Unlock Your Success with the 3M’s of Communication: Mobilize, Motivate, Mend

We’ve all seen it: the person who seems to excel because they can talk the talk. They are smooth in conversation, always have a response, and seem to navigate every room effortlessly. Even if they don’t walk the walk, they still seem to get ahead. This is the power behind effective communications.

You’ll be unstoppable if you can do both though. It can be the difference of what moves the needle in reaching your goals – whether you're trying to advance your own career or lead projects to success. You need a communication strategy that pairs action with intention.

In this post, I’ll share my own version of the “3 M’s of Communication”—Mobilize, Motivate, and Mend—and dive into how understanding personality types and archetypes can help you communicate more strategically. The more you tailor your message to suit someone’s unique preferences, the more likely you are to get the results you want. 

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1. Mobilize: Aligning People and Resources to Drive Action

The first key to getting results is mobilization—getting people and resources to move toward a shared goal. Whether you're leading a team, aligning stakeholders, or managing projects, your ability to mobilize others will determine how effectively you can drive progress.

Ways to Mobilize:

• Speak with Data:
  • Bring facts and figures to the table that support your argument and help others see the value of your plan. 
  • Anticipate the questions and skepticism in advance and address those head on through the facts and figures. 
  • Present 3 different scenarios (e.g. best vs. worst vs. likely or plan A vs. B vs. C)
    
    
• Leverage Artifacts:
  • Documents, reports, and presentations that you’ve created can work on your behalf. These “artifacts” carry your message forward, ensuring your work continues to speak for you, even after you've moved on to other priorities. This concept is similar to a viral social post or meme. 
  • Tailor the artifact based on the audience. For example, executives will do well with one slide, a few bullet points or one excel sheet highlighting the main data points. Or, others might require a video explanation or full deck.
    
    (I credit this tip to one of my mentors, Sherry Finkel Murphy, the Principal of Madrina Molly, LLC, a financial planning and longevity education company providing Wisdom for Women of a Certain AGEncy) 
    
    
• Give Time: You’ll have a better chance of getting buy-in if you give people enough time to process your ideas. For example:
  • Scenario 1: You tell your manager you’re going to apply for an open role in a different department
    • Outcome: Your boss will likely be supportive, but you’re leaving your fate mainly up to the other hiring manager in the other team. 
  • Scenario 2: You let your manager know that you’re interested in exploring a role in a different department as part of your growth plan in the next 1-2 years
    • Outcome: You’ll likely be supported by your manager to get involved in small projects related to the other role and get the mentorship you need. Then when the timing is right, it’ll almost feel like you lined up a new opportunity that you may or may not choose to pursue.
      
      
• And last, but not least – Build Relationships: A key to mobilization is networking and building relationships across the organization. Get to know who holds influence at different levels and who can help move your initiatives forward.
  
  

Examples of How Personality Archetypes Come into Play:

Mobilizing others becomes much easier when you understand the personalities you’re communicating with. People have different ways of processing information, and knowing these differences allows you to customize your message to resonate with them.

Common Personality Archetypes:

• The Analytical Thinker (e.g., INTJ, ISTJ)
  • Communication Style: Data-driven, logical, and methodical.
  • How to Communicate: Provide them with detailed data and well-structured arguments. Avoid fluff; get straight to the point and back up your claims with evidence.
    
    
• The Visionary (e.g., ENTP, ENFP)
  • Communication Style: Creative, future-focused, and big-picture thinkers.
  • How to Communicate: Highlight the broader vision and potential impact of your ideas. Inspire them with possibilities and innovative solutions.
    
    
• The Pragmatist (e.g., ESTJ, ISTP)
  • Communication Style: Practical, action-oriented, and focused on the here-and-now.
  • How to Communicate: Focus on the immediate benefits and practical steps. Be clear and direct about what needs to be done and how it will be accomplished.
    
    
• The Supportive Collaborator (e.g., ISFJ, ESFJ)
  • Communication Style: Empathetic, team-oriented, and people-focused.
  • How to Communicate: Show you care about their concerns and focus on how your ideas will help the team and support the overall organizational culture. Emphasize teamwork, alignment, and shared success.
    
    
• The Decisive Leader (e.g., ENTJ, ESTJ)
  • Communication Style: Assertive, confident, and focused on results.
  • How to Communicate: Present clear, well-thought-out solutions. Be concise and direct, focusing on how your approach will achieve goals efficiently.

2. Motivate: Inspire Action and Commitment to Your Goals

Once you’ve mobilized people, the next step is to motivate them to continue taking action. You can have the best strategy in the world, but without motivation, people won’t execute. Motivating others through communication is about engaging them emotionally and making them feel connected to the purpose of the work.

Ways to Motivate:

• Understand Their Language: Whether you're speaking to a tech team, marketing department, or senior leadership, understanding their “language” is critical. Use terms and examples that resonate with their specific concerns and priorities.
• Be a Champion for Others: People are more motivated when they feel acknowledged. Recognize contributions, highlight wins, and emphasize how everyone’s work connects to the larger organizational goals.
• Find Key Advocates: Identify the people within your organization who can help support your message. These motivated individuals will amplify your efforts and rally others to your cause.

Examples of How Personality Archetypes Come into Play:

When motivating others, the more you know about their personality type, the better you can align your communication to inspire them. For example:

• Visionary types (those who are future-focused) are motivated by big ideas and long-term goals. You might motivate them by showing how your goals align with the company’s bigger vision.
• Pragmatic types (those focused on the present and practical details) are motivated by clear, actionable steps. Providing them with tangible milestones will keep them engaged and ready to execute.

3. Mend: Anticipate and Resolve Challenges

Even the best-laid plans can encounter roadblocks, and how you handle these challenges can determine whether you keep moving forward or stall. Mending relationships is about anticipating challenges, resolving conflict, and maintaining trust.

Ways to Mend:

• Be Empathetic: Empathy can diffuse tension, and people are more likely to collaborate on solutions when they feel understood. The LARA method, backed by Stanford research, gives a lot of great tips on how to practice and demonstrate empathy.
  • Some examples:
    • Affirm a person’s thoughts by saying “what I hear you saying is…”
    • Highlight commonality by saying “it seems we both care deeply about…”
    • Ask open-ended questions like “how did that make you feel?” or “how did you reach that conclusion?”
• Stay Solution-Oriented: When challenges arise, focus on what can be done to move forward and don’t get stuck in the blame game. 
• Maintain Trust: Trust is about delivering on what you said you would and respecting the integrity of others. 

For example, let’s say you want to pursue a new initiative at work, you’d have to make sure to mend your team and manager by making yourself dispensable. Leaving your current team or project would leave a burdensome gap, which wouldn’t demonstrate empathy, a solution forward or maintain the level of trust you’ve built. However, if you’ve taken the time to make yourself dispensable, then there would be less obstacles in the way of pursuing your new initiative. 

Examples of How Personality Archetypes Come into Play:

• Decisive personalities (like those with a dominant “Commander” archetype) prefer clear solutions quickly and can get frustrated by ambiguity.
• Supportive personalities (often found in “Nurturer” types) may need more time to process challenges, so providing them with reassurance and empathy will help rebuild trust.

Understanding these differences allows you to communicate in ways that help people feel supported and understood, even when things aren’t going as planned.

Conclusion

Doing the work is table stakes. The next time you want to achieve something big, remember that the power of communication lies in your ability to mobilize, motivate and  mend—and the more you understand personalities, the better you can communicate to move the needle.