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Li_Junze
Your Communication Style Overview
Message style is the way you use and interpret literal vs subtle meaning and emotions in communication.
Your message style at work is implicit. You are indirect when you express yourself, interpret others, and approach conflict. You often let feelings guide your communication, and are adept at understanding and expressing subtle meaning.
Sensory style refers to the way you attend to and communicate through the physical, auditory, and vocal space shared with your counterpart.
Your sensory style at work guards interpersonal space through occasional silence in conversation, using a calm voice, and maintaining reserved body posture.
Time management style refers to the way you attend to and manage time, i.e. focusing more on clock time or allowing events to unfold naturally.
Your time management style at work strictly follows clock time, dictating how you organize your day, structure tasks, and manage meetings.
Relationship style refers to the way you adjust communication to your counterpart's status and relationship with you.
Your relationship style at work is relational. You often adjust your message depending on your counterpart's feelings, status, or relationship to you.
1.3
3.0
4.9 5.6
Li_Junze
Message style
Interpretation is a characteristic of your communication style at work. Interpretation represents your tendencies to focus on literal versus implicit meaning when receiving messages. Interpretation is a composite of your communication preferences for recognizing your counterpart's emotions and messages.
Your Score is: 7.0 At work, you interpret communication very implicitly. You focus strongly on your counterpart's emotions and the subtle meaning underlying their words.
Low Context Dependence
High Context Dependence
Interpretation
1. RECOGNIZE OTHERS' IMPLICIT MESSAGES
2. RECOGNIZE OTHERS' EMOTIONS
KEY You
Your Behaviors and Attitudes
1. RECOGNIZE OTHERS' IMPLICIT MESSAGES
Your Score is: 7.0 Your responses indicate that at work, you are very attentive to your counterpart's implicit communication. You almost always interpret indirect messages that underlie your counterpart's words. You almost always look beyond words for meaning and seek implicit intent when interpreting a counterpart's message.
Strengths and Challenges Your implicit interpretation is effective when your counterpart is an indirect communicator. You pick up subtle messages being conveyed through nonverbal channels. When your counterpart uses direct forms of communication, it will be challenging to focus solely on the words so that you do not over interpret or misinterpret the message.
Recommendations When you engage in implicit meaning interpretation, you are like a communication detective. But nonverbal expression and meaning can vary greatly in different individuals, languages, and parts of the world. Be sure to test your assumptions and check your interpretations with direct active listening tools.
2. RECOGNIZE OTHERS' EMOTIONS
Your Score is: 7.0 Your responses indicate that at work, you almost always notice your counterpart's implicit emotions. You almost always interpret subtle feelings underlying your counterpart's words, such as anxiety or liking.
Strengths and Challenges Because you attend to your counterpart's underlying emotions, you are able to interpret subtle emotional content that accompanies indirect communicators' verbal messages. For example, you can use emotional cues to detect when someone says "yes" but means "maybe," or even "no." There is less risk of misinterpretation with direct communicators who are unlikely to adjust what they say based on their underlying mood state. With direct communicators, it will be challenging to focus on literal meaning so that you do not over interpret and assume emotional content that is not truly there.
Recommendations To manage communication with direct communicators, focus on literal, task-related meaning while taking into account your counterpart's emotional expression. When a direct communicator is emotionally expressive, it is important to validate explicitly expressed emotions while making sure they do not hijack a task-focused conversation. When your counterpart's emotions are neutral, focus on literal meaning.
Li_Junze
Message style
Expression is a characteristic of your message style at work. Expression represents your tendencies to focus on literal and direct versus implicit and subtle meaning when sending messages. Expression is a composite of your communication preferences for persuasion, verbal expression, and letting feelings guide your behavior.
Your Score is: 3.2 At work, your communication expression is literal, characterized by a focus on words over emotions. You often emphasize direct verbal messages to convey your opinions and argue your position.
Low Context Dependence
High Context Dependence
Expression
1. COMMUNICATE BASED ON FEELINGS
2. COMMUNICATE INDIRECTLY
2. PERSUADE GENTLY
KEY You
Your Behaviors and Attitudes
1. COMMUNICATE BASED ON FEELINGS
Your Score is: 5.0 Your responses indicate that at work, you usually communicate based on your feelings regarding a given situation, meaning you trust your feelings and let your mood (e.g. angry, timid, bold, agreeable) guide what to say and how to say it. Since your communication style often changes based on how you are feeling in response to a situation, it is sometimes dynamic and varies according to the situation.
