How to Customise Your Communication Style as a Creative Leader for the Different Members of My Team?26/8/2024 As creative leaders, one of our most important tasks is ensuring that our message resonates with every member of your team. This becomes especially challenging when our team is made up of diverse personalities, each with their unique communication preferences. A one-size-fits-all approach to communication often leads to misunderstandings, missed opportunities, and disengagement.
To navigate this, the DiSC model offers a powerful framework for customising our communication style to meet the needs of different individuals. Understanding the DiSC Model The DiSC model is a popular behavioural assessment tool that categorises individuals into four primary behavioural styles: Dominance (D), Influence (I), Steadiness (S), and Conscientiousness (C). Each of these styles has distinct preferences and tendencies when it comes to communication, which can be summarised as follows:
Now that we have a basic understanding of the DiSC model, let’s explore how we can customise our communication style to effectively engage with each type within our teams. 1. Communicating with Dominance (D) Style: When communicating with Dominance styles, be direct and to the point. Focus on results, outcomes, and how the task or project aligns with the broader goals. Avoid small talk and get straight to the matter at hand. Be confident in your approach, and be prepared to answer questions related to the "what" and "when" of the task. For example, when delegating a task, emphasise the impact of their contribution on the overall success of the project. Example: "We need this project completed by Friday to meet our client’s deadline. Your quick decision-making will ensure we deliver on time." 2. Communicating with Influence (I) Style: When interacting with Influence styles, keep the communication upbeat and engaging. They appreciate a conversational approach that includes social interaction and positive reinforcement. Highlight the collaborative aspects of the project and recognize their contributions publicly whenever possible. They respond well to enthusiasm and motivational language. Example: "Your creativity will be key to making this campaign a success. I’m excited to see what ideas you’ll bring to the table!" 3. Communicating with Steadiness (S) Style: Steadiness styles value a calm and supportive communication style. They prefer to work in a harmonious environment and appreciate a more personal approach. Take the time to ask about their well-being and provide reassurance that their contributions are valued. When discussing tasks, be patient and provide clear, step-by-step instructions. Example: "I know this project will require some steady focus, but your attention to detail, consistent effort and support are exactly what we need to make it a success." 4. Communicating with Conscientiousness (C) Style: When dealing with Conscientiousness style, ensure your communication is precise and well-organised. They appreciate detailed explanations and expect clear expectations and standards. Avoid rushing them, as they prefer to take the time to analyse information thoroughly. Provide them with data and evidence to support your requests and be open to answering their in-depth questions. Example: "I’ve outlined the key metrics we need to hit and attached the relevant data. Let me know if you need any additional information to ensure accuracy." Conclusion. As a creative leader, our ability to customise our communication style using the DiSC model can significantly enhance our team’s performance and morale. By understanding and adapting to the different communication preferences of Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness styles, we create an environment where every team member feels understood and valued. This is the very essence of creative leadership. This customised approach not only strengthens relationships but also drives creativity and collaboration within your team, ultimately leading to better results and a more cohesive work environment. By leveraging the DiSC model, we’re not just communicating—we’re connecting with our team in a way that inspires them to achieve their best. Stay Safe, Stay Positive, Stay Creative. Towards your continued success, Hazriq Idrus | Creative Leadership & Public Speaking Strategist | Author of “Creative Leadership” & "The Stage Fright Antidote" If you found this article useful, please re-share it to your contacts. Do invite them to subscribe to this newsletter and be the first to receive the updates of the next edition. You can also access other learning resources here: https://campsite.bio/hazriqidrus Hazriq Idrus is a stage actor turned professional speaker who is passionate on the topics of Creativity, Leadership and Communications, and how these three synergise. He founded The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd with a mission to help leaders, managers and teams overcome innovation and communication challenges at the workplace. Connect with Hazriq on social media: https://linktr.ee/hazriqidrus
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 How to Get Over Shyness to Do ‘Live’ Talks Online?
