Pre-exercise 1 – Communication styles

About this exercise

Before your first session, get to know your own communication style. Understanding how you communicate – and how that differs from the people you’ll work with – is the foundation for everything that follows. Your result also feeds into the matching form we use to build your peer group.

Before you begin

You will need: 15 minutes of time, a way to take notes, and a few minutes for a short online quiz.

Steps

1. Take the quiz – Which bird communicator are you?
2. Reflect on your results and make notes on the following questions:
   • Are you a passive or active communicator? Passive communicators are quieter, avoid attention, and talk around subjects instead of directly saying their thoughts. Active communicators are more assertive and state their meaning clearly.
   • Do you prefer verbal or written communication?
   • Are you an internal or external processor? When you need to think through an issue, do you prefer talking the options out loud with another person, or thinking things over quietly in your head?
   • Are you verbose or to the point? Do you like to give lots of detail and context when sharing your thoughts, or do you prefer to get to the point and share only the most relevant information?
3. Think about working across styles: How would you describe your style to someone else? How would you find out theirs – and what if they don’t know it themselves? How might you need to adapt?
4. Record your communication style in the matching form (question D2), and keep your notes to bring to the first session.

Reflection

What is one thing you will do differently when working with someone whose communication style is different from yours?

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References: CharityComms, “Which bird communicator are you?”; Youth Employment UK, “How to find your communication style and use it at work.”