The dangers of imaginary communication
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How do we overcome what is arguably the most dangerous of all leadership and interpersonal failures?
Effective communication is one of the pillars of leadership. This includes writing, public speaking and conversations.
Sometimes we fall short as leaders because we don’t communicate at all. Other times the quality of the communication is problem.
There’s nothing wrong with imperfect communication though. Perfection isn’t attainable and “done” almost always beats “perfect”. The road to effective communication starts with imperfection. The key is improving over time.
Improvement requires practice and feedback. Ask people how they feel a meeting, conversation or presentation went. Make a habit of reading your own writing. Ask people you respect to read it and tell you how to improve it.
A desire to grow and a belief that you can improve will help you avoid one of the biggest problems in all of communication: The illusion that it has taken place.
This is arguably the most dangerous of all leadership and interpersonal failures. It will hamper projects, harm relationships and hinder progress.
Three ways I try to overcome this:
Sometimes we fall short as leaders because we don’t communicate at all. Other times the quality of the communication is problem.
There’s nothing wrong with imperfect communication though. Perfection isn’t attainable and “done” almost always beats “perfect”. The road to effective communication starts with imperfection. The key is improving over time.
Improvement requires practice and feedback. Ask people how they feel a meeting, conversation or presentation went. Make a habit of reading your own writing. Ask people you respect to read it and tell you how to improve it.
A desire to grow and a belief that you can improve will help you avoid one of the biggest problems in all of communication: The illusion that it has taken place.
This is arguably the most dangerous of all leadership and interpersonal failures. It will hamper projects, harm relationships and hinder progress.
Three ways I try to overcome this:
- In writing - Before sending or posting I ask: Does this make sense? Is it clear?
- In presentations - I almost never put lots of text on a single slide.
- In conversations - I reflect back saying “What I hear you saying is ABC, is that right?”
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