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Leadership Attributes: Communicating Effectively

The need to communicate effectively is important in every aspect of our lives, and it is an especially important attribute for leaders. Much could be said about this subject. Here are just a few thoughts on effective communications:

Leaders need to realize when communication should be face to face. Just as author Gary Chapman is famous for writing about our “love languages”, I believe we all have a primary communication language. Leaders are aware of those who are slow to read their emails, and yet almost instantly respond to a text message. My preferred communication language is email, but I realize that in certain situations a text message can be more effective. However, more important than what our communication preference is, is the means of communication required for a particular situation. If you are dealing with a sensitive issue, or what some refer to as a “crucial conversation”, your communication should be face to face if possible. If that is not possible, a Zoom call or phone call might be the next best option. Sending an email or text may be the easiest or most convenient option, but it’s probably not the best means of communication in those situations.

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4 More Thoughts on Communication

Patrick Lencioni QuoteI recently shared some thoughts about communication. You can read that article here. I’ve been helped in this area by the books of Patrick Lencioni, specifically The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Death by Meeting, The Three Signs of a Miserable Job and The Advantage. Here are a few additional thoughts about the important subject of communication.

  1. Be direct in your communications. Don’t be so vague that your message doesn’t come through. Have you ever had a meeting with someone and when the meeting was over you didn’t know if you had just received some constructive criticism or not because the message was so vague? That could be a result of a lack of leadership courage from the person delivering the message. Sometimes people soften up their message because they are afraid to deliver the much-needed message. However, that can lead to the message being completely ineffective. Do you have that problem at times? You need to be direct so that your communication is effective. Be prepared, stick to the facts, make good eye contact and confidently deliver the message you need to communicate.
  2. Confirm decisions at the end of meetings. Patrick Lencioni has stated that meetings are critical to an organization because it is where leaders spend approximately 25% of their time. But have you ever left a long meeting not knowing exactly what had been decided in the meeting? By then, you may just be glad that the meeting is over with. That’s why he recommends that at the end of every meeting, a team should explicitly review the key decisions made and agree on what needs to be communicated and to whom. Is this something that you do as well? Another thought is to list the decisions made and actions expected in the meeting minutes.
  3. A lack of communication. Have you ever been part of a team, but found yourself left out of the communications, either intentionally or unintentionally? It doesn’t feel good. I’ve run into that myself recently. You have to take the initiative and bring this to the attention of the person in charge if you expect anything to change, and then hold the person accountable if you find that you are not receiving the appropriate information. Have you ever run into that situation? If so, how did you handle it?
  4. Frequent communication. In Lencioni’s book The Three Signs of a Miserable Job, he introduces us to the concept of anonymity. It is a concept that has stuck with me since I first read the book several years ago. He tells us that people cannot be fulfilled in their work if they are not known, and that people who see themselves as invisible, generic or anonymous cannot love their jobs, no matter what they are doing. You need to know your team members as people, not just as a member of your team. I wrote about this in my article “5 Ways to Know Your Team Members Better, which you can read here. The way you get to know your team members is to communicate with them. If you don’t communicate with them on a frequent basis they will wonder if you even care about them. A good leader cares about his team members, about who they are, and not just what they can do for the organization. How do you assure through frequent communications that anonymity is not a problem in your organization?

Again, I can’t over emphasize the importance of good communications in every facet of life. I’ve now shared eight thoughts on communications with you. What additional thoughts do you have on the subject of effective communications?


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4 Thoughts on Communications

Brian Tracy quote on communicationAs each day goes by I become more and more convinced of the importance of good communications in every facet of life. I hear every day at work how a lack of good communication impacts productivity and/or morale. Good communication is important in non-profit or church situations, and of course in family or personal relationships.  To be effective, we need to communicate effectively.

There is much to be said on this subject, and I’ll have additional articles in the future. For now, I want to share four initial thoughts:

  1. Know when communication should be face to face. Just as Gary Chapman writes about our “love languages”, I believe we also have a primary communication language. You’re probably aware of those people who don’t respond to your emails, but almost instantly respond when you send them a text message. Other people prefer to communicate verbally on the phone. My communication language is email. But surpassing what our communication preference is, is the means of communication required for a particular situation. If you’re dealing with a sensitive issue, or what is referred to as a “crucial conversation”, your communication should be face to face if possible. If that is not possible, the next best means would be a phone call. Sending an email may be easiest or most convenient, but it’s probably not the best means of communication in those situations. Have you had situations when you sent an email when you really should have met face to face, or if that wasn’t possible picked up the phone?
  2. Tone in electronic communications. Related to the above item, the tone of an electronic (email or text) communication is open to interpretation by those who receive them. The tone that the receiver interprets is often based on their relationship with the person who sent the communication. For example, if I have a great relationship with you and you send me an email, I may not think anything about it. However, if I receive the exact same email from a colleague that I’ve had conflict with in the past, I may take it completely differently. So use good judgement about when to use electronic communications. If you have to communicate in this manner, and if it is with someone that you have not had the best relationship with in the past, even if the communication is routine in your eyes, be careful of how the receiver may interpret it. After you write it, read it from their perspective. How might they receive it? Then edit it as necessary until you are comfortable with it. Have you found yourself “reading” in a tone that perhaps may not be there because of who the communication is from?
  3. Communication to clarify roles and responsibilities on a team. Over the past few months I’ve heard of a few situations in which team dysfunction could have been eliminated and team harmony increased if the leaders would have taken the time to clarify roles and responsibilities of the team. By not doing so led to conflict, suspicion and dysfunction. If you are a leader, remember to do this, especially with a new team or when new team members are added to an existing team. If you are team member and see that this is needed, press your leader to do so. Have you been on teams when the lack of communication about roles and responsibilities has negatively impacted the team?
  4. To be effective, communication must be timely. My aim is to provide information in a timely manner with those I work with. There may be times I receive feedback on, or need to provide feedback to, a team member. I try to share that feedback promptly, rather than waiting for our next scheduled meeting. In other situations, I will receive information that others need in order to perform their jobs effectively.  I owe it to them to get the information to them as soon as possible. There are many other situations in which it’s important to communicate in a timely manner. What are some examples that you can think of?

These are a few initial thoughts about good communications. More will come later in future articles. For now, what thoughts do you have on the subject of effective communications?