Nothing More, Nothing Less!

Whether it’s what we intend or not, the message we send someone is a huge part of why effective communication is so important! If we want strong relationships that yield overall happy lives, we have to be very intentional about delivering a message the person we’re interacting with can receive rather than just what we want or need to get across. As I shared with a few examples last time, this is often far easier said than done BUT it can become very simple when we apply the right tools…

Effective communication is important to each of us every single day. But guess who has the most to gain (or lose) when it comes to answering the Why is Effective Communication Important? Question…

Since I’m not nearly as patient as Cindy wishes I would be, I’ll just answer that question for you! Anyone who’s accepted leadership responsibility has a tremendous amount to gain or to lose from the energy they invest into each message they share. For the last twenty years, I’ve heard John Maxwell stress that “EVERYTHING rises and falls on leadership.” In so many cases, folks assume they’re leading just because they’re in a position with some level of authority. Interestingly enough, John nearly always follows that last statement by emphasizing that “Leadership is influence. Nothing more, nothing less.” When someone has authority but little influence, it’s only a matter of time until the people around them are drawn away to someone who has earned influence with them.

I’ll ask again, Why is Effective Communication Important? When we work to develop our communication skills AND we’re intentional about crafting our message so it meets the needs of the person(s) we’re communicating with, we’re actually placing value on them. When we show that we value the other person enough to communicate with them in a way that they want to be communicated with (I typically refer to this as The Platinum Rule), we earn influence with them. Over time, that influence grows into leadership. If we’re also in a position of authority, that influence turns into buy-in and respect. If that just happens to be in an employment relationship, we may even see a magical thing called engagement! And if we’re willing to earn that influence consistently, it’s just a matter of time until we see it show up in one more place. We’ll look at that next time though...