Today we’re talking 7 SIMPLE ways to foster great communication on your team! Do you accept communication the way it is on your team, or do you lead the communication your team needs?
A lack of high levels of quality communication is the #1 issue I see that holds back businesses and teams from greater unity and growth.
We all bring our own Personality Styles, training, and habits to the table, and as I’m sure you’ve noticed, team communication can be a total mess some days!
As a leader, it’s critical to commit yourself to mastering communication, and then lead it through modeling, teaching, and accountability.
Here are 7 ways to foster great communication on your team:
1. Care about the other person with your verbal communication
To have great communication skills, you have to start with caring for the other person.
Not only are they emotional beings, they’re also a child of the Highest God, which means He cares about how you treat them!
For communication’s sake, caring means that you are focused on leaning in the direction of the other person, so they can successfully understand what you’re saying.
This happens by understanding how they receive information, being calm and polite, focused and interested, and matching the mood or emotion of the situation.
You first have to understand the person you’re talking to. How do they receive information?
Do they prefer it in sound bites? Do they need a scroll that is 10 feet long? Do they need energy and excitement with it?
We are usually so focused on our own feelings that we don’t think about how difficult we make it for others when we communicate.
2. Be aware of your non-verbal communication
Your body language is constantly speaking. I am always watching body language to better understand what someone may be thinking or how they’re feeling.
Do they cross their legs towards somebody, or away from somebody? Do they put themselves in a position of power when they’re talking?
It’s important to monitor your own non-verbal communication because of what it may communicate to the other person.
Other non-verbal communications to be aware of are facial expressions, eye contact or lack thereof, posture, and gestures with your arms.
3. Focus on active listening
Great communicators are incredible listeners, not good listeners; they’re incredible listeners.
Crappy communicators cannot wait for the other person to take a breath, so they can speak. I’m sure you know these people. It may even be YOU!
If all you do is communicate what you think someone needs to hear without listening to them, how will you ever know if you’re communicating successfully?
4. Be patient
This means that you need to be patient with the other person, and if they don’t understand something or they have questions, know that you may not be doing a great job communicating.
Also, understand you may not be doing a great job leaning in their direction and communicating how THEIR personality style needs to hear information.
5. Ask questions to gain perspective
Questioning is all about gaining a perspective to better understand.
Gaining perspective is such a big deal on my team and with our clients that one of our Next-Level Mastermind clients had “Gaining Perspective” t-shirts made last year!!!
You know something’s taking root when t-shirts are made! It’s awesome!
Asking questions also shows people that you’re interested in them and you’re listening, which builds a lot of trust.
Practice asking questions. The more you do it… the better you’ll get.
6. Problem solve
To have high levels of quality communication, you have to be able to identify exactly what the problem is.
You do that by gaining information, not just talking or making statements about it, but gaining great perspective, listening, and being patient.
7. Control your emotions
Self-management is all about controlling your emotions and responding appropriately.
This goes back to caring about the other person, and not just responding however you want to.
In moments of frustration with a team member, ask yourself, “Is this my fault? Am I not doing a good job communicating? Am I the one to blame here?”
Always focus on how you’re contributing to bad communication.
If you want to have high levels of quality communication, be a great communicator, and lead your team well, commit to these 7 ideas. Find out more about this in our leadership content by joining our community below!!
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