Communicating With Your Heart vs. Your Head

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” – George Bernard Shaw

In any workplace, you are just as likely to hear, “It’s not personal; it’s business,” as “We want our employees to bring their whole self to work.”

Or you might hear, “Why doesn’t every employee think like an owner?” and simultaneously, “I can’t believe these employees want to share in the profit.”

These are the inevitable paradoxes between communicating from the heart and the head. Most importantly, you don’t have to choose between them because they both contribute to your company’s success.

Communicating with Your Heart

Roughly half of the profile styles in Talent Dynamics communicate from the heart, focus on relationships, and are extroverted. We often refer to each as a people person.

They draw energy from others, verbally process their thoughts, and seem rejuvenated by being around others.

They perceive, speak, and connect with others through emotion.

These heart-communicators may be dismissed as needing more information, facts, figures, or a solid performance foundation. They might be among the first to be accused of not holding their team accountable for results.

Communicating from the heart is predicated on authenticity, vulnerability, and trust. These profiles demonstrate and build trust by transparently showing their heart and seeking to learn about another.

They are frequently described as dependable leaders, unconditional supporters, and loyal friends. Others share their thoughts and feelings openly with this person because they feel like they know them on a deeper level.

Communicating with Your Head

The other half of the profiles in Talent Dynamics communicate from the head, focusing on information, process, facts, figures, and performance while tending toward introversion.

They draw energy from within, processing information in their head before bringing a person into the conversation.

Those communicating from the head may be dismissed as cold, uncaring, or aloof, accused of caring more about the numbers than the people in their company.

Communicating from the head is predicated on validating concrete, quantifiable metrics that can be explained, proven, and reproduced.

These profiles demonstrate and build trust by showing their math, as they say. They transparently communicate information in long-form, leaving no detail out. Others rely on their information to make complex business decisions, never questioning its accuracy.

How to Connect and Communicate with Other Communication Styles Effectively

You’ve most likely discerned that communicating from the heart has a place in your company, as does communicating from the head. In fact, combining the two can create a holistic approach to achieving your quantifiable goals by incorporating the intangible, qualitative core values that emanate from the heart.

“…by combining the two, you can create a holistic approach to achieving your quantifiable goals…”

For example, to accurately communicate your core values of integrity, kindness, and collaboration, you would bring them to life with a story that anchors the kind of feelings, expression, and passion behind what you find essential.

Communicating from the heart is often how leaders help others understand core values in a way that’s not possible when communicating from the head with facts and figures. This is the same method used to bring Mission, Vision, and Purpose to the forefront.

After speaking from the heart, we can transition to the head with clarity, specificity, metrics, and details that marry the two styles of communication. Those who natively think in terms of relationships now receive information about quantifiable evaluation, also known as defining how success is measured. Having begun with a message from the heart, information seekers will enjoy the context of head communication.

Unifying the two elements in a yin/yang relationship touches on why, what, who, when, and how. Bringing all types of people together.

Using Talent Dynamics on Your Team

If you have noticed that your team could benefit from strong, clear, and kind communication that gets everyone rowing in the same direction, a Breakthrough Strategy Session is for you.

Ken Kilday will profile the members of your leadership team. Each will receive an individual report. Ken will prepare an amalgam of the entire team and present his findings during the debrief, along with tips, tricks, and truths to elevate leadership with better communication.

Ken Kilday is an entrepreneur who has designed, built, launched, and rejuvenated successful businesses. He now takes great joy in helping other businesses find success through Executive Business Coaching as the CEO+Founder of Leader’s Cut. He works with business owners of all sizes to implement actions, evaluate success, and adjust to new, improved habits to produce repeatable, predictable outcomes independent of changing business cycles.

Schedule a 15-minute Meet & Greet and discover how business coaching services can help you in 2024.