Shyness is a feeling. To shift a feeling from one state to another (eg from “being shy” to “not being shy”) is not as easy as providing instructions to your body. Feelings are developed based on the environment we are in. The behaviour we exude is very much directly related to the feelings we are having. Environment shapes behaviour. For example, if we are feeling angry, the actions we portray could be like banging the tables, shouting, cursing or at some instances, causing hurt. Likewise, if we are feeling happy, we are feeling on ‘Cloud Nine’. We are smiling from ear to ear, singing and just feeling great. At that moment, we even feel that we can do wonders (which actually can, if we were to really take that action!). The good news is, you can have the feeling that you want by creating an environment that supports it. So if you want to get over your shyness so that you can do ‘Live’ talks online, you need to put yourself in a safe, happy and comfortable environment. This environment will give you that boost you need. Here are 7 simple ways you can do it: 1. Gather your close friends around you as you do the ‘Live’ talks. Their presence will create an environment where you will be safe and comfortable. When you are comfortable, speaking online will be a breeze. 2. Shift your perspective to “you are doing a service” as you give your talks. The feeling of providing service unto others, is similar to giving donations and doing charity. Our body enjoys the feeling of giving, and that will create an environment of joyfulness and fulfilment. 3. Overprepare your contents and keep them handy. With enough information right in fornt of you, subconsciously you know that you have all the necessary information ready when you need them, thus making you at ease. 4. Rehearse on the technicalities of “live streaming”, e.g. which buttons to press, familiarise with the headphones, how to share screen etc. Once you rehearse on these, you will feel more confident. 5. Don’t present or give talks. Have conversations instead. Remember the last time you met up with your best pal over dinner? And you went “It was such a wonderful time!” But what you did together was just having conversations. Having conversations will take the mind out of doing presentations, to just having “chit-chatting”, making your environment comfortable. 6. Do warm-ups prior to the talk. The dopamine chemical that your body produces will pump up your energy, and put you in a state of feeling good. 7. Keep track of your “Accomplishments”. Whenever you have achieved something new, note them in your diary. Have a look at your list regularly and use it as a motivation. Have in mind that this upcoming ‘live’ talk online that you will be doing, will be added to that list. Grow the list. Would love to hear from you which of these methods suit you as you kick off your ‘live’ online. Stay Safe, Stay Positive, Stay Creative. Towards your continued success, Hazriq Idrus Creative Leadership & Design Thinking Strategist Author of 10 books, including "The Stage Fright Antidote" Hazriq Idrus is a stage actor turned professional speaker who is passionate on the topics of Creative Leadership and Communications. He founded The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd with a mission to help leaders and their teams unlock their creative potentials so they can connect, communicate and co-create effectively. Subscribe to Hazriq’s Youtube channel for more resources on creativity, creative leadership and communications. Click here: http://bit.ly/HazriqYoutubeChannel. What a final! The Nationals Debate Finals organised by the Malay Youth Literary Association (4PM) saw two finalists, Anderson Secondary School pitted against Commonwealth Secpndary School. A tough fight, I should say! In the end, Commonwealth Sec won, kudos to them. Congratulations also goes to Team Anderson Secondary who gave a tough fight in the final! You did the Anderson family and alumni proud, by being in three consecutive finals! Andersonians, the competition might have ended, but, this is the start of your journey! Cherish the learning process, for you will be asked to use those skills in time to come, albeit at a different platform. All in all, thank you, Anderson Sec, for entrusting me to coach the team these past three years and be part of your history. Keep moving forward,
