Everyone Speaks... Not Everyone Is Heard

Have you ever felt like your communication efforts with people are innefective? Or maybe your intended message was not received the way it was meant to be?  What would your team look like if everyone was able to contribute to the discussion and be heard around the table.  According to statistics, 57% of employees report not being given clear directions and 69% of managers are not comfortable communicating with employees in general.

KNOW YOURSELF TO LEAD YOURSELF

Effective communication in the workplace can lead to a culture of high performance.  Often times messages are not received the way they are intended. Unfortunately, this can lead to a breakdown in team communication or ruin collaborative efforts. Being deliberate in our actions can greatly improve communication with employees and co-workers.  It all begins with a simple term called know yourself to lead yourself.  When we make an effort to become aware of our tendencies, we can truly understand how they result in patterns that shape our actions.  Our actions have consequences that in-turn become a reality.  But if we make an attempt to identify and understand our tendencies, we can intentionally reshape our actions or responses to achieve a more positive outcome.

MY "A-HA" MOMENT

Early on in my military career as a supervisor, I had a tendency to respond to someone before they were finished speaking to me. I was so passionate about my response and what I wanted to say, I unintentionally disregarded their input. This led to a breakdown in communication as staff members felt as though their opinions didn't matter. Meetings became shorter and quieter, conversations halted when I entered the room, and people stopped coming to me for assistance or guidance. I had lost the pulse of my team. Once I realized this, I knew that I had to make some adjustments to myself. I began actively listening by allowing them to finish their thoughts, I stopped formulating a response in my head while they were still talking, I asked open ended questions, and summarized what they were saying. These simple techniques greatly improved our communication and allowed me to truly value what each persons contribution to the team.

THE 5 VOICES

The key to understanding how we communicate is to realize what our foundational voices are.  We all have default patterns of reacting to certain things, which is ultimately shaped by our upbringing.  For example, there are pioneers, connectors, guardians, creatives, and nurturers.  Understanding the five voices allows us to understand how we communicate with others, it is almost like looking at yourself in a mirror.  Pioneers are champions of strategic vision, results focused, and problem solving.  Connectors are great at relational networks, collaboration, and effective communication. Guardians are champions of due diligence, resources, and efficient systems and processes.  Creatives are champions of future ideas, innovation, and organization integrity.  Nurturers are champions of people, relational harmony, and values.

The voice volume of nurtures, creatives, and guardians are much lower than pioneers and connectors.  With that said, more than 80% of the population is made up of the three voices with the lower volumes.  Essentially, sometimes people can shut down others without even knowing.  Understanding how we communicate with others and how others communicate can create healthy working relationships and bring out the best in each other. If you would like to learn more about how these foundational voices can assist you, schedule your FREE 30-minute strategy call.

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