Imagine that you are with a large group of people that has been dropped into the middle of no where. Fortunately, you each have a map so that you can figure out how to get back to civilization. Unfortunately, each map is slightly different, and there is no way of telling which map is the closest to being correct. And of course, every person believes that their map is the right one. So what do you think happens next?

A) Everyone starts going a million different directions on their own, based upon the map they each have.

B) An argument ensues over which map to use.

Now, how does that translate into business and communication? Imagine you are a fly on the wall of the board room for Company XYZ. Each department head has come to make requests of the executives. Susie from the filing department would like more file cabinets. Bob from maintenance would like people to quit putting their feet on the desks as his men are tired of fixing them all the time. Justin from sales would like the marketing department to have a faster turn around time with the new sales packets. Margo from marketing would like the sales department to quit butchering her artwork by putting it on poor quality paper.

You get the point. Everyone is working to get their point across and their needs met. And they are doing this by working from their map of the world.

Now what do I mean by their map of the world? Each of us has a way that we view the world. Some people are cynics. Others are "glass is half full" type people. Others are paranoid, convinced that everyone is out to get them.

Why do we have all of these variations? Well, it has been said that it is a combination of nature vs. nurture. Some people are born naturally timid and afraid to express their opinions. Others are nurtured to be this way due to different experiences throughout their lives. Each experience in their life has etched a spot into their map. The core beliefs they are taught as a child have influenced this map. Their successes, their failures, the happy times, and the sad times have all laid down roadwork towards the next destination at which they will arrive.

So, any time they are presented with a situation, they make decisions based upon their map of the world, whether that map is the correct map or not. In business we must realize that each of our prospects, customers, and peers come to us with a different map of the world and we must decipher the legend for their map if we are to truly communicate with them on their level. In sales training this might be presented as DISC, Transactional Analysis, or another personality type test. However, to truly decipher a person's legend, you must not only know their personality type, but you must know what has caused them to be the personality type they are. Why do they have problems with authority? Why do they always need to be recognized for their accomplishments?

Now, realistically you can't know all of this about every person you come in contact with. First of all, you would have to be the world's best practitioner of bonding and rapport to get people to open up to you so much. Secondly, you wouldn't be able to emotionally or mentally take on all of the baggage. So, knowing that we can't master another person's map completely, what is the point?

Well, at times it helps merely to remember that they are indeed working from a different map of the world. This helps to diffuse tempers and misunderstandings. While before it may have completely ticked you off that the guy in the next cubicle insists upon listening to Enya every time he is about to make a cold call, maybe now you realize that the reason he does that is because he is scared out of his mind and Enya helps him to relax. It may still be completely annoying, but instead of beating him over the head with his phone you may now politely ask him to put headphones on. And when other differences come up, we remember that others' maps do not match ours. They simply look at the world in a different way, and remembering this can help you approach the world differently. To view your business opportunities differently. And to approach these opportunities on their terms.

Matt Wenger is a business owner who does marketing for businesses including sales strategies, referral systems, marketing systems and more. For a FREE report on mistakes over 97% of business owners make go to:

www.psychological-marketing.com and receive a Free Report on 3 Common Mistakes People Make in Their Business - A $79 Value.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 27th, 2009 at 9:39 pm and is filed under Communication. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.