109: 4 Strategies for Effective Communication

1. 66% of managers feel uncomfortable communicating with their employees. And as a result, 80% of employees feel stressed because of poor communication. 

2. Connection, expectations, context, and courage are the four most important things leaders need to communicate well with their teams.

3. To build connection, leaders need to practice transparency and vulnerability. And these traits are even more important if you’re leading a remote or hybrid team.

Matt Seaton on LinkedIn 

Getting Naked by Patrick Lencioni

BELAY Accounting Services

(2:20) Matt explains why dogs are his favorite animals

(4:51) Why is it so important for leaders to be strong communicators?

(6:51) Matt shares four necessities for clear communication

(7:41) What does it look like for leaders to build connection with hybrid teams?

(13:12) How to establish clear expectations with your team

(17:18) What does it mean to provide context around your expectations?

(19:27) Matt explains why leaders need to communicate with courage 

(23:18) This week’s one next step: Download a free copy of our new eBook, “Lead Anyone from Anywhere.”

Ryan Fitzgerald:

Hey, y’all. Ryan here, and before we get started, I have to tell you about a special, limited-time offer from BELAY. At BELAY, we know that time is money, and now through the end of August, we’re doing something that will allow you to save on both. For the first time ever, we’re offering $300 off your startup cost with a BELAY virtual assistant. $300. All you have to do is book a call with our sales team by August 31st to qualify. There’s no better time than now to accomplish more and juggle less. Head to BELAYSolutions.com to get started.

Matt Seaton:

It was a Harvard business review article mentioned something in the neighborhood of 80% of employees are feeling stressed because of poor communication. And that number really stuck with me. As a servant-hearted leader, this is the last thing that I want for my teams and those people I’m leading. There’s so many other things in a business that can cause stress. Being stressed because of communication’s something that we as leaders really can address quickly and turn around. We have to be better here.

Ryan Fitzgerald:

Welcome to One Next Step, the most practical business podcast in the world. You’re now one simple tip practical tool and small step away from growing your business. One Next Step is brought to you by Belay, the incredible 100% remote organization, revolutionizing productivity with virtual assistance, bookkeepers and social media managers. Accomplish more, juggle less. Modern staffing from Belay. And now to your hosts.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Welcome to One Next Step, the practical business podcast that helps you run your business so it stops running you. I’m LZ, and I’m joined, as always, by my friend, Ryan Fitzgerald. Hey, Ryan.

Ryan Fitzgerald:

Hey, LZ. How are you doing today?

Lisa Zeeveld:

I’m amazing.

Ryan Fitzgerald:

That is awesome. I’m looking forward to the conversation today. I think it’s going to be a great one.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Yeah, me too. Matt Seaton, who’s our vice president of operations, is world class. And I think he’s got so much to offer today around communication. What he’s going to be sharing is some practical strategies you can use to minimize misunderstandings and start seeing more results that you’re looking for.

Ryan Fitzgerald:

Speaking of misunderstandings, LZ, let’s talk about busyness. Because, despite what conversations might suggest as of late, there is no award for most busy. Busy has become an aspirational badge of honor, but busy rarely ever equals productive. And that’s where Belay, the incredible organization, revolutionizing productivity with subscription based virtual assistant, bookkeeping, and social media strategist services, can help. You can cut the busy and reclaim 15 hours every week when you delegate just five tasks. Accomplish more, juggle, less modern staffing from Belay. Now let’s get into it.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Hey hey, Matt. Welcome to One Next Step. How are you?

Matt Seaton:

I’m great. Thanks for having me today. How are you doing?

Lisa Zeeveld:

I’m good. I’m good. It’s always a great day when you join the podcast, so I’m excited.

Matt Seaton:

Me too. Me too. Happy to be here. Happy to talk about communication today.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Yeah, fantastic. I was sitting here trying to think of what would be a really fun question-

Matt Seaton:

Oh no.

Lisa Zeeveld:

… to help our audience get to know you better. And I feel like I know you, we’ve worked together a little bit, and this was something I honestly could not answer myself. So the question for you today is what is your favorite animal and why?

Matt Seaton:

Oh, well that, one’s actually pretty easy. I’m surprised we haven’t talked about it.

Lisa Zeeveld:

No, don’t say dog. Don’t say dog.

