The Seven Frequencies of Communication

WORDS have power. And how we communicate those words determines their resonance. It is the frequency the speaker uses that connects with us or not. Understanding the frequency with which you are trying to communicate is crucial to reaching and connecting with others.

Erwin McManus has provided the map to help us understand how we are heard by others and, importantly, how we can identify what frequencies resonate with those we are speaking to. If we speak at a frequency the listener cannot hear, we don’t connect. The Seven Frequencies of Communication helps us identify and develop not only go to frequencies but also expand our capacity to use other frequencies to connect with others.

We all have a core frequency that we use most of the time. As you read through McManus’ descriptions, ask yourself, are you a Motivator, a Challenger, a Commander, a Healer, a Professor, a Seer, or a Maven? When you unlock your frequency, you unleash your potential. What follows is a brief overview of each frequency type.

Motivator

A Motivator is driven to encourage people and for this reason is probably the most popular. They speak to our needs for energy and self-belief. “When a Motivator speaks, their frequency gets inside of us and elevates our self-belief. A Motivator helps us find energy and strength we did not know we had.” They create a positive, optimistic culture.

Motivators understand that people need the energy to take on great challenges, but more than that, they need a foundation of self-belief.

Challenger

Challengers are all about improvement. They see potential and possibilities, and they define direction. “A Challenger does not believe you need their affirmation as much as you need their drive. The Challenger sees the world as in need of courage. This is the basic need the Challenger tries to meet through communication. The Challenger believes their audience could accomplish anything if they had courage. If you use the Challenger frequency, your role is to elevate and deepen the amount of courage the listener is able to access for their own life.”

Commander

The Commander frequency is about knowing what needs to be done. It is authoritarian, and at the right time and in the right circumstances, it is invaluable. It carries authority, but to be useful, it must come from a trusted source. “The Commander meets a high need in us for direction. People need to know what to do next in any aspect of their lives. Receiving that direction from someone is a critical part of effective communication.”

When you have the Commander frequency, you understand that in certain environments, you must lead with authority. Any place there is danger or alarm. You know what to do and you direct others to get it done.

Healer

The Healer frequency helps others see their brokenness. “When you use the Healer frequency, you make people feel seen. You help them face their wounds. This frequency embodies the universal truth that no matter who you are or what you have been through, all of us have wounds. Some wounds are obvious. Some wounds are more hidden. Healers have the ability to speak to the deepest wounds in our lives we think no one else can see. When in concert with a complimentary frequency such as Commander, Challenger, or Seer, extraordinary things can happen.”

Professor

As the label implies, the Professor frequency is all about teaching and helping people to gain knowledge to be successful in whatever they are doing. “This frequency is about more than acquiring knowledge. It is about the love of transmitting what you have earned to others. When you enjoy taking the information you have gathered and turning it into insight for others, you know your frequency is that of the Professor.”

Seer

The Seer is about imagination and vision. “Their communication opens up possibilities and opportunities for those who are listening. The Seer has the compelling ability to paint a picture of the future no one else can see until they speak.” The Seer lives in the future and is not confined by the past. “Wherever there is a Seer in leadership, their frequency creates a culture of innovation and risk-taking.”

Maven

The Maven frequency is curious and expresses a need to shift the present paradigm. They seek questions, not answers. They help people see things differently. “To the majority, the Maven frequency brings distress. The Maven is innately heretical, treating the sacred as open to questioning and inquiry. Their violation of orthodoxy is rarely соnscious or deliberate.”

The Maven is often not an expert but a student with endless curiosity. They are seen as connoisseurs of new ideas. They can become the one everyone looks to for expertise in a particular domain, topic, or area.

McManus has provided an assessment to help you identify your core frequency and primary frequencies and includes a custom report with detailed insights about how to discover the full power and potential of your primary frequency.

Like the overuse of a strength, these frequencies have a dark or shadow side. “The shadow of your frequency appears when your frequency is inverted from focusing on others to focusing on yourself. Shadows reshape how you communicate. Where a natural frequency will seek to serve others, a shadow frequency serves only you.”

For example, the Challenger can be a manipulator, the Commander a dictator, and the Seer a perfectionist. The Professor can become a diminisher as they demonstrate how intelligent they are rather than using their knowledge to enlighten and build others up.

You become most effective when you can move from one frequency to another depending on the needs of those you are speaking to. When you only speak from your core frequency, you create gaps in your communication. You lack empathy. “Empathy is not simply about understanding someone; it is about resonating with them. Empathy is not about transferring what is inside of you to another person, but transferring what is inside of them into you.”

The goal of communication is connection, and when you hear and respond to the frequency of others, they feel heard and understood. “Communication at its most human level is not simply the transference of ideas but of hope and love.”

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 11:47 AM
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