THE REPRESENTATIONAL TEST
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When we talk we say so much more than the mere content of our words would indicate. As a Cognitive Performance Coach when I listen to a client I focus more on the structure of their language rather than the content of what they are saying because the structure tells me so much about how a client is limiting or optimising their potential.
One of the first things I listen out for is sensory preferences, that is which senses tend to be preferred over the others. If we are filtering information through our senses, it stands to reason that if we favour certain senses over others it will really effect the way we make sense of the world. You can detect a persons preferences from watching his/her eye movements or just by listening out for the sensory content of their language.
You may have noticed this yourself, have you ever, for example, pitched an idea to a group of people and noticed how their responses indicate a different sensory system being used to assess the idea. One person might say, ?...that looks like a good idea Mark...?, another might say, ?...that sounds good to me...?, another response could be, ?...that feels good... or... i think that?s a good idea...?. Each response using a different sensory system, (all explained in the test).
Knowing what a persons preferred sensory system, (also know as Representational System), is can be very helpful, for example, I once had a boss I didn?t get on with very well and I was determined to improve the relationship. At one particular meeting I worked really hard on building rapport, (explained in Chapter 3 of Impress), and I took particular notice of his sensory language. I was surprised to find that he was completely immersed in his feelings or ?Kinaesthetic? sensory system. He would say things like, ?I have just got a bad feeling about this Mark, I know we have to get a grip of this problem but my gut is telling me this is not the way to move this along?. Once you have done the Representational Systems Test you will realise this is all Kinaesthetic Language. As the meeting went on I was astonished to notice that all his language was Kinaesthetic and his eye movements confirmed this for me. My boss was not a very hardy person and seemed to be continually stressed. I could now see why, he processed everything through his emotions which made him very vulnerable to feeling low. I also realised that I was part of his problem. We were in a tough target driven environment and had little scope for what I interpreted as his inability to make decisions. My intolerance of his so called ?dithering? just made him feel worse and to prevaricate more.
At this meeting I decided to change tack, to be more supportive and more subtle in how I interacted with him. During the meeting I adopted a totally Kinaesthetic mode of speech and led him towards developing an outcome for the situation we urgently needed to resolve. I then led him to consider a criteria for understanding whether we had achieved the outcome. We then started to evaluate our options against the criteria.
Changing my in language to his preferred style really helped me get through to him and transform our communications. He was quickly able to make a decision in this instance and this process proved an effective way forward for us from then on. We were never close but he was to say many times subsequently that what he learned on that day about outcomes and criteria had been invaluable to him. What I had done was to give him
another way of processing information than merely by feelings, an extremely limiting behaviour for an otherwise gifted man.
I hope this example has helped to show how important our Representational Systems are and how they can be helpful to us in influencing others towards our goals. The Representational Systems Test download is a short ten minute test to help you evaluate your own sensory preferences and give some indication of how sensory preferences can be reflected in our behaviour. Once you have downloaded this test I will give you a few days to digest the information and reflect on your own use of language. I will then send you a note with a few tips on how to use this information to help you to boost your influencing skills.
I hope you enjoy it and will speak to you soon,
Kind Regards,
Mark
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