Matt Seaton:

It’s totally a dog. It’s absolutely a dog.

Lisa Zeeveld:

No, I knew that answer. I wanted you to…

Matt Seaton:

Your faithful servant, your companion, the one who is laying in your office snoring during a podcast. Those are… That’s my animal. That’s my jam. I’ve got two labs. So they are very much so a part of our family. Yeah, definitely. Definitely been dog people.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Yeah. No, I knew you were going to say that, but I was thinking maybe you were going to come out with a cheetah or something wild like, I don’t know, an antelope.

Matt Seaton:

No. Those are all great animals, but those are your favorite animals. Love to hear the story about the why. For me and my family, we’re dog people.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Dog people. No, I think most of us would be dog people. Because, then again, how can you relate to something that you really haven’t lived with? And I think, when you’re a true dog person, domesticated animals, I think it’s hard not to say that because you build such a bond with them.

Matt Seaton:

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

Lisa Zeeveld:

I just don’t know that the giraffe would like how I sleep at night. Is that a thing?

Matt Seaton:

Yeah. Are you going to let it sleep at the foot of the bed?

Lisa Zeeveld:

Right.

Matt Seaton:

Probably not. Yeah.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Probably not. Yeah. I feel like the elephant would be a little messy.

Matt Seaton:

Yeah.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Well, hey, you know what? That actually can take us right into communication because, in order to figure out whether the animal would be right your home or not, you’d have to communicate with it.

Matt Seaton:

Exactly. You and your significant other better be walking hand-in-hand. You better have some very clear, transparent conversations-

Lisa Zeeveld:

That’s right.

Matt Seaton:

… about your animal of choice.

Lisa Zeeveld:

That’s right. Well, okay. So that’s a little bit of a stretch, but seriously, when it comes to communication, it’s a super, super important topic for leaders. And I’d love just to hear your viewpoint on why. So taking out the animal, why do you think it’s so important for leaders to be good communicators?

Matt Seaton:

Oh my gosh. So clear communication’s really a two-way street. It’s so important. We do a lot of reading and research here at Belay, and I think there was an article a couple years ago that stuck out with me. I think it was a Harvard business review article mentioned something in the neighborhood of 80% of employees are feeling stressed because of poor communication. And that number really stuck with me. As a servant-hearted leader, this is the last thing that I want for my teams and those people I’m leading. There’s so many other things in a business that can cause stress. Being stressed because of communication’s something that we as leaders really can address quickly and turn around. We have to be better here. It’s definitely one of those things that I feel passionate about.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Yeah, absolutely. Well, and I think it was a similar article that I read that talked about, was it 66% of managers feel uncomfortable-

Matt Seaton:

No.

Lisa Zeeveld:

… communicating with their employees? I’m like, what? Now that plays into your 80%.

Matt Seaton:

Yeah.

Lisa Zeeveld:

They’re stressed because their leader actually doesn’t want to do it. And that was just shocking to me.

Matt Seaton:

So that’s definitely a gap. When you think about the post-pandemic world, you really have to work on communication. So many of us are now working remote, we can’t just pop into an office. And if 66% of managers are feeling uncomfortable having those courageous transparent conversations, can definitely understand why 80% of the employees are stressed.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Yeah, definitely. Well, what are the four necessities you think that we have to have in order to make sure that our teams understand what we’re saying, and ultimately that that can give us the results that we’re looking for?

Matt Seaton:

Yeah. Well, these four are hard to get right all the time. You really got to work on them, but I think they really start with building a connection. You step into a new role, you step into a new team, you really have to build that connection with them so that you can really follow up with being able to set clear expectations, have the appropriate context around conversations. And, to your point, as managers, become comfortable with courageous conversations. Having some of those more difficult ones, I think, would really be the last necessity that we have to do better at.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Yeah. And can you take a minute maybe and define what a connection means? Because I think that that’s probably an area that a lot of leaders are also uncomfortable with, is when it comes to connection. I think that especially, in the generation of our parents or our grandparents, you went to work to work, you did not go to work to have a connection. And so a lot of us learned how to be leaders from the people that we watched, who were typically our elders, and we’re not sure what is the appropriate way to make a connection. So what would you say to that?