Strengths and Challenges You will find you communicate more easily with people tuned into their emotions. With such counterparts you know the message reflects how the person feels. You may be frustrated with those whose communication style is not tied to their emotions. Such counterparts may seem overly task-focused to you, and it may be difficult to detect their feelings, for example about a new idea or towards a relationship at work.
Recommendations When communicating with someone who is not guided by emotions, consider stepping back and assessing whether feelings are an important source of information in the given situation. For example, when discussing a new plan to increase employee morale, your counterparts' positive support and buy-in is directly related to the likelihood of follow-through. When you need to know your counterparts' feelings, consider asking probing questions to avoid incorrect assumptions.
2. COMMUNICATE INDIRECTLY
Your Score is: 3.0 Your responses indicate that at work, your communication behavior is direct. You usually depend on words to communicate your message and rarely use indirectness to avoid hurting someone's feelings. You are not dependent on your counterpart's ability to infer meaning, to convey your message.
Strengths and Challenges You are able to communicate effectively using explicit verbal messages with other direct communicators. You assume responsibility for your counterpart's understanding, which you achieve through clear, explicit language. However, when working with indirect communicators, you may miss parts of the communicated message. It is unlikely that you are able to use implicit communication behaviors effectively.
Recommendations When working with indirect communicators, be aware of subtle meaning behind your counterpart's silence or seemingly ambiguous messages. Put yourself in your counterpart's shoes by recalling times when you chose to stay silent. Allow yourself to think holistically in order to capture parts of the message that are not being verbalized.
2. PERSUADE GENTLY
Your Score is: 1.7 Your responses indicate that at work, your style of persuasion is very direct. You almost always assert your wishes and argue your position firmly.
Strengths and Challenges Interdependent decision-making with similar communicators resembles a competitive debate. Communicators with a more subtle style of persuasion may find your style very forceful and react with a defensive posture.
Recommendations When faced with diverse communication styles, you will need to look for subtle expressions of persuasion to insure a well- informed and balanced exchange. When it comes to persuasion, the firmness of your position is not directly related to the quality and effectiveness of your argument. Oftentimes, people are more likely to be persuaded when they feel they have been heard than when they are bombarded with direct arguments.
Li_Junze
Message style
Conflict Management is a characteristic of your communication style at work. Conflict Management represents your tendencies to confront versus avoid conflict and disagreement. Conflict Management is a composite of your communication preferences for avoiding conflict and for avoiding disagreement.
Your Score is: 4.5 At work, your conflict management approach is somewhat direct. When there is conflict or disagreement, you occasionally prefer to face the confrontation directly but sometimes to back away from unpleasant exchanges.
Low Context Dependence
High Context Dependence
Conflict Management
1. AVOID CONFRONTING CONFLICT
2. AVOID EXPRESSING DISAGREEMENT
KEY You
Your Behaviors and Attitudes
1. AVOID CONFRONTING CONFLICT
Your Score is: 7.0 Your responses indicate that at work, you avoid direct conflict whenever possible. When you disagree with someone, you may express your disagreement but you almost never confront and engage in argument.
Strengths and Challenges You and other conflict avoiders can efficiently resolve disagreement without engaging in heated argument. However, when facing someone who confronts conflict, expressing your disagreement may not be enough to reach resolution. Although you may be comfortable agreeing to disagree, it will be challenging for you to work with people who engage in direct battle until a conflict is resolved.
Recommendations It will serve you well to remember that some people like to confront conflict. When faced with someone who wants to do battle, it is important to attribute their behavior to communication style and not personality. You may be able to encourage constructive conflict resolution by taking a problem solving approach.
2. AVOID EXPRESSING DISAGREEMENT
Your Score is: 2.0 Your responses indicate that at work, you do not avoid disagreement. You express disagreement even if it leads to hurt feelings or unpleasant exchanges.
Strengths and Challenges When your counterparts also prefer to express disagreement, interdependent decisions will be well informed and considered. However, while you may typically express disagreement openly, remember that some people suppress disagreement to avoid unpleasant exchanges. A counterpart's silence does not always signal agreement.
