Appreciating Differences - Jack Falt - Ottawa Area, Ontario, Canada

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Booklet Review by Jack Falt

Thompson, Henry L., Introduction to the Communication Wheel, Watkinsville, GE: Wormhole Publishing, 2000, ISBN 1-887278-03-6, 40 pp, references.

This summer (2004) I attended Thompson’s Communication Wheel pre APT conference workshop. It is Thompson’s thesis that when we are communicating we use only one of four languages: extravert Sensing, extraverted Intuiting, extraverted Thinking, or extraverted Feeling. No matter what our type is, we tend to use our extraverted function. For example, as an INFJ I am likely to use extraverted Feeling as Feeling is my extraverted function. Of course we can and do use the other three languages, but if you observed me for a period of time, I am likely to use extraverted Feeling the most.

Four languages sounds simple but it gets more complicated. There are also dialects which are languages that are modified by the introverted function. Thus INFJ speaks extraverted Feeling with Intuition. Both INFJ and ENFJ speak this dialect, but each has its own style. Both of these styles contain personal ideals with ENFJ focussing on personal relationships and creativity, while INFJ focuses on people issues and what could be.

The Communication Wheel is a circular diagram with the four languages arranged around the circumference, sensing and intuiting are opposite as are thinking and feeling. Each language is subdivided by dialect and then further subdivided by type and style. When two or more people are placed on the wheel according to their type, it becomes more obvious why they might be having communication problems.

The object of the Communication Wheel training is to learn to identify the language another person is speaking and then to switch to that language. Once rapport is establish is it easier to switch to another language that is more suitable to the topic at hand. This concept has applications to teams/workgroups, families, marriage counselling, conflict resolution and coaching.

The appendix contains one page descriptions of each of the 16 types, describing the focus, preferred mode of communication, values, effects, blind spots, how they act under stress, key words to describe the type, type of humour they use, kinds of conflict they get into, their energy level, trigger words that can produce conflict, and a list of areas for improvement.

Thompson has found that people who are not trained in Jung/Myers theory find the concepts quite easy to understand and utilize. Those who know Jung/Myers theory often find it more difficult because they try to reason it out rather than just listen for cues. It does take practice to learn to use the four languages appropriately, but it is worth the effort.

I personally found trying to identify the languages on my own somewhat difficult and that it required my attending the workshop to have a clearer idea of the concept. It is possible to purchase the manual and the PowerPoint Presentation of the workshop (minus some of the video clips). Thompson has been running the one day version of his workshop as a pre conference workshop for the last several years. I feel this booklet is well worth having even if you are not planning to run a Communication Wheel workshop.

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