A Critical Doer generates motion from “why” more than “what”
Nothing reflects your understanding of “why” more than the way you communicate. The way you communicate not only reflects your position on a subject, it also reflects a certain level of maturity when it comes to situational awareness of timing, environment, and the person talking with you. Your choices in how you communicate can quite literally leave you DEAD…or…ALIVE.
In part 1 of this two part series on communication, let’s go ahead and get the negative out of the way and address some communication errors that will leave you DEAD…in caps because it’s an acronym for the “four communication horsemen of apocalypse.”
- D — drama: A consistent pattern of making problems and opportunities bigger than they really are will erode your credibility over time. Your boss, customer, or family is dealing with a number of issues just like you; an accurate assessment will get to a better solution faster than overstating the situation and dealing with the ensuing confusion.
- E – emotion: Emotion kills. I believe humans having something akin to a manifold in the brain. The default position of the manifold is to logic, but factors such as task saturation or lack of knowledge (to name just a couple) can move the manifold to a flow of feeling that is decoupled from logic. This is a great opportunity to make sure you understand the difference between passion and emotion. Passion demonstrates depth of commitment to a logical position…passion and reason can peacefully coexist. Emotion is raw feeling that most often defies logic…emotion and reason are sworn enemies that cannot peacefully coexist. Emotion crosses the line from professional to personal…whatever it takes, don’t go there if you hope to be a doer.
- A — arrogance. When the messenger becomes more important than the message…”Houston, we have a problem.” We’ve all dealt with the salesman that didn’t have time to tell you about the product because they were too busy telling you about themselves. Zig Ziglar famously wrote in The Art of Selling, “you can feed your ego or you can feed your family.” Wise words from a wise man.
- D — deceit. Accepting up front that telling the truth is right and lying is wrong…there is nothing to be gained long term from pitching curveballs to further your cause. Truth is eventually exposed and all scores are evened. There is a metaphor about building your house on a firm foundation to stand the test of time. For a critical doer, that firm foundation is truth.
Now that you’ve met the four communication horsemen of apocalypse and understand how communication can leave you DEAD, take a close look at your own situation or that of a friend or coworker and see of one of the horsemen is limiting the ability to do. Use this framework as a way to effect change in a positive way and increase your capacity to do.
In the next post, we’ll follow how communication can leave you DEAD with how communication can keep you ALIVE! Put today’s thoughts into action; it’s what a Critical Doer would…do!
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