Leadership Strategies - The Facilitation Company

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Secrets of Facilitation reveals the principles and techniques effective facilitators use to produce amazing results through groups. The author identifies 60 secrets that separate great facilitators from good ones. He then puts you right in the room through his case studies and numerous sample dialogues, so you can see and experience the techniques in action!

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Misreading Styles

By Michael Wilkinson, CMF
Managing Director, Leadership Strategies, Inc.

It's always humbling, isn't it, when you make a mistake that you teach others not to make and it costs you dearly? I would like to relate a recent experience in hopes that you might avoid similar situations. Let's start with the lesson.

The Lesson

At Leadership Strategies we use the DISC model (Drive, Influence, Steadiness, Compliance) as a tool for understanding and adapting to communication styles. While many behavior-type courses focus on gaining insights into your own behavior, we use communication styles for a different purpose. Our intent is to teach business professionals how they can be more effective by learning to read and adapt to the styles of others. We also teach the importance of being able to diagnose when you are NOT adapting appropriately.

The table below provides an extract of what we teach on the typical behaviors a style exhibits when you are miscommunicating with that style.

Style	Their Key Factor	Your Behavior	Their Reaction
Drive	Getting it Done	Wasting their time	Impatience, pushing, looking at watch
Influence	Being Heard	Not giving them opportunities to speak	Interrupt, get easily distracted
Steadiness	Being Liked	Being abrasive, rude, impersonal	Shut down, passive- aggressive
Compliance	Getting it Right	Rushing into a decision	Object, nit-pick, drag their feet

We teach the importance of being on the lookout for the reactions that indicate you are miscommunicating with the person.

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"I'm sure that over the next 2 to 3 years there will be many hurdles in working toward an organization whoe behaviors are aligned with its values, but I don't believe we could have had a better base from which to build than that which you helped create."

Chris Warrell, Global HR, Bovis Lend Lease

Misreading Styles

By Michael Wilkinson, CMF Managing Director, Leadership Strategies, Inc.

By Michael Wilkinson, CMF
Managing Director, Leadership Strategies, Inc.