Matt Seaton:

Connection’s hard. When you’re stepping into a new seat, I think the thing that makes it most difficult is really, as a leader, the transparency and vulnerability that you have to come to the table, palms up. You really have to work to build that connection. And it’s just as important as all the other aspects of the relationship. But one of the great resources that we provide are leaders here at Belay, and I just love his material, is Patrick Lencioni’s book called Getting Naked. It’s just a great resource. The model that he lays out is that relationships are built on vulnerability, which means really, as leaders, we really have to drive connection while embracing the transparency, and the uncomfortableness, and a little bit of humility at times, with our teams. I just love that resource.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Yeah. Are there any tools that you would recommend because, like you said, post-pandemic there’s a lot of teams that are working virtually, that they have teams who are in-person… Hybrid models, they’re in person and they work virtually. And so I would imagine that that’s probably causing some leaders some stress when we say, “Hey, go make connection.” And they’re like, “Oh, I don’t even know how to do that.” And then you throw in that I’ve got teams spread out everywhere. From a technology perspective, are there really good tools for that? Or what have we used at Belay? Or what have you seen?

Matt Seaton:

Yeah, I think technology’s part of it, but part of it is just really the leader has to really embrace it and understand that you just have to get out front and lead with transparency and vulnerability. You mentioned some of the things that Belay, here, we in our culture have a great way to build connection. On Fridays we share transparently our highs and lows with our teams. And I think that’s successful because folks like yourself and me and other leaders just really drive that as the culture in our organization. It’s a great way to celebrate success, but also to really remind everybody that we are all just human and we’re all dealing with something.

Matt Seaton:

In my team, I really do try to be an open book, share not only what’s on my plate on the business, but what is also on my heart. And I think one of the things that we do within my team to really help build a very strong, connected team is the way that we open our team meetings. We introduce our team meetings with a fun fact, something to prompt smiles, build a connection, just an icebreaker, because we don’t have that water cooler time and that that time in passing in the hallways, in the break room. And so that’s one of the things that we like to do that’s a little bit of fun and helps build a little bit of comradery in the team.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Yeah. And I feel like we use a lot of memes and gifs to communicate.

Matt Seaton:

Yeah.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Kind of getting a smile on people’s faces. And just the occasional, “Hey, how are you doing today? What’s up with you?” Or, to your point, when we share our highs and lows and somebody has something that’s big in their life, whether it’s a big celebration, a big change, sad or happy, that we can reach out to them and say, “Hey congratulations,” or, “I’ve been through something similar and I know how that feels.”

Ryan Fitzgerald:

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Matt Seaton:

Yeah. And another big thing just in our DNA, in our culture, is our value of gratitude. As a leader, we are definitely drivers here. You have to be humble. You have to be on the lookout for how to just build that connectivity, how to use those words of affirmation to really connect with the folks that you’re leading. And I think that’s… It’s probably one of the values that I really try to strive and find ways to express, because I think it just does build some of that connectivity.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Yeah. I love that. How about establishing clear expectations? What are some things that we could do to do that?

Matt Seaton:

You have to do that from day one. Your team members have to know what’s important to you. If it’s something like their productivity, on day one, did you give them a clear job description? Do you have clear, concrete, measurable KPIs and metrics? Is it how they show up at work? Is it their availability? Make sure that you let them know when they should be online. Especially in this hybrid, post-pandemic work mode really set the ground rules for when you, as a leader, expect their availability in a business. And that’s, again, another two way street of connection. You’re sharing that same thing from your side.

Matt Seaton:

And it could be simple. There’s simple tools we take for granted. An out-of-office message. In your email, send an out-of-office message if you’re not there. You also have to think of some of the other communication tools that we have as well. We were just talking about it very recently, set your notifications in Slack and Team just really over-communicate availability. So that helps just… That’s the expectation of my team, is really over-communicate that.