Hazriq Idrus Author, "The Stage Fright Antidote" + 8 other books Connect on: http://linkedin.com/in/hazriq http://facebook.com/hazriq  Are you still having difficulties in overcoming your presentation fears? When I was gathering information and data to write “The Stage Fright Antidote!”, I found out that among the reasons why people were still having fears in making presentations: Fear of not getting audience attention Fear of being criticised Fear of being looked at If we are to look at these three elements of fears, they have got nothing to do about you as a presenter/speaker. They are more of what people think of you. I would categorised these fears as the “lack of confidence”. The lack of confidence, whether directly or indirectly, is the results of not meeting other people’s expectations of you. In order to overcome this fear, developing self-confidence is the key. For a start, let’s look at what Self-Confidence is. I would define Self-Confidence as the belief in yourself and in your abilities. If we believe in our own ability, we will not fear what other people will say about us. The good news is, Self-Confidence can be learned. It will take time and energy; and will require breaking of old habits but it will be highly useful trait to have. Here are possible solutions that you can do to develop self-confidence: Forgive yourself and other people. The moment you forgive yourself and other people, you will let go of past mistakes and grudges which might have stopped you from being productive and a more confident person. Have a paradigm shift. When you start thinking of self-criticism or negative thoughts, take a pause and shift that thoughts into positive ones. Believe in your message. Recently, I had the opportunity to coach one of the secondary schools in a national debate competition. The first thing I did as a coach was to ask the debaters to not to focus on the results (winning each match); but instead focus and believe in the messages they were about to deliver. Once we believe in our messages, we will deliver it with passion. The results (winning) will come, i told them. With God’s grace, we won the annual national competition for the first time. Same thing in your presentation, believe in the message that you are going to present. The belief will overcome the fear. If you’d like to take a deeper dive into these areas, I would like to invite you to my upcoming workshop: The Stage Fright Antidote! workshop: Ninja Techniques to Present with Confidence, Connection & Conviction Thursday 9 Nov 2017 9.30am - 1.30pm Venue: tbc Click the button below for the programme information & registration. Article by Hazriq Idrus, Applied Creativity & Speaking Strategist; Author, The Stage Fright Antidote!; Founder, The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd One of the common conversation topics on presentation that I encounter is that employees feel that they are not having enough confident to present. Especially in a meeting where there are bosses and top management staff sitting in.
I would then ask them, "Did you rehearse your presentations?" The answer is common: No or not much. You see, whether in SEA Games, Asian Games or Olympic Games, when race starts, the 100-metre athletes take their stride, race with confidence and win that elusive medal; much to their joy. Similarly for actors doing live performances, the moment the curtains open, they put up convincing performances that delight the audience; and sometimes receiving standing ovations. So what makes them be good at their crafts? The answer is, practice. Athletes will train every day building up their muscle and in the process, build up their confidence to face other athletes in the competition. Of course, some may win, others may not, but for sure, they are so much better than when they first started training. For actors, rehearsals started 4-5 months in advance prior to their first matinee or premiere. In the process, the actors gain confidence to play the characters convincingly. Similarly, there is a need to rehearse your presentation; even if it is a mere 5-minutes! Constant rehearsals will help to make your delivery "second nature", thus making you look good presenting. Never underestimate the power of rehearsals. So how to rehearse? I would suggest 3 parts to this: Part One: Once you have your scripts or slides done, go stand up and rehearse. Don't just stand, move. Use gestures where appropriate. Do this a few times until you feel "second nature". Part Two: Gather a few of your close friends and make them your audience. Let them watch your presentation. Appoint some of them to be the devil's advocate, asking you tough questions, so that you can be prepared for such situations at the actual presentation site. Part Three: Just moments before the actual presentation, do a visualisation exercise. This is a powerful way to gain confidence. Find a corner or place, close your eyes and recall the rehearsals that you have done - mentally. Once done, take a deep breath, smile, and walk your way into the meeting room (or your presentation venue). When is your next presentation? Have you rehearsed? Towards your speaking success! Yours sincerely, Hazriq Idrus Speaking & Creativity Strategist Founder, The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd Author, The Stage Fright Antidote! While I take up speaking engagements, hosting events and do acting, I am still an introverted person. Because of this, I regularly receive queries on how I, as an introvert, could do hosting, acting and speaking.
