When Misunderstanding Turns Up — Day 21 of 365 Leadership Blogging

Communication really is key however if the sender and receiver are not on the same page, then assumptions creep in and the message can get lost. This is how misunderstanding turns up.

As a small business, it really pays to keep clear communications flowing between your team. The positive benefits include an increase in trust, loyalty, productivity and relationships. More importantly, is to utilise those attributes to have conversations that really matter. These are the conversations that start with why and end with how.

Why

Why is a great starting point because it makes everyone think about the reason for, say, getting together to discuss a new product. The focus doesn’t have to be on the product but more on why we need to get together. The why sets the purpose of getting together and having everyone on the same page. It also should clarify the thinking behind the project or initiative such as will this project address a problem.

What if

What if is usually our next step. This helps us to lift the limits off our thinking and step outside of the box for a while. What if allows us to think about “what if we had an automated system to offer our clients, how much value would that create?” At this stage, the ideas flow nicely.

What could it look like

What could it look like? This next phase helps us to pin down ideas that are more realistic. Having great ideas is fun and exploring the possibilities can be an endless dream however one must come down from the clouds at some point. And this is a good place to do it. We refer to this phase as the vision making process or vision boards. It helps to crystallise ideas and also forces the decision making process for any stragglers still sitting on the fence.

How

How is the defining question that most people avoid but if neglected, nothing happens. This is where planning and goals come in to give life to your vision. It’s the fuel in the fire and is essential if you want to move forward. The allocation of time, resources, skills, tools all come into play here.

Note that some people are more in tune to certain questions than others and that’s OK. Good leaders will play to the individual strengths of team members and still be a formidable force to drive an initiative home. It is key to communicate effectively but it’s even more essential to have conversations that matter and challenge the status quo of limiting beliefs.

If you would like to find out more how we set leaders up to have meaningful conversations, leave a comment below.