COMMUNICATIONS

Communication with your team

Never forget that as the leader, your communication sets the tone for the interaction among your people. 
The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork.              John C. Maxwell

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John W. Gardner observed, “If I had to name a single all-purpose instrument of leadership, it would be communication.” If you cannot communicate, you will not lead others effectively.
    If you lead your team, give yourself three standards to live by as you communicate to your people.​

• Be consistent- Nothing frustrates team members more than leaders who can’t make up their minds.
• Be Clear- Your team cannot execute if they don’t know what you want. Don’t try to dazzle anyone with your intelligence; impress them with your simple straightforwardness.
• Be Courteous- Everyone deserves to be shown respect, no matter what their position or what kind of history you might have with them. If you are courteous to your people, you set a tone for the entire organization.

Communicate:
“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”   Ephesians 4:29

An important component of communications is listening. The book of Proverbs is attested to the wisest man, King Solomon. Chapter five of that book reads, “My son, give attention to my wisdom, incline your ear to my understanding; that you may observe discretion, and your lips may reserve knowledge.”

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     During the era of the breakup of the USSR I was introduced to Sergei, a young man who became a good friend as well as a great translator for me. I recall traveling on a train in his country Ukraine, looking out the window at the countryside and he asked me about America. About what it looked like traveling on a train. He asked, “does it look like this?” Well it does across great stretches of our beautiful country, but in the urban areas it reveals the ugly industrial and poor areas. He was asking because he had been accepted as a student at a Seminary in Colorado, a beautiful state in America.

​     All this to share a story about listening. We were both in Colorado when he arrived for his studies and a conference call was scheduled so I could introduce him to many of the influential friends I knew who would be an encouragement to him while studying in America. In the half hour I introduced him and asked him some questions and asked other on the call for questions. I thought it went very well. Some weeks later my boss informed me in a conversation that one of the men on the call criticized me for talking too much.

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• Be Courteous-  I never knew the man’s agenda for making his comment to my boss, but he did, and it caused me to review the agenda and process of the call. His comments did help me to be careful about how others in a conversation or a conference call are connected to the discussion. We live and we learn, sometime by our mistakes.​

   
​                         Encourage your team:                

• 2 Samuel 19:7   Now go out and encourage your men. I swear by the Lord that if you don’t go out, not a man will be left with you by nightfall. This will be worse for you than all the calamities that have come on you from your youth till now.”

• Acts 20:1   "When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them, said goodbye and set out for Macedonia." 

• Acts 13:14-15  From Perga they went on to Pisidian Antioch. On the Sabbath they entered the synagogue and sat down.  After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the leaders of the synagogue sent word to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have a word of exhortation for the people, please speak.”