Matt Seaton:

Another great example, when we talk about clear expectations here at Belay, is we believe, it’s a principle of ours, that you have your cameras on in meetings. The way that we set that expectation is on day one. When we are pulling people into our organization, we let them know that we think face-to-face interactions, albeit virtual, re core to our DNA. They’re what drive our culture. They’re what drive our connection. And it’s just one of those areas where we have to inspect what we expect.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Yeah. I think it’s remembering that people are coming from a different environment than you probably came from, and that they’re not mind readers. And that goes both way for a leader and a team member, is they’re not going to have any idea what you’re expecting of them unless you actually verbalize it. And they could be personal expectations that are key to you as a leader, like, “Hey, I really appreciate it when you respond, ‘Thank you. I’ve got this,’ in an email.” And then they could be things that, as an organization, to your point, keeping your camera on is important. And so it’s just remembering that you have to over-communicate and really share as much as you can about what’s expected. Because, I’ve said it before, I’m going to say it again, I don’t think anybody shows up to work to do a bad job.

Matt Seaton:

Right.

Lisa Zeeveld:

I think they actually show up to do a good job. You just haven’t given them the tools in order to exceed. And that’s sometimes hard to swallow, as a leader, to know that you have to point the finger back at you first.

Matt Seaton:

Yes. Yes. Yes. It’s funny, you talk about really leading with positive intent. I was thinking of something just how really it’s just that assuming in good faith that they’re here to do the right thing and that they really do want to succeed. I think it was… It’s just interesting when you, as a leader, if you’re dealing with somebody, that mindset of positive intent comes into play when somebody makes a mistake.

Matt Seaton:

Let’s say somebody doesn’t deliver upon the expectations that you’ve set. A positive intent mindset would come to that is, what surrounding circumstances were impacting where they didn’t meet the expectations? You think about it, if you look at yourself, when you make a mistake, we very rarely go, “Oh, what did I do wrong?” Probably, nine times out of 10, we go, “Well, what circumstances drove something not working the way we want it to work?” And I think that’s important, when you’re leading people, to come that same mindset. It’s not initially “What did they do to fail?” or “They’re out to get us, here.” It’s “What circumstances led to, really, the less desirable result?”

Lisa Zeeveld:

Exactly. And then if you’ve checked all the boxes, and you given clear expectations, that’s a whole other conversation.

Matt Seaton:

Yes. Completely.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Well, all right. So we’ve talked about connection, how important that is. We’ve talked about clear expectations. I want to jump to context. And I feel like that is also important, when you’re giving the expectations, is to provide context. So talk to me a little bit about the context aspect of this.

Matt Seaton:

Yeah. So, let’s talk about setting clear expectations. I think, when you’re doing that, the communication method or the channel in which you use, it’s probably not best to do it over a text message. When you’re driving towards clear expectations in your business, it’s probably best to make sure that the channel in which you communicate are verbal, ideally face-to-face, let somebody know what you’re looking for, follow it up a documentation. Documentation in the sense of, “Here is your job description. These are the key things for your role.” You just wouldn’t want that the importance of something to you to get lost in the fact that it was sent in a text message, which may be received by somebody as informal or less important.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Yeah. And I think that it’s realizing that we are giving our team members a lot of information in a lot of channels. And when you put it in the context of the importance of it, we were talking about this here at Belay, so we’re trying to streamline our communication. We have a project management tool, we have an instant messaging tool, we have email, of course we’ve got video conferencing tool. And we really, as a leadership team, had to say, “What is the best tool for that to happen? And what type of messaging should we use in those?”

Lisa Zeeveld:

And I think that’s good, again, going back to what you said, clear expectations to set that all up front. Because you can’t get upset if your team member reached out to you in instant message, and you missed it because you thought it was supposed to come in email, and they messed up because you never answered their question. Great example of that.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Well, the last point you talked about was courage. Where does courage show up in all this?

Matt Seaton:

So communicating with courage. It’s funny, I think, that all four of these are so closely tied together. You could probably yeah build a map and they all relate to each other, and as you circle through courage, you’re coming right back to connection. And I think courageous conversations, we sometimes refer to them as the kind truth, while they’re difficult, and some people are gifted, and they’re very easy for them to have, they’re actually, in my opinion, much easier when you’ve established that connection like we talked about first. When you have a foundation of clear expectations and have provided the context behind the why. Really, it’s just clearly identifying all three of the prior topics that we talked about and just not shying away from it.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Yeah. Yeah. Courage is an important part of leadership that I think gets looked over all too often.

Matt Seaton:

Yeah. Yeah. It’s not easy. It’s hard. It’s sticky. But when you do when you do the things, like we talked about, build connection, clear expectations, set the context, it feels much more natural.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Yeah. Well, I go back to the quote that we started talking about at first, that if 66% of leaders don’t have the courage to communicate, oh my gosh. How did they get in their positions? Because I feel like at some point there had to be a little bit of courage in their roadmap-

Matt Seaton:

Yeah. Absolutely.

