Today I am going to let you inside the mind of an Playful and Influencing Communicator.  I want you to imagine that you too are an Playful and Influencing Communicator just for a short moment.  How do you feel when you are being your vivacious best, your funniest, and you are not seen?????

Every other style is probably saying, “Why do you want or need to be seen??”  However the confused, frustrated, hurt, Influencer is thinking, “Why don’t they like me????”.

Playful and Influencing Communicators are all about the PEOPLE.  They are not focused on TASKS so much.  Tasks come in way down the list.  The to do list, the projects and the challenges are at the back of their mind.

I am sharing this with you so if you are living or working with this Communicator, you can catch a glimpse of the world from their perspective.

The Playful and Influencer is all about being recognised.  They need to be noticed, to be liked.  They need a warm and fun environment to flourish in.  Sitting on their own in an office is likely to literally have them crawling up the walls.  In fact they would likely go and find some friends and play indoor cricket with a rubbish bin and paper ball.

Playful and Influencing Communicators are very warm and caring.  If they are speaking too much, getting loud or doing silly things to gain your attention, it is because they are feeling unheard and unnoticed.  It can be very enlightening to take the time to see things from their perspective.

There are many other examples when the Playful and Influencing Communicator can get too caught up in the need for recognition in RELATIONSHIPS and forget about the impact on the people around them.

Perhaps fascinating to others, it is completely unintentional on their part.  So, if you are struggling with a Playful and Influencing Communicator, don’t take their apparent lack of focus to heart.  They have a need to be seen, to have fun and to be recognised that drives them.  They have strengths that make them amazing members of your team – you just need to know and harness them.

If they behave in a way that does not seem focused or seems a little selfish, please don’t personalise it, they really don’t mean it.  Try to understand that they need to be seen and may be feeling a little ignored.  Their behaviour may then make more sense to you.

Until next time, Care, Connect and be a Courageous Communicator.  Let’s change the world we live in one conversation at a time.