Introvert, extrovert, intuition, judging… we all have a personality type. Figuring out your employees’ personalities may be easy, but developing an internal communication plan that is tailored to their personality — that is difficult.
TypeFinder Personality Test is an online assessment based on the 4-letter personality developed by Briggs Myers. You may remember taking these tests in high school. You answered a series of questions and depending on how you answered, resulted in a series of 4 letters. These 4 letters told you about your personality type. Often these are used to help you with job placement and career building. Though I can’t remember my personality letters, I do remember — my 4-letter personality suggested that I be a singing telegram. So the next time you are thinking about sending someone to sing to your friends and family, you know who to call.
This assessment is great for the workplace. It can help you with your internal communication plan. Learing about your employees' personlities will put you on the right track to developing the right communication for the right employee.
For those of you who forget, here are the possible letter outcomes and their meanings.
- Extraverted (E) vs. Introverted (I),
- Sensing (S) vs. Intuition (N),
- Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F)
- Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P)
And the possible combinations.
The 16 Personality Types
Your Personality
Okay, so you may be able to guess your employees personalities, but how about something even better? How about planning an employee activity to discover what everyone’s letter combination is. This is a great chance for your team members to gain an active appreciation for each other’s styles/personalities. After you get the results you may wonder, who has the time to address a different communication type for everyones different personality types? You are in luck: this is where your internal communication plan comes in hand.
Create a List
Create an internal communication plan that includes all of your employees. Send out a message asking each employee to list the best way to get information/how to communicate with them — this is a great time to use Ving! Send a quick survey to your staff using Ving. You will know who has answered the survey and who you are missing.
This simple question will help avoid unnecessary communication. Some of your employees may find simple email the best way to communicate, create a group to put them together. For employees who prefer face to face method, set up periodic meetings. Ving makes sending to groups easy. Once you have created a list and put each employee in the correct group, import your list into Ving. When you are ready to start communicating you can select your desire group in just a few seconds.
We have heard before that over booking meetings can bog down your calendar and frustrate your employees. This does not mean that meetings are a bad form of communication, they just are not the best type of communication for every personality type. Keep face to face meetings with employees who are receptive to this type of communication and limit meetings for those who listen and learn best through emails.
Stick to it!
This may be the hardest part of any internal communication plan. You have to take the time to stick to your program. Before you are about to send out a mass email to your office, check your list. See who dislikes all those mass emails. Set up a quick 15-minute meeting to inform them about new policy, upcoming events, or future changes.
The same goes for those employees who dislike random meetings. Double check to make sure that you are not including people who find meetings nonproductive. Instead shoot them an email telling them what the meeting will be covering and then a follow up email. They can include their thoughts in an email and never feel like they lost their work groove.
So there you have it. Creating a successful internal communication plan is that simple. It is more about how you are communicating with the people in your office. Keep in mind, no one form of communication will work for everyone. Find a tool that makes it easy to send all sorts of communication — Ving! Ving allows you to communicate with video, audio, images, documents, and surveys. With Ving you can communicate effectively with every personality type. Soon you will be sending out your survey in a Ving and your internal communication plan will be rolling.
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