My take would be these: 1) Overprepare I will prepare more contents that I would need to present. If I were given 30 minutes to present, I would prepare contents that would cover 45-60 minutes of my speech. In this way, if I were to end my speech way early (especially in my earlier years of speaking, due to nervousness, I would end session way too early!), I can value add slightly more information for the audience. 2) Research the audience Before I go out and speak, I would do background research of the audience. Find out their demographics, and if there are "common languages" they use among the audience, I would use it as part of my delivery. More often, the audience would laugh when they hear their "common languages" being used in keynotes or training presentations, and that would make the energy in the room positive. 3) Wear different hats and assume different roles Everyone wears different hats at different points of life. You could be a colleague at work, but a father at home. And we with different roles, we assume different responsibilities. For me, when I am hosting an event, I assume the role of a host; making sure (responsibility) that the flow of the programme is smooth. When I am speaking, my responsibility is to spread messages that could inspire and change people's lives. So because of this, I am able to minimise those fears and assume my role accordingly. To conclude, this is my philosophy when it comes to speaking: "Speaking opportunities are opportunities for business and career growth". When you embed this philosophy in your head, you'll do anything to overcome any challenges so you can speak and grow. Towards business and career success, Hazriq Idrus Author, The Stage Fright Antidote! Founder, The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd
 To get that confidence to speak, I would recommend three ways. These three ways you need to do consistently:
1) You need to be on top of your materials - Whatever topics our are presenting on, you need to know your stuff. The more content you know, the fluent you'll be in your delivery. Let's take for an example, if I were to ask you to share with me some highlights that you experienced the last 24-hours (by the way, this is one of the theatre-based games we use in my workshop!), chances are you can share it convincingly. Why, because you experienced it yourself. You are on top of the material. 2) Rehearsals - Nothing can go without rehearsals and practice. Even world athletes who won Olympic Golds practise daily; so there is no reason for us not to practise and rehearse on our presentations. The more we rehearse on our topics, the fluent we will be. 3) Do more of it. Beat your own benchmark & personal record! - An world-class athlete would not be a world-class athlete in just one race. A world-class chef would not be a world-class chef in just one cooking session. To be confident and be good, we need to do more of it. And along the way, break your own benchmark. For example, in one presentation, you would have 20 time fillers (aahhs, eermms, eerrs). In the next presentation, beat the record, go for just 10 time fillers. In the next one, beat it again. Go for 5. In a matter of time, your time fillers will be gone and you will be more confident of yourself. Yours, Hazriq Idrus Author, The Stage Fright Antidote! Founder, The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd. What is one thing in common we face when taking examinations?
Anxiety! Anxiety and examinations are almost synonyms. Just like fear in speaking to the public, anxiety in examinations can it be managed too. Below are 5 simple steps that you can do to cope, and ultimately eliminate that examinations anxiety. This is based on my experienced over a few a years of sitting several major examinations and professional certifications. Pre-Exam: #01: Prepare early Create a timetable where you can systematically practise for the examinations. Some start revision 2 or 3 months in advance, some start earlier. As people say, practice makes perfect; but I believe in Practice makes Permanent! #02: Learn for exams according to your preferred styles Different learnerss have different ways to learn. So do not be puzzled why some people learn at cafes with music played at the background (these people are auditory); some prefers to be alone (introverts); some needs to see diagrams, mind maps, charts etc (visual learners). #03: Have enough sleep An average person sleep between 7-8 hours per day. So keep to that timing. #04: Dont' go to the examination hall with an empty stomach Empty stomach will leads to lack of focus. During Exam: #05: Read ALL questions before attempting any Researchers from Netherlands and Australian universities made studies and found out that students who read the questions performed significantly better that those who didnt; and they also reportedly had lower examinations anxiety. In any stand-up presentation, the slides is an AudioVisual Aid; not the main attraction.
The presenter (You!) is the Star of your own presentation. So keep your texts on slides to a minimal (but more graphics is advisable instead). Because audience wants to see, listen & learn from you! Some tips to keep your slides with minimal texts: 1) Create a presentation that has 3-5 Main Points/ Categories 2) For each Main Point, have only 3-5 sub-points per slide 3) For each sub-point, have only 3-5 words per sub-point 4) Use pictures and graphics 5) Do not use animations unnessarily Yours creatively Hazriq Idrus Author, The Stage Fright Antiote! Founder, The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd |
