Why Is Effective Communication Important?
Since we recently worked through some of the most effective communication skills, including the critical part active listening plays in that, let’s press forward now and take a look at why effective communication is so important in everything we do.
If you’ve ever been through some of the sessions Cindy and I have hosted, you’ve likely heard me explain the most powerful lesson I ever learned about communication - and you probably remember that I learned it from a veterinarian! I won’t take the time to detail that again here but it’s a great analogy so you’re welcome to reach out if you haven’t heard it…
Not too long ago, Cindy took her dad to an eye doctor appointment. Those had previously been at a VA Clinic nearly two hours away but she was able to get an exception approved allowing him to be seen locally since he can no longer drive (safely) and she’s nearly always to one who takes him to his appointments. As he was attempting to complete the new patient forms, he was struggling to fill out the correct places on the page and he couldn’t hear the receptionists instruction through her mask and the plexiglass barrier separating. Each time he paused to ask for clarification, she barked commands at him about what he should apparently have known. After this happened a few more times, Cindy politely let her know that speaking to him this way just wasn’t acceptable. The only saving grace during the appointment was that the care staff and the doctor were all exceptional.
Cindy was in the same office soon after that for her own check up. As she was waiting to be seen, she overheard a gentleman who was close to her dad’s age speaking with the same receptionist about his elderly mother. His mother was being transported to the office by the staff at the senior living facility she lived at and they were running about fifteen minutes late. The gentleman asked if he could get started on the new patient forms for his mother since he would be filling them out for her anyway, knowing that this would take some time and hoping to avoid the appointment being any later than necessary. The bundle-of-joy receptionist proceeded to berate him in front of God and everybody, “That’s not what we do here. We have a policy and we’re sticking with it.” Cindy was called back for her appointment soon after that. When she was leaving, that fellow and his mother were still working on those forms…
Why is effective communication important? The message we intend to send and the message someone receives can be remarkably different. Whether it’s a customer or client, an employee, or even a family member, making sure what they hear matches what we need them to hear can make a tremendous difference in everything that happens from that point forward! Just like The Model of Human Behavior plays a key role in how we listen effectively, understanding our own unique communication style - when things are going great as well as when we’re under stress - can be a huge help as we work to ensure the message we’re attempting to send is received the as we hope!
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 just shared with a few examples Cindy experienced firsthand, 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.
Return On Investment
We started by looking at how the message we send can be so much different from what we intend if we’re not incredibly intentional about crafting it to specifically match the communication style of the other person. Then we looked at why effective communication is absolutely critical for anyone with leadership responsibility; “Leadership is influence. Nothing More, Nothing Less!” Those two reasons alone should make a strong case for why effective communication is important! But just in case you need one more reason, let’s think about how communicating the right message to each person around us really impacts the results we achieve…
Periodically, Cindy and I offer a complimentary webinar called Building Buy-In Around a Clear Mission & Vision, a message we’ll be tailoring for the folks who join us at the 2021 LIVE2LEAD:Harrisonburg Experience on Oct 22, where we share several ideas a leader can apply as the communicate their vision with their team in a way that earns genuine buy-in from every single person they interact with. I recently read a Harvard Business Review article that suggested “increased commitment can lead to a 57% improvement in discretionary effort. That greater effort produces, on average, a 20% individual performance improvement.”
Let me be VERY transparent with you here: I’ve never felt like I had any natural talent in any area. That said, I’ve worked as hard as I know how for more than 20 years to develop my communication skills. I’ve been very intentional about developing relationships with everyone I possibly can wherever I’ve worked and within each team Cindy and I serve. I believe I saw some of the results of that this past Saturday, and at least a 57% improvement on discretionary effort!
Cindy and I have lived in our home for over 21 years. It was a small starter home when we had it built in late 1999. As with any home, there comes a time where the roof needs replaced. I’ve helped put dozens of roofs on in my career, but ALL of those were about 100 pounds ago and I had only been a crew member. I needed help for this task!
I spoke with a friend we do some work for who owns a construction company to see if he would be OK with me approaching a couple of his team members about doing the roof as a side project since it wasn’t something his company normally did. He was. During the time I’ve worked with his team, I wanted to add as much value to each of them individually as I possibly could and that yielded some good friendships in the process. To keep this example as simple as possible, two of the foremen from my friend’s company - who typically work 10-hour days Monday through Friday - showed up at my house around 7a last Saturday and put the entire roof on by 7p. My son and I helped where we could but we knew enough to stay out of their way when we needed to!
Effective communication didn’t pay the entire bill, I was more than happy to cut the checks for the amazing job they did, but I do think effective communication paved the way for it to even be possible! When we invest the time and effort into delivering a message that matters to the other person, we show that we value them and we begin earning influence with them. Over time, that influence compounds into a relationship that produces results. Whether it’s with the people we work with on a daily basis or our family members who count on us, that additional discretionary effort we see from working to communicate effectively pays huge dividends!
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