By JOHNNY CARCIOPPOLO / Community Columnist

You can increase your success 25 percent, 50 percent or even 75 percent by developing style flexibility and communicating based on the other’s personal style.

Effective communication is a competitive advantage in today’s global economy. When you add in the skill of identifying an individual’s behavioral styles and what motivates them, you now have the tools to master your environment.

The more comfortable others feel with you, the more they trust you, hence, the more influential you become. The key is being able to identify with everyone you meet; to never again lose the advantage by allowing someone to intimidate you with their personality alone. If you know who they are and why they do what they do and what motivates them, you can:

• Adapt to their personality style.
• Manage the interaction.
• Influence all outcomes.

The best way to accomplish this is through a personal DISC assessment which explains who you are and why you do what you do. A professional debrief of your results helps you:

• Understand your personal communication style.
• Master the art of “reading” other people by identifying their behaviors and motivators.
• Adapt your style to build rapport.
• Leverage your strengths.
• Recognize motivational and personal management needs.
• Select words more effectively.
• Improve your sales, networking, presentations and negotiation efforts.
• Improve communication with your employees, boss, colleagues, clients, prospects, spouse, children, family and friends.

In next week’s article, we will wrap up this topic by explaining some of the characteristics of each behavioral style along with some communication dos and don’ts.

Remember, Communication is everything!