Lisa Zeeveld:

… to becoming a leader, but that’s just shocking to me. Well, I love this quote by Theodore Roosevelt that says, “No one cares how much until they know how much you care.” And I feel like that’s-

Matt Seaton:

Oh, that’s deep.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Yeah. Isn’t that deep. And I think that’s all about what building a connection feels like, using those four methods that you mentioned, is helping to let people know how much you care about them. It’s telling the kind truth, it’s being on their side, it’s believing the best in people. And, ultimately, that builds a fantastic environment and culture where it’s not just about keeping your team members, but attracting new ones too, because they become raving fans of your organization.

Matt Seaton:

Yeah. Yeah. It’s just, as a leader, if I could just share with the audience, don’t overlook the power of just asking your team, “How’s it going? How can I help you?” Just that unsolicited, impromptu conversation that’s saying, “I care. Do you need anything from me? How can I help you? How’s how’s it going?” I think is very powerful in building that connection.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Yeah. I love that. Well, hey guys, Matt has agreed to stick around for one more question, because we want to provide you with some amazing bonus content. Everybody loves a good bonus, and so we’ve got it for you here today. You definitely don’t want to miss it, we’re going to talk about the resources that leaders can use to improve their communication skills. You definitely don’t want to miss it. But in order to hear that clip, you must subscribe to our email list and we’ll send you a link to our bonus content, or you can always visit One Next Step podcast.com where you can find a link in our show notes.

Ryan Fitzgerald:

What a great conversation with Matt, LZ. What was your biggest takeaway?

Lisa Zeeveld:

Well, thank you, Ryan. I appreciate that. And yes, I love any opportunity to sit down with members of our lead team. I especially appreciated what Matt had to say about leading with a positive intent when you’re communicating with your team. What fantastic advice.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Now, we have a One Next Step for our listeners to take today. We have a free download of our brand new ebook, Lead Anyone From Anywhere. Head on over to the show notes to access it now.

Ryan Fitzgerald:

Well, thank you so much for tuning in for this week’s One Next Step. To make sure you never miss an episode, subscribe on Apple Podcast or follow us on Spotify. And if you’re ready to start accomplishing more and juggling less, go to belaysolutions.com.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Join us next time for more practical business tips and tools to help you advance your business one step at a time, for more episodes, show notes, and helpful resources visit onenextsteppodcast.com.

Ryan Fitzgerald:

Join us next week for a conversation with our friend Jeff Henderson, inspirational leader and author of the new book “What to Do Next.” Jeff will share his framework for figuring out the next best step you should take, and he’ll explain how we can effectively navigate change in our professional and personal lives.

Jeff Henderson:

Your next step is probably going to come through your skillset. You’re not going to see me post on Instagram that I have launched a musical career in this new season, because it’s not part of my background. I’m not saying you can’t do that, but if I’m now in my late 50s, going to take up guitar lessons, it’s going to be quite a while for me to launch my new music on Spotify. But I am going to be a speaker, I am going to be a writer, and I am going to be a communication and leadership coach, because that’s part of my background.

1. Negotiation is a soft skill we use daily to live with our families and work with our teams.

However, most people don’t consider themselves to be strong negotiators. There are three steps to negotiating in life, and as you repeat these three steps, you’re negotiating power becomes stronger:

Building influence with a reputation communicating what you stand for.
Negotiating deals that benefit both parties.
Nurturing relationships with people you meet and work with.

2. In addition to profit, measure the progress of your business by its scalability, which Daymond defines as ‘the ability to grow.’

Daymond typically looks at how little the organization has to spend to produce its current results, the current processes ability to be replicated to further growth, and the awareness of the organization is of the customers’ needs.

3. Education is the x-factor for every business leader.

Daymond emphasized the reality that we’ll make mistakes. However, our ability to learn and grow will be the best determining factor in how far we go. There’s a new challenge at every stage of our journey, and the only thing consistent will bring to those experiences is ourselves. To make sure we’re ready, we must continually invest in ourselves through podcasts, books, online courses, peers, and mentors.