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Understanding Yourself as a Learner 93

fer to use their eyes, a third their ears, and a third their bodies. No
one way is better than the others: they are simply different.
In most workplaces, information is shared using the written
word or through verbal instructions. In meetings, as in most train-
ing rooms, people are not normally encouraged to get up and move
around, when this is exactly what a sizable proportion of people
would like to do.
A number of the leaders I interviewed are strongly visual.
Hilary Cropper, chief executive of the FI Group, is a good example:

I like pictures. In management meetings I can’t resist getting up to the
flipchart. Drawing an idea gets a concept across much more clearly than
numbers. You can express in images what you cannot yet put into words.

Chris Mellor, group managing director of Anglian Water, is similar:
“I tend to visualize concepts, to think in metaphors.”
Jayne-Anne Gadhia, managing director of Virgin One Account,
talks in strongly visual terms. She remembers things visually, shun-
ning all paperwork. And, when she is struggling with a difficult con-
cept, she talks of “opening a door” in her mind to locate one of her
role models to “ask” them what they would do in the situation.
When I meet senior executives, I am increasingly aware of
how important and misunderstood this aspect of learning is. Many
people simply glaze over when presented with the written word
alone, but are instantly engaged if communication is by means of a
diagram or chart.

How could you and your organization improve the range of its communication styles? What
could you do to broaden your own range of communication styles and so increase their
effectiveness?
The list overleaf contains many of the common ways in which information is shared in a
company. Choose some techniques that you don’t use and group them under the three head-
ings of eyes, ears, and body to add to your repertoire.