What’s your communication style? You have a particular style of communicating, of course, but do you know what it is, including its strengths and weaknesses, and how it compares to the styles of others? Over the past two decades of research, my team and I have found that there are four fundamental communication styles: Analytical, Intuitive, Functional and Personal.

No one communication style is inherently better than another. But picking the wrong style for a particular audience, whether it’s one person or a thousand, shuts down listening and can spell trouble. Learning to build flexibility around your preferred style allows others to more successfully hear the important things you need to communicate.