In a parallel universe I work commercially with a company called Think Feel Know.
It’s an international training and coaching company. I always get asked what on Earth is Think Feel Know?
At the heart of Think Feel Know is a process that enables people to instantly communicate with each other. The beauty of Think Feel Know is its simplicity. People get it, people remember it, and therefore they use it. As a consequence what people love about Think Feel Know is the immediate results that they get with their team, their family and with their clients.
So what is Think Feel Know?
We believe that people communicate in three fundamentally different ways. A thinking way, a feeling way, and a knowing way. We all use all three, but have a preference for one over the others. Match the other person’s preference and you quickly generate rapport and connection. Ignore the other person’s preference and the exact opposite will occur.
Thinking is all about data and information. It’s the detail. It’s the what and how of life. The planning and the strategy. The process. Thinking is logical.
Feeling is all about energy. It’s the why and who of life. Why am I doing this and who can I get involved. It’s all about purpose and relationship. Feeling will hold you to the task long after the logic and vision has faded.
Knowing is the instinct. The gut sense that this is the way to go. It’s the where and the when. The vision. It’s quick and direct. It’s headlines and one liners. The most famous knowing comment of the last fifty years was Kennedy’s “A man on the moon by the end of the decade”. It’s directional and temporal.
When you’re with a knower, talk succinctly and briefly.
When you’re with a feeler, paint verbal pictures and use lots of personal reference points.
When you’re with a thinker, follow a logical process and give them all the detail required. They love soaking up all the content.
As you can see, when you use all three, you get a balanced message and nothing gets missed out. As someone said to me recently “You can have the right reason (the why), the right plans and strategy (the what and the how), but if it’s the wrong people, the wrong time and the wrong direction, the project will fall over”.
As Rudyard Kipling once said
I have six honest serving-men:
(They taught me all I knew)
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who
So, in summary:
Knowing gives you the Where and the When
Feeling gives you the Why and the Who
Thinking gives you the What and the How
Use all three in your communication and you will connect to a group. Use one of the preferences to communicate to a person who has that primary way of processing and communicating and you will connect to them.
A client experience
It’s only when Think Feel Know is applied to real life situations that it’s full impact can be realised; the way it can transform a situation in a very short period of time from stuck to energised is quite remarkable.
Because of this, we now use Think Feel Know in all our recruitment and HR activities. It ensures that the people we hire are right for the task, are be able to operate effectively with their colleagues, and provide the level of service in the appropriate manner to our clients.
Roman Marszalek
Doctor Logic Ltd.
