Learn how to build a culture of clear communication to empower your teams and thrive in any situation.
Strong communication is a business' secret weapon for navigating challenges. While the pandemic presented difficulties for everyone, effective communication separated the winners from the rest. These organizations fostered a culture of clear and consistent communication, allowing them to adapt to any situation, good or bad. That’s still the case today.
In this episode, Daniel Tardy, Executive Vice President of EntreLeadership at Ramsey Solution, will teach us how great companies communicate to create clarity, alignment, and focus among leaders and team members.
Here are some takeaways he shared:
1. The first component of internal communication is pre-communication.
Pre-communication sets the foundation for successful teamwork. It defines your working style and expectations upfront, typically during onboarding through the employee handbook and job descriptions.
Clear pre-communication minimizes future issues, making it a crucial element of effective communication.
Daniel mentioned that the number one communication mistake we make is assuming it has occurred.
2. The second component of internal communication is ongoing communication.
Your organization's meeting rhythm is key to ongoing communication. This includes regular meetings — all-hands, staff, project — and one-on-ones, all strategically planned to foster connection.
Whether it's the entire team, departments, or individual check-ins, prioritize opportunities for open communication across all levels.
3. The third component of internal communication is pull-push communication.
Empower two-way communication with pull-push methods. EntreLeadership suggests a weekly report system where team members share accomplishments, challenges and progress.
This keeps everyone informed — employees feel heard, and leaders gain valuable insights into their work.
Communication, in leadership, is so much more about listening, inquiring and empathizing than it is about telling people what to do and where to go.
Keeping this in mind, consider these questions:
What is something you can do in your upcoming meetings to increase the amount of time you listen and decrease the time you spend speaking?
When have you incorrectly assumed you communicated well to someone else? Looking back at that experience, what’s something you do differently today?
How are you and your organization doing with the three components of communication, and what’s one thing you can do from your role in the organization to improve in each of the categories?
And in this episode, Daniel reminds us of the key lessons in Steven Covey’s book, The Speed of Trust. It’s that organizations thrive on trust.
Your organization’s culture hinges on communication. He emphasizes that strong communication is the cornerstone of building trust and fostering relationships. This, in turn, fuels a robust company culture where teams can nimbly tackle internal and external challenges.
As a next step, consider joining the EntreLeadership business coaching program or dip your toes in the water and start with Dave Ramsey’s EntreLeadership book.