Cathy Liska Share your thoughts in a comment on this blog post.
Learning best by seeing, visuals focus on what is around them and how it looks.
Charlie was all about setting the tone with color and décor. High-energy, Charlie took on extra projects that include PowerPoint presentations and even decorating for events. Because Charlie was taking on so many extra projects, and wanted things to look just so, tasks were getting dropped or delayed. Charlie’s boss hired a coach to work with Charlie. The coach focused on Charlie and the description of what was happening.
Tips for Recognizing the Visual:
* Language refers to what they see such as: look, perspective, clear, appear
* Eyes: up and to the left to remember, up and to the right to figure it out (50% of left-handed people reverse these)
* Gestures: high, jerky, quick
* Breathing: high and shallow
* Talking Speed: fast
Tips for Coaching the Visual:
* Ask questions using visual words
* Match their pace of speech
* Include visual descriptions when offering perspective
* Ask them to describe how they would understand using only words and feelings
* Have them describe success in visual terms first, then feeling and hearing
Based on identifying Charlie’s style and knowing how to adjust accordingly, the coach asked Charlie to paint a picture about the work environment. The coach asked Charlie to clarify how PowerPoint presentations were used, and how they impacted others. The coach asked Charlie to create a log of tasks and how time was used. In the next coaching session, Charlie described the insights from the log. Based on the information, Charlie had a new perspective, and with the coach facilitating developed a process for juggling multiple tasks. Specifically, Charlie worked with the coach to develop a process for choosing how many extra projects to take, and to decide how much time to devote to various tasks. Charlie continues coaching to enhance other skills and move towards new goals.
