To state the obvious, communication is instrumental in everything we do. For many people, how we communicate has developed organically, mostly shaped by the primary influencers in our lives. For something that’s so important, that can have hit and miss results.
Just how instrumental?
- Leadership integrity: Leaders are very visible and when we observe them, we ask subconsciously questions such as, ‘what are they saying and does that match what they are doing?‘ What we see them do, is as much a form of communication as their words.
- Performance: We know there’s a correlation between relationships and performance at work. Better relationships support higher (and more sustainable) performance. If we break that down further, good communication is an instrumental factor in building better relationships.
- Collaboration: Any team has the potential to work well together, but the results they get hinge on how well the communicate their ideas and their needs – poor communication creates conflict, good communication leads to innovation.
- Satisfaction: To quote a client of mine, “I’m in my dream job, I hate it!” – Whilst she certainly was in her dream job, the toxicity created from a breakdown in communication amongst leadership was destroying the satisfaction she and others should have been getting from the their work.
- Feedback: As a rule of thumb, feedback is important to growth, but how it’s communicated can make all the difference. Ambiguous feedback creates confusion. Aggressive feedback creates resentment. Inauthentic feedback creates distrust. Specific and supportive feedback creates growth.
- Negotiation: In ways, many of our conversations are negotiating something. Communicating our own needs and eliciting the needs of others is essential for sustainable solutions.
- Persuasion: To persuade someone, they need to really ‘get it’ – i.e. understand the importance of your request – and communicating that is an art.
These are just a few examples of how instrumental communication is to our day to day interactions and what we do or don’t achieve. When we really zoom in and recognise that it also includes what we’re communicating through our behaviours and how we talk to our selves, communication is a part of our second-to-second experience. It influences everything.
Insights & Actions
- When you’ve felt believed in by someone, how did they communicate that to you?
- Think of time when someone really didn’t understand your perspective, where did the communication (yours/theirs) fall short?
- When you’ve developed a critical solution with someone to solve a problem, how did the communication (yours/theirs) help develop it?
- Recall when someone has told you they are ‘alright’, but you know they aren’t. What’s giving you a signal that they’re not in a good space?
Communication is a complex skill set and it’s instrumental to everything. The great news is, we can continually improve it with the right awareness and training.