Recommendations When working with others who do not openly express disagreement, it will serve you well to make sure all positions are heard. The most novel ideas and greatest decisions often come from teams working through divergent ideas and disagreement. One way to encourage the expression of disagreement is to create a safe setting with clear rules of engagement. These rules specify that all positions are valuable, people will listen without interruption, and nothing will be taken personally.
Li_Junze
Relationship style
Network Reliance is a characteristic of your relationship style at work that refers to your tendencies to rely on personal network connections.
Your Score is: 6.2 At work, your communication is characterized by very high reliance on relational networks. You strongly emphasize long- term relationships and networks as well as linking personal and professional connections.
Low Context Dependence
High Context Dependence
Network Reliance
1. RELYS ON NETWORK
2. RELY ON LTR
3. COMMUNICATES ACROSS NETWORKS
KEY You
Your Behaviors and Attitudes
1. RELYS ON NETWORK
Your Score is: 7.0 Your results indicate you are most comfortable doing business with people who are in your social network. Your level of comfort with new colleagues usually depends on your being part of a shared relationship network.
Strengths and Challenges By predominantly doing business with people who are in a shared social network, your group bonds offer security and trust. At the same time, your pool of potential partners is more limited, and you may lose out on novel opportunities.
Recommendations It will serve you well not to dismiss potential new relationships too quickly. When you cannot rely on shared networks, you can create low- cost opportunities for potential colleagues to demonstrate trustworthiness, for example asking for a favor. You can also ask for references from prior business colleagues to help get to know your counterpart better.
2. RELY ON LONG-TERM RELATIONSHIPS (LTR)
Your Score is: 7.0 Your responses indicate that you are most comfortable working with people you have known for some time. You trust and rely almost exclusively on those with whom you have had a long-term relationship.
Strengths and Challenges By mostly doing business based on long-term relationships, you limit uncertainty and risk. At the same time, your pool of potential partners is more limited and you may lose out on business opportunities. You may be challenged in parts of the world where people do not rely on long-term relationships to do business.
Recommendations Remember that in some parts of the world, people form new relationships quickly and secure them with a contract. It will serve you well to explore new relationships that can be gradually tested with low-cost incremental commitments. By taking it slowly, you can build trusting new relationships with potential for a moderate or long-term life-span.
3. COMMUNICATES ACROSS NETWORKS
Your Score is: 4.6 Your responses indicate that you often have overlapping personal and work networks. You rarely prefer to keep people in your work life separate from people in your personal life.
Strengths and Challenges People who like to have overlapping personal and professional networks often tend to share personal anecdotes at work and workplace anecdotes at home. Because you often do not like to compartmentalize your work and personal worlds, you may have photos from home at the office or you may often invite work colleagues to your home for dinner. In a culture or work environment where personal and professional do not overlap, your social nature may seem nosy or intrusive.
Recommendations Your strong preferences to communicate across personal and professional circles may not be shared or normative in your workplace. Be sure to recognize and respect others' preferences to keep personal and work circles separate. Consider ways to build personal relationships in the workplace, such as a social get-together over lunch, without having to cross boundaries into colleagues' personal lives. This may mean simply allowing sufficient time for a relationship to develop naturally.
Li_Junze
Relationship style
Relational Adjustment is a characteristic of your relationship style at work that captures the degree to which you adjust what you say and how you say it with different counterparts.
Your Score is: 6.0 At work, your communication is characterized by very high relational adjustment. You strongly adjust what you say and how you say it depending on your counterpart's status, your counterpart's feelings, or your own social image.
Low Context Dependence
High Context Dependence
Relational Adjustment
1. ADJUST FOR FEELINGS
2. ADJUST FOR STATUS
3. ADJUST COMMU. FOR OWN IMAGE
KEY You
Your Behaviors and Attitudes
1. ADJUST FOR FEELINGS
Your Score is: 7.0 Your responses indicate that at work, you your message is highly influenced by your counterpart's feelings. You almost always change what you say or how you say it to avoid hurt feelings or to save face for your counterpart.
Strengths and Challenges When you adjust your message for your counterpart's feelings, others are likely to perceive you as a modest and sensitive communicator. When adjusting message content and delivery, your challenge is to be sure no critical message content is lost. This is particularly problematic with negative messages. Softening a message to avoid hurt feelings should not come at the expense of understanding.
