Conversational Dynamics: The Five Accents

Human engagement is as good as its conversational dynamics. The ability to conduct intelligent conversations is one of the most potent learning, awareness and (self) leadership tools. What is people’s experience when they converse with you the family man; you the friend; you the colleague; you the leader..?

The Five Lives
An astonishing feat of engineering, the five senses define the scope of consciousness at the carnal level. As you may know, the five senses are part of a bigger framework that may be referred to as the Five Lives: The Thinking Life; the Doing Life; the Monitoring or Instinctive Life; the Emotional Life and the Creative Life. These five generating powers and their inherent inner formations define at a fundamental level the five dimensions of the human capability. One of the prime objectives of personal development is to achieve an inner state of good balance between the five; as modern living and the prevailing lack of basic self-knowledge often lead to getting locked out of one’s natural range and versatility.

Balance and Self-Awareness
As an example, no matter how intellectually competent a person may be, when in a state of imbalance due to disconnection from the ability to feel, perceive and correctly translate the range and natures of human emotions that are in play around them, his/her self-awareness and therefore the scope of perception diminishes. Consequently, large portions of reality cannot be accessed, thereby adversely affecting their decision-making. When did you last witness a high performer with low self-awareness and poor self-reflection?

There are profoundly simple developmental practices to liberate the potentiality of the Five Intelligences in ways that lead to enhanced well being, deep self-awareness, enjoyment and growing personal effectiveness.

“We can only enjoy life to the extent of our education”

The Five Accents
As you may already be seeing for yourself, fundamentally there are five frequency-power accents present in human dialogue:

‘White’ accent, generated by the Thinking Life and its thinking intelligence. A ‘white’ conversational accent brings to the spotlight the exchange of facts, knowledge, the intellect, self-awareness pointers, cognizance, comparison and analysis, problem-solving and the pursuit of new knowledge. Thus, a slow, cool, measured process in comparison to the other four… “…would you please state clearly and exactly what you want in the short and long-term..?”

‘Red’ accent, generated by the Doing Life and its doing intelligence’. A ‘red’ conversational accent brings to the spotlight performance, action, habits, hobbies, best practices, management, form, and know-how. Thus exciting, functional, habitual… “…what did you do to be nominated as the top salesperson three years in a row..?”

‘Blue’ accent, generated by the Monitoring Life and its monitoring Intelligence. A ‘blue’ conversational accent brings to the spotlight do’s and don’ts, agreements, ethics, rules and regulations, commitments, standards, principles, surveillance and endurance thresholds – mental, emotional and physical. Thus, decisive, strict, careful… “…but you promised never to do that again, didn’t you..”

‘Yellow’ accent, generated by the Life of Emotions and its emotional intelligence. A ‘yellow’ conversational accent brings to the spotlight human theatre, values, the outplay of qualities, beliefs, story-telling, sentiments, feelings, religious practices, personal vision, hope, motives and drive – individual and collective. Thus warm, intimate, deep… “…I love and value your unstoppable will-power..”

‘Green’ accent, generated by the Creative Life and its creative intelligence. A ‘green’ conversational accent brings to the spotlight creativity, sharing new ideas and new ways of living and doing, living the moment, being with the flow of what’s happening, letting the need lead, the freedom of uninhibited exploration and discovery, self-liberation away from dogma and fixing views. Thus, alive, responsive, generating… “…let’s try a different way – I just had an epiphany…”

So what is your current proneness..? Which one – or a combination – of the five is flavouring your communication within yourself and with others today?

You Already Know It
Look into yourself to connect to this incredible, vibrant inner architecture. It’s so natural – there is no need to read an encyclopedia – this knowledge is already in us. This is why the Fulcrums are quite concise and also why I keep resisting writing ‘The Book’, as this work is about self-awareness to what is the case, not some theory that requires hundreds of pages to explain. Of course volumes can be written about this subject to reveal why, as an example, there are fundamentally five kinds of music or five kinds of movement and dance. However, getting into the fundamental case opens the mind to explore and discover in similar ways that we deploy the five senses – do you need scientific proof that you are feeling what you are feeling or seeing what you are seeing?

The Dynamics of Influence
So, how would you assess the current balance present in your dialogues? Too much ‘red’ and too little ‘yellow’? Too much ‘green’ and too little ‘white’? Too much ‘blue’ and then some..? Conflicting ‘red’ and ‘white’..?

Leadership happens from ‘green’ – the worlds of new. New ways, ideas, paradigms, propositions, opportunities, possibilities and how they are revealed through the vectors of conversational dynamics. The only way that people who are arrested in ‘red’ can be rescued into the worlds of higher possibilities is through the help of those who are alive and resonating in the ‘green’ and ‘yellow’ worlds. Inner resonance can function as an awakening call to a person half-drowning in the fixings of arresting habits.

A prompting projection to weave into your New Year’s resolution – a little more ‘green’ and ‘yellow’ and a little less ‘red’, perhaps..? Not because there is anything wrong with ‘red’ – it’s purely a question of balance.

If you are leading a crucial change process or a strategic innovation forum, your most potent tool is your conversational skills, to instigate exploration and discovery processes, the building of trust and the sharing of collective intelligence. A team is as good as the conversation that goes on between its members. What do you need to develop to bring this vital skill to the next level?

“When two humans hold a meaningful conversation the universe listens”