[2021-11-29] What's your point?
In conversation with someone, are you more likely to ask the question "What's your point?" or to get the question? If you said ask, you're probably a deductive thinker. If you said get, you're probably an inductive thinker.
Ethan Becker explains deductive and inductive thinkers in his book Mastering Communication at Work:
Deductive thinkers want the point first and then the details that support it. Inductive thinkers need to hear the details first before they can consider the point.
At the time that I was reading Mastering Communication at Work, my son was in school. Becker's statement about deductive and inductive thinkers was an aha moment for me. I realized that my son and I had different thinking styles. For example, when I would ask Shane whether his homework was done, I expected a simple yes or no response, with further details if he said no. Instead, Shane would often provide a detailed explanation before finally getting to the point (usually that his homework wasn't completely done).
For years, I thought Shane was purposely avoiding my questions when I asked him how school was going. But perhaps that's just the way his brain works. In fact, in addition to being an inductive thinker, Shane is an extroverted thinker, meaning that he processes information by talking. So, rather than pause, ponder and then respond, he usually considers the question out loud, finally concluding one way or the other.
Inductive and deductive thinkers at work
I remembered this book when I received a comment the other day in response to my Be a time-giver post:
Back in my Army Comptroller days, I worked for a Colonel who was a very busy formation commander. One of the most valuable things he told me about briefing him was, "Tell me what I need to know, not everything you know." Finance is not sexy Army operations stuff, but it's important. Once he knew that I could get to the point very quickly, tell him what I needed from him and wouldn't waste his time, he was very accommodating and would make time for me knowing I would respect it.
The Colonel was clearly a deductive thinker. This is not surprising. Executive teams tend to be dominated by deductive thinkers, says Becker.
Anyone who briefs executives would be wise to present their point first followed by the details or to at least state the subject and what they need before launching into the specifics.
This same approach was recommended in a course I took some years back on Effective Two-Minute Briefings, which advised employees to make their ask clear up front: "Make the purpose of your briefing evident from the beginning or you risk losing your audience while they try to figure out why you're there."
Strengthening work relationships
As important as it is for employees to try to communicate in the style of their superiors, it’s also important for bosses to accommodate the preferred style of their subordinates. While inductive employees may frustrate their deductive get-to-the-point bosses, deductive bosses may demoralize their inductive need-to-provide-the-details employees. Becker describes this dynamic:
If you’re the manager and the person who is inductive is the subordinate, and you don’t listen to her, you hurt the relationship. If you’re frustrated, you probably send nonverbal signals that imply that you don’t care about what she has to say.
This kind of situation, says Becker, can lead inductive employees to lose confidence in speaking up and may make them reluctant to share important information.
I’ve seen this precise circumstance: the deductive boss grows increasingly frustrated with their inductive employee, who—in turn—says less and less for fear of being interrupted with the dreaded, "What’s your point?"
If the boss and subordinate have a strong rapport, the boss can probably be that direct. If they don't, then such a statement could weaken an already fragile relationship.
What's the alternative? Becker recommends that deductive thinkers respect the style of an inductive thinker, without sitting through excruciating detail.
That doesn’t mean that if they are inductive and you are deductive, you have to let them go on forever. Find a place to interject and redirect them to the point.
It's unfortunate that the concept of deductive and inductive thinkers is not better known. If it were, deductive executives might see that their inductive employees are simply communicating in a way that's natural for them, and gently coach them to get to the point more quickly.
Understanding your communication preferences and that of the people around you is valuable, whether you're briefing up, being briefed, or talking with a family member.