Recommendations It is essential for you to be sure your message content is received and understood by those who are not well attuned to a sensitive communication style. When delivering a negative message, you may be able to limit face harm by delivering the message in private. You may also limit hurt feelings by prefacing the message with words of understanding and encouragement. You can protect your relationship by actively listening while your counterpart responds.
2. ADJUST FOR STATUS
Your Score is: 7.0 Your responses indicate that at work, you consistently adjust your message and/or communication style based on your counterpart's status. Specifically, you almost always change the formality of your greetings depending on your counterpart's age, title, or position.
Strengths and Challenges Attending to contextual cues about status is useful in hierarchical cultures and organizations where social norms dictate strict levels of respect and formality when communicating with superiors. Your predisposition to adjust communication for status could be problematic in egalitarian cultures, where a superior would expect a direct and complete message even from a subordinate. Likewise, superiors who are very direct in expression and interpretation might misunderstand a message that is deliberately indirect and gentle.
Recommendations The politeness and respect you confer on superiors can lend a professionalism to your workplace communication with peers, subordinates, and partners as well. However, you should be sure to consider that respectful communication can sometimes impinge on your message clarity.
3. ADJUST COMMUNICATION FOR OWN IMAGE
Your Score is: 4.0 Your responses indicate that at work, you occasionally adjust your communication to preserve your image or save face. You are occasionally annoyed and frustrated if you lose face in a situation.
Strengths and Challenges Your fairly moderate attitude towards saving face suggests you pay attention to situational cues and engage in impression management as needed. At the same time, your moderate style should allow you to communicate directly and sincerely when necessary, sometimes even when it means losing face.
Recommendations Be aware that your moderate attention to saving face may seem inconsistent and unpredictable to some people. You should always balance impression management goals with communication quality and relationship concerns.
Li_Junze
Relationship style
Openness is a characteristic of your relationship style at work. Openness represents your tendencies to be more open or more reserved when communicating about yourself and about the truth.
Your Score is: 4.5 At work, your communication is somewhat open. You are moderately comfortable initiating conversation with strangers. For you, transparency in some contexts requires considering the relationship and other's feelings.
Low Context Dependence
High Context Dependence
Openness
1. COMMUNICATE CAUTIOUSLY
2. CONVEY FACTS SENSITIVELY
KEY You
Your Behaviors and Attitudes
1. COMMUNICATE CAUTIOUSLY
Your Score is: 3.0 Your responses indicate that at work, you are often an open and outgoing communicator. You often initiate conversation with strangers and are comfortable bringing up personal matters (e.g. whether you have children, your favorite movie) with people you do not know well.
Strengths and Challenges Because you are often an open and outgoing communicator, it is often easy for you to get to know new people at work. In a group setting when newcomers arrive, more cautious communicators may appreciate your gregariousness as it gives them time to stand back and observe. Challenges may arise when newcomers are cautious communicators who may find your outgoing approach too direct and intrusive.
Recommendations Remember that some people approach communication with strangers cautiously and do not like to talk about personal matters with most people. This behavior is based in their relationship style and is not a reflection of how much they like or dislike you. When you face cautious communicators, be sure to consider their comfort level and respect their pace.
2. CONVEY FACTS SENSITIVELY
Your Score is: 6.0 Your responses indicate that at work, you are usually more of a sensitive communicator than a factual communicator. You are almost always sensitive when communicating facts that may hurt someone's feelings or create tension in a team environment. In such cases, you will leave out certain details or tweak the facts.
Strengths and Challenges You work well with other sensitive communicators who prioritize face- saving and group harmony more than conveying every detail in objective data. Such counterparts are grateful for your discretion and understanding that sometimes the truth depends on the situation. You will find it challenging to work with factual communicators who rely solely on objective data without consideration for situational and relational factors.
Recommendations When working with communicators who convey facts objectively, be sure to recognize that in many parts of the world people believe that ideas and practices can be applied everywhere without modification. Factual communicators raised with this value system are motivated to uphold objective truth. Thus, they may equate conveying facts sensitively with lying or immoral behavior.
Li_Junze
Time Management style
Task Structure is a characteristic of your time management style at work that describes the degree to which you perform tasks simultaneously or sequentially.
Your Score is: 1.7 At work, your time management style is very linear in task structure. You usually complete tasks one by one rather than several at a time.
