Extra Points: Getting Your Bark On

This week’s focus point…Getting Your Bark On.

Dogs communicate and influence with their bark. I can tell by Captain Jack’s bark his intent or desire. He’s got different barks that tell if he’s hungry, playing, irritated because his ball is stuck under the coach, out of water in his dish, lonely, or if he’s fired up about a squirrel in the front yard. The tone, pitch, and frequency are all indicators and he uses his bark to influence me to a call to action for him. He’s pretty successful most of the time.

You use words daily to influence. Whether you know it or not, your tone, pitch, and pace will indicate your intent and will be inferred by the person or people listening to you. Influencing is not being manipulative. It’s genuinely trying to get somebody else to “move” to a different point of view, an alternative process, or a changed behavior. If you’re in a leadership position and genuinely want to improve the condition of the other person, then being influential is critical.

How you are able to communicate through your own style of speaking (and your ability to understand what motivates the other person) will ultimately determine how successful and significant of a leader you are. This isn’t necessarily innate; it’s a skill that can be learned and mastered.

How much “bite” is in your bark?

“Nine-tenths of wisdom is being wise in time. “