I love my mother but some conversations with her drives me crazy.  She needs to explain everything is in excruciating detail, even when I get it, or she provides me with such a minutia of detail that I lose sight of her point.  She can take 5 minutes what it takes me 15 seconds to convey.

The reason?  She and I have conflicting communication styles that require us to work hard to adjust for each others.

While that’s a personal example, variations in communication styles directly impact in the business world and on the ease of collaboration within a group.

There are four primary styles of communication.  Different folks have variable names for them but I playfully call the styles Airheads, Firebrands, Waterways, and Earthworks. Let’s explore how each style is conveyed and the stylistic impacts on social media and internal collaboration.