Low Context Dependence
High Context Dependence
Task Structure
KEY You
Strengths and Challenges A sequential approach to time sends clear and unambiguous messages to your counterparts. Because you like to work on one thing at a time, your counterparts know when they have your attention. You will be comfortable working in a Western-style business climate (e.g. North America, Europe) that has a more sequential approach to time management and task completion. You will find it challenging when others around you are multitaskers and in parts of the world that run on event time (e.g. South Asia, Latin America, Africa).
Recommendations Effectively working alongside multitaskers requires open communication about different time management styles and setting clear expectations. Remember that multitaskers are good at switching between tasks rapidly and frequently, but at any given moment the brain can focus on only one task. When working among multitaskers, it will serve you well to protect your focus time by scheduling specific days/times for uninterrupted work.
Li_Junze
Time Management style
Scheduling is a characteristic of your time management style at work that describes the degree to which you are strict versus flexible with schedules and deadlines.
Your Score is: 1.2 At work, your time management style strictly adheres to clock time. You stick to a schedule to manage your time and are not flexible with deadlines.
Low Context Dependence
High Context Dependence
Scheduling
1. FLEXIBLE WITH SCHEDULES
2. FLEXIBLE WITH DEADLINES
KEY You
Your Behaviors and Attitudes
1. FLEXIBLE WITH SCHEDULES
Your Score is: 1.5 You are not flexible with schedules at work. You almost always keep a carefully planned schedule on your calendar and refer to it regularly to help you organize your day and get things done.
Strengths and Challenges Your scheduling behaviors will be similar to others in an organizational or national culture where time is a measurable resource. Relying on a schedule allows you to organize your day and set priorities in a way that is clear and reliable to you and others. When counterparts you rely on are flexible with schedules, you are likely to experience frustration and other negative emotions.
Recommendations When working with people who do not use a calendar or keep it updated, you may need to select meeting locations and send meeting reminders to increase the likelihood that your counterparts will be present when you expect the meeting to start. It will serve you well to be proactive - discuss your differences openly, set clear and reasonable expectations, and avoid making negative attributions (e.g. disorganized, rude) if a counterpart has a different style than yours.
2. FLEXIBLE WITH DEADLINES
Your Score is: 1.0 Your responses indicate that you are almost never flexible with deadlines at work. You almost always pay strict attention to deadlines and take satisfaction in meeting them.
Strengths and Challenges Your time management behaviors around deadlines will be similar to others in an organizational or national culture where time is a measurable resource. In such cultures, meeting deadlines is often associated with being organized, efficient, and responsible. Failing to meet a deadline may be considered rude and irresponsible, because it affects your coworkers' plans and schedules. When counterparts you rely on are flexible with deadlines, you are likely to experience frustration when managing work flow.
Recommendations When working with people who do not pay strict attention to deadlines, you should openly discuss your different deadline management preferences. It will serve you well to create timelines that allow flexibility and also independent work flows so that you aren't waiting for a more event-time oriented counterpart.
Li_Junze
Time Management style
Sharing Time is a characteristic of your time management style at work that describes the degree to which you consider interruptions disruptive versus expected as you move throughout your day.
Your Score is: 1.0 At work, your time management style strictly adheres to clock time and shows strong respect for your counterpart's schedule. You almost never allow interruptions during a meeting, such as taking a phone call or pausing to chat with someone who pops their head into your office.
Low Context Dependence
High Context Dependence
Sharing Time
KEY You
Strengths and Challenges Your attitudes towards sharing time will be similar to others in an organizational or national culture where time is a measurable resource, promptness is valued, and scheduled meeting times are protected from interruptions. You will find it challenging to work with people who have a more fluid view of time. When time is a fluid, shared resource, people do not consider lateness or interruptions rude. Remember that attitudes towards time come from a cultural belief system and are not a reflection of someone's organizational skills or respect.
Recommendations It is important to remember that attitudes towards time are formed and reinforced through our childhood socialization. Like many aspects of culture, they are firmly ingrained and difficult to change. Some might argue it is unreasonable to ask someone to change such a broad cultural attitude as our understanding of time. It will serve you well to remember that attitudes towards time come from a cultural belief system and are not a reflection of someone's organizational skills or respect. You can manage diverse attitudes towards sharing time by noticing differences and setting clear expectations about time management for your interpersonal, team, and broader workplace relationships.
Li_Junze
Sensory style
Body language is a characteristic of your sensory style at work that refers to your attitudes towards using body language to engage with your counterpart.
