What Makes Communication Crumble (and How to Rebuild)

Faithful on the Clock is a podcast with the mission of getting your work and faith aligned. We want you to understand Who you're serving and why so you can get more joy and legacy from every minute spent on the clock. Thanks for joining us and taking this step toward a more fulfilling job and relationship with God!Want to join us on social media? We'd love to have you stay up-to-date with the show on all our platforms!TwitterFacebookPinterestInstagramLinkedInYouTubeIn this episode...What Makes Communication Crumble (and How to Rebuild) Good communication is worth billions to the world’s companies. How can you avoid the most common communication blunders? Faithful on the Clock Episode 60 outlines the biggest problems that make interactions fall apart and advises leaders and employees on how to address each issue.Timestamps:[00:04] - Intro[00:38] - The first reason good communication is important is that poor communication costs businesses real money.[01:22] - Good communication also matters as a way to build and protect your own reputation.[01:53] - Communicating well can build or grow the morale of your team.[02:31] - The focus of the episode is not technical communication mistakes, but underlying issues that cause communication to falter.[02:53] - The first big communication problem is our egos. People often think it makes them look stupid to wait before responding, or they can genuinely think they’re better than others. Other problems, such as the brain’s design to look for shortcuts, can hurt others or convolute our message.[04:18] - Active listening is good advice for checking the ego, but there’s still a danger that if you focus on what you are learning, you’ll refocus back on yourself and your own growth again. Great communication is more about making the other person feel valued, not growing or solving problems. [05:50] - The second communication blunder is a lack of balance, which can be in both quantity (frequency) or quality (details). Assumption is the big driver behind this imbalance. Analytics tools can help center you, as can proactively seeking feedback about what people need.[07:04] - The third communication problem spot is letting emotions drive. Emotions fire faster than logic, and it’s easy for stress to shut down the rational centers of the brain. So it’s important to be an anchor for others, using the science of mirror neurons to cue them to be calm. You also need to pay attention to when to communicate and not let your emotions prompt you to reveal information at the wrong time.[08:59] - The fourth communication hurdle is role confusion or poor delegation. Leaders who lack real vision can fail to give clarity as they delegate, even as they expect results. This forces those underneath them to step into new responsibilities without certainty that they really should do so. Being clear that you need more direction counts, and on the employer side, take the time to build a system of checks and balances for accountability.[11:37] - Problem recap[12:11] - Prayer[12:58] - Outro/What’s coming up next