• modesty
• tendency to avoid greed

Those who score high in honesty-humility rarely deceive others to get ahead. They mostly play by the book and don’t like to break rules. This dimension is not present in the Big 5 model of personality. After conducting lexical studies in various cultural contexts Ashton & Lee discovered honesty-humility as a sixth global dimension of personality.

Manipulativeness corresponds most strongly with HEXACO honesty-humility (in the negative direction).

2. Agreeableness (vs. Anger)

Traits include:

• tolerance
• forgiveness
• gentleness
• flexibility
• tendency to avoid arguments

Compared to the Big 5 Agreeableness dimension, Agreeableness (vs. Anger) excludes sentimentality and includes a lack of anger. Those high in agreeableness can manage their temper and are more inclined to compromise.

Verbal Aggressiveness corresponds most strongly with agreeableness (in the negative direction).

3. Emotionality

Traits inlcude:

• empathy
• feelings of attachment / dependence
• harm-avoidance behaviors
• tendency to seek help
• propensity towards fear and anxiety

On the one hand emotionality excludes anger which is part of Big 5 neuroticism. On the other hand it includes sentimentality which is part of Big 5 agreeableness. For this reason the researchers chose the name emotionality; it’s not as negatively connotated as the names emotional instability or neuroticism.

Those who score high on emotionality need high levels of emotional support. At the same time they tend to feel lots of empathy towards other people.

CSI emotionality corresponds most strongly with HEXACO emotionality.

4. Extraversion

Traits include:

• sociability
• leadership
• expressiveness
• liveliness

Those who score high on extraversion feel confident in leading others and thrive in social situations. They are bold, energetic, and like to express themselves.

Expressiveness corresponds most strongly with extraversion.

5. Conscientiousness

Traits include:

• diligence
• organization
• prudence
• perfectionism

Those who are high in conscientiousness tend to do their work diligently and accurately. They are organized and make decisions carefully.

Preciseness is moderately related to HEXACO conscientiousness.

6. Openenss to Experience

Traits include:

• an appreciation for beauty
• inquisitiveness
• creativity
• unconventionality

The element of unconventionality is more pronounced in HEXACO openess to experience than in Big 5 openenss. Those who score high on openness to experience are intellectually curious, imaginative and like to experience new things.

Questioningness corresponds most strongly with the personality trait openness to experience.

Preciseness Being Independent of Personality

One interesting finding about preciseness is that it’s relatively independent of personality. Conscientiousness is most closely aligned with preciseness, but they are not the same. For example, just because someone is organized and diligent does not mean that they are more concise when communicating with others.

Among all the communication styles, preciseness is the greatest predictor of leadership performance. Expressiveness is also important to be perceived as a competent leader. For improved communication skills ehnacing preciseness is very important across the board.

Applying the Right Communication Mix for Improved Communication Skills

Although everyone has their preferred way of communicating, effective communicators can change their communication style based on the situation. For example, if you’re giving a presentation, it’s important to be expressive and precise. When exploring a topic, questioningness is most beneficial.

For improved communication skills, it’s firstly important to know what your preferred communication style is (try answering the 96 questions of the Communication Styles Inventory to see which styles describe you best). Then you can develop other communication styles and learn how to apply the right communication mix based on the situation.

For example, let’s say you tend to go off on tangents, but want to become more precise. You can practice gathering your thoughts and sticking to one main point when explaining things. To become more precise, you can also practice saying things in a brief and accurate way – use less words. This helps to improve clarity for improved communication skills.

If you tend to be more reserved in your communication, practice being more expressive. This can make you seem more relatable and genuine. By doing this you’re not necessarily “putting on a show,” but are learning to tailor your communication to the situation so that you can get the best results.

If you tend to miss people’s point because you’re very expressive, you can learn to listen more actively and ask more questions (questioningness). If you feel like people perceive your communication style as threatening and aggressive, you can practice adjusting the quality, tone, and pitch of you voice to be less intense.

Summary

The point of this post was to help you gain more insight into how you tend to communicate. People’s communication styles are based largely on the kind of personality that they have. In other words, communication style reflects personality.

To assess these communication styles and investigate their connection to personality, De Vries and his colleagues developed the Communication Styles Inventory (CSI). The CSI identifies six communication styles with four facets each. In total there are 96 questions (four questions per facet).

Here is a summary of how the CSI corresponds to the personality dimensions of the Big 5 and HEXACO models.

CSI	Big 5	HEXACO
Expressiveness	Extraversion	Extraversion
Preciseness	/	Conscientiousness (moderate)
Verbal Agressiveness	Agreeableness (negative)	Agreeableness (negative)
Questioningness	Openness	Openness to Experience
Emotionality	Neuroticism	Emotionality
Impression Manipulativeness	/	Honest-Humility (negative)

After knowing how you tend to communicate, you can take steps to develop your skills in using other communication styles. The most effective communicators can adjust their communication style as needed. For example, situations such as negotiating, giving a presentation, telling a story, influencing, and debating are different situations that require different approaches.

If you need support in enhancing your communication skills, feel free to reach out to me here. In our 1:1 coaching sessions we can cover topics such as:

• communicating boundaries
• having difficult conversations
• becoming a better listener
• adjusting tone, mannerisms and choice of words
• developing multiple communication styles

I look forward to hearing from you!

References

Ashton, M. C., & Lee, K. (2007). Empirical, theoretical, and practical advantages of the HEXACO model of personality structure. Personality and social psychology review, 11(2), 150-166.

de Vries, R. E., Bakker-Pieper, A., Konings, F. E., & Schouten, B. (2013). The communication styles inventory (CSI) a six-dimensional behavioral model of communication styles and its relation with personality. Communication Research, 40(4), 506-532.

De Vries, R. E., Bakker-Pieper, A., & Oostenveld, W. (2010). Leadership= communication? The relations of leaders’ communication styles with leadership styles, knowledge sharing and leadership outcomes. Journal of business and psychology, 25(3), 367-380.

Neal, A., Yeo, G., Koy, A., & Xiao, T. (2012). Predicting the form and direction of work role performance from the Big 5 model of personality traits. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 33(2), 175-192.