Your Score is: 5.0 At work, your sensory style is characterized by an open attitude towards body language. You consider it polite to look your counterpart directly in the eye, directly face your counterpart, or be physically close.
Low Context Dependence
High Context Dependence
Body Language
1. CLOSENESS IS POLITE
2. EYE CONTACT IS POLITE
2. FACING OTHER IS POLITE
KEY You
Your Behaviors and Attitudes
1. CLOSENESS IS POLITE
Your Score is: 1.5 Your responses indicate that at work, you almost never associate close personal distance with politeness. For you, close personal distance is rude and pushy.
Strengths and Challenges Your adverse attitudes towards close personal distance mean you will be comfortable working in parts of the world where a larger personal distance is the norm (e.g. Japan). In such cultures, arms-length distance in conversation is respectful of your counterpart and their personal communication space. It will be challenging for you to work in parts of the world where people share communication space and close personal distance is considered acceptable and polite.
Recommendations It is important to remember that attitudes towards physical closeness are formed in childhood and young adulthood. Like many aspects of culture, these attitudes are instinctual and automatic. It will serve you well to let counterparts know if their closeness makes you feel uncomfortable or threatened. But also remember that from your counterparts' perspective, physical closeness may be a natural form of conversational engagement that is not interpreted as rude or pushy.
2. EYE CONTACT IS POLITE
Your Score is: 6.5 Your responses indicate that at work, you almost always associate eye contact with politeness.
Strengths and Challenges Because you strongly associate eye contact with politeness, you should be very comfortable looking others directly in the eye when speaking to them and vice versa. This positive attitude towards direct eye contact is shared and will not be misunderstood in most Western business contexts and also in highly expressive cultures found in Latin America and the Mediterranean regions. You will find it quite challenging in parts of the world where direct eye contact is considered impolite, either in general or with superiors.
Recommendations When working with people who avoid eye contact in conversation, remember that they may consider eye contact rude or presumptuous. Rather than assuming disinterest, it will serve you well to use active listening skills to decode your counterpart's degree of engagement.
2. FACING OTHER IS POLITE
Your Score is: 7.0 Your responses indicate that at work, you almost always associate facing your counterpart with politeness.
Strengths and Challenges As someone who generally associates facing your counterpart with politeness, interest, and attention, you pay particular attention to body language in yourself and others. One's body position should be open and squared towards their counterpart when they are engaged in the conversation. When a counterpart's body is facing to the side or away, you may assume they are uninterested or their attention is elsewhere. The association between facing one's counterpart and politeness is shared in most Western and Far Eastern business contexts. You are likely to find it difficult to interpret flexible body posture norms that are typically found in highly expressive Latin America and Mediterranean cultures.
Recommendations Be aware of different norms for facing others in conversation. When you are working with people accustomed to more relaxed body posture, it will serve you well to ask questions and use active listening to test your perceptions of conversational engagement and attention.
Li_Junze
Sensory style
Dramatic Expression is a characteristic of your sensory style at work that describes the degree to which your vocal tone and physical gestures signal engagement with your counterpart.
Your Score is: 2.6 At work, your conversational display style is reserved. You rarely speak loudly, use big hand gestures, or interrupt your counterpart. You are often comfortable with silence in conversation.
Low Context Dependence
High Context Dependence
Dramatic Expression
1. INTERRUPT
2. AVOID SILENCE
3. DRAMATIC EXPRESSION
4. LOUDNESS IS ENGAGING
KEY You
Your Behaviors and Attitudes
1. INTERRUPT
Your Score is: 1.0 Your responses indicate that at work, you almost never interrupt counterparts when they are talking. You almost always listen rather than talk over others.
Strengths and Challenges Avoiding interruption allows for active listening, attending to your counterpart's verbal and nonverbal expression, and asking clarifying questions. When working with people who interrupt as a form of communication engagement, it will be challenging to contribute to the discussion, make sure your contributions are heard, and avoid assuming others' interruptions are rude or aggressive.
Recommendations People who interrupt as a form of communication engagement may not realize you require communication distance to be most effective in a conversation. To manage interruptions that feel intrusive and distracting, it will serve you well to put up your hand and calmly say, "please let me finish," as often as necessary.
2. AVOID SILENCE
Your Score is: 5.0 Your responses indicate that you often avoid silence in communication at work. You may sometimes think untalkative people are boring.
