Understanding the psychology of communication and different personality styles can be key to keeping both your team and patients happy.
Knowing the different ways people think and make sense of the world can help to make sure you talk to them in a way that will resonate.
In turn, this will lead to less misunderstandings, better rapport and stronger relationships as everyone knows what the other truly wants and expects.
Of course, you can’t read people’s minds to find out how they think. But there are other ways you can glean insight into how others view the world.
Getting personal
One of those ways is by having your team complete personality tests.
There are a wealth of these available online, such as the Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Compliance (DISC) or the 16 Personalities tests.
These kinds of tests can give you an insight into someone’s values and why they behave the way they do.
This can then help you to learn the best way get your message across to that person – the kind of language that will work best, how much detail you will need to go into, etc. It will also help to create the right environment for them to feel listened to and respond equally.
You may well be thinking ‘that’s fine for the team, but I can’t very well ask each patient to complete a personality profile’.
And you’re right. But there are clues you can look out for that will help you understand each patient’s natural communication style.
What language are you speaking?
According to Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), there are five representational systems that people use to make sense of the world.
These are:
- Visual
- Auditory
- Kinaesthetic (emotions/touch)
- Taste
- Smell
While most people are a combination of different representational systems, there is usually one that is more dominant than the others.
By listening carefully to the words your patients (and, of course, you can do this with your team members as well) use, you can figure out what system they are most attuned to and try to use similar language when communicating with that person.
For example, if a person is mainly visual they might use words and phrases like ‘picture’, ‘see’, ‘appears to me’, etc. Whereas if their system is mainly auditory, they might use words like ‘hear’, ‘listen’, ‘sound’, etc.
So, if you can figure out that one of your patients falls into the auditory category, you can adapt your choice of words to make sure you’re both speaking the same language. For example, when presenting a treatment plan or explaining what’s going to happen during their appointment, saying things like ‘how does that sound?’, or ‘I hear what you’re saying, I would recommend XX. Do you like the sound of that?’.
If you use visual language to speak to someone who is mainly auditory, or vice versa, it can be harder for them to understand as they first have to translate what you’re saying back into their way of representing the system.
Speaking the same language increases the opportunity for building rapport as it creates a feeling of similarity between you and the patient and encourages the flow of conversation.
By gaining insight into the individual way your team members and patients think and speak, you can help to create an environment where everyone feels listened to and understood. And that makes for a happy team, happy patients and, ultimately, a happy practice.