Strengths and Challenges Because you often avoid silence, you are usually good at keeping a conversation going. Remember that some people may require silent space to reflect. By filling their silence with words, you may inhibit their contributions. You are likely to face challenges in competitive group decision- making, where your discomfort with silence might lead you to share too much information.
Recommendations Remember that silence can be an empty space, like physical space in personal distance, and it can also carry meaning. When you find yourself moving into a counterpart's silent space, try using active listening skills to understand its function and meaning. This will help you avoid misinterpreting silence, for example assuming polite silence is a sign of disinterest.
3. DRAMATIC EXPRESSION
Your Score is: 3.4 Your responses indicate that you occasionally tell stories or anecdotes at work. When communicating, you sometimes use gestures or colorful language to engage your listener.
Strengths and Challenges You should be able to engage both dramatic and reserved communicators with your moderate level of expressiveness. Your challenge is to identify organizational, cultural, or team communication norms so that you can adjust your own expressiveness if necessary.
Recommendations In a diverse team setting, you may be able to broker communication between colleagues with different levels of communication expressiveness. Because dramatic communicators take more air time, you may need to facilitate equal opportunities for contribution. You can help by labeling the communication style to prevent negative assumptions about a coleague's personality (e.g. overbearing or submissive) or motivations (e.g. controlling or unengaged).
4. LOUDNESS IS ENGAGING
Your Score is: 1.0 You almost always find it rude or are annoyed when people talk loudly at work. For you, speaking loudly is certainly not a positive signal that the speaker is highly engaged in the conversation.
Strengths and Challenges Because you often find others' loudness rude and annoying, you are probably a quiet talker. Quiet talkers are respected for their calm reserve. When working with people who engage through loudness, you face three challenges: 1) their loudness is overbearing and invasive, 2) they do not hear you, 3) they attribute your quiet style to a lack of interest or involvement.
Recommendations Remember that attitudes towards loudness are formed through early socialization. Like many aspects of culture, they are firmly ingrained. Let counterparts know if their loudness makes you feel uncomfortable or threatened. Try to attribute your counterpart's behavior to a natural communication style rather than a rude or dominating personality.
Li_Junze
Sensory style
Physical contact is a characteristic of your sensory style at work that describes the degree to which sharing space signals engagement with your counterpart.
Your Score is: 1.3 At work, you sensory style is characterized by very low physical contact. You strongly avoid touching and prefer to keep physical distance or a barrier between you and your counterpart to respect their personal space.
Low Context Dependence
High Context Dependence
Physical Contact
1. TOUCH COUNTERPART
2. STAND NEAR COUNTERPART
KEY You
Your Behaviors and Attitudes
1. TOUCH COUNTERPART
Your Score is: 1.0 Your responses indicate that you almost never touch your counterpart in workplace communication. You almost never hug or kiss when greeting someone or concluding a conversation.
Strengths and Challenges Maintaining arms-length distance in conversation and avoiding kissing/hugging hello or goodbye are reserved communication behaviors that respect personal communication space for you and for your counterpart. Your behaviors are safely neutral, as social touching can feel intrusive and unpleasant for many people. However, when you work in parts of the world where conversational engagement is physical, your behaviors will seem very standoffish and cold.
Recommendations Remember that people who are accustomed to touch as a form of conversational engagement could misinterpret your more reserved interpersonal style as a lack of engagement or liking. At the same time, if you feel uncomfortable with your counterpart's social touching, it will serve you well to let them know verbally. You can also subtly create distance by manipulating the physical context (e.g. where you are standing, objects between you and your counterpart, etc.).
2. STAND NEAR COUNTERPART
Your Score is: 1.7 Your responses indicate that you almost never stand close enough to touch your counterpart in conversation at work. You are most often comfortable when there is a desk or barrier between you and your counterpart.
Strengths and Challenges By maintaining personal distance when standing in conversation and seated at meetings, you show respect for your counterpart's personal communication space. Your preferred personal distance will not make others feel crowded or uncomfortable. However, when you work in parts of the world where people share communication space, your personal distance may get in the way of forming close business relationships.
Recommendations Remember that people who stand close as a form of communication engagement may find your personal space norms too formal or distant. At the same time, if you feel uncomfortable with a counterpart's close personal distance, you should respectfully let them know, for example saying "I need a little more personal space please," or by subtly backing up a few paces while maintaining verbal engagement.