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“I just wish they would communicate!” I was sitting in yet another department meeting hearing the same concern. My fellow teachers were pointing the blame at the administration for waiting to share the professional learning day schedule.
Over the past 13 years I’ve been in education, I can not tell you how many times I have heard this statement or a similar one about communication. From teachers. From students. From administrators. From parents. Everyone seems to be yearning to be in the know.
Over the years, I’ve accepted that I can only control what I can. If I begin worrying about what is and is not being communicated, then things can spiral. And not a nice spiral like the vanilla and chocolate swirl from Kohrs Brothers at the shore. I’m talking about a vicious tornado spiral of doom with no end in sight and vast destruction.
Even though I have adopted this mindset, that doesn’t mean a laissez-faire approach to communication is what I’m advocating. I’m not. What I hope to share in this post is that despite communication being one of employees’ and employers’ highest priorities, missteps occur along the way. But instead of wallowing in those missteps, there are some things we can do to mitigate feeling like we are at the whim of others’ communication.
By the end of this post, you’ll learn about five communication habits that can help you become a better communicator and ease your mind when you encounter others who might need some work with this skill.
Healthy vs. Unhealthy Communication
You have to keep your communication on point to excel in any work environment. Being able to engage with someone in a clear, coherent, and focused way is central to what an effective communicator does. Whatever they share should offer some value (Buckner, 2023).
Organizationally, communications should convey specific values and goals so that employees can focus on the organization's overarching purpose while sustaining relationships (Buckner, 2023; Herriot 2002; Sharma, 2020).
Now, how does this relate to you as an educator?
Your communication should be purposeful and focused on some overarching aim. So whether that is sharing the planned events of the week or giving everyone a boost to share what an awesome job they are doing, ensure your communications are meaningful.
To have healthy communication, empathy, respect, and trust must exist (Sharma, 2020). Creating this can take time, but if you stay committed to the five communication habits I describe below, you should be able to foster that culture more readily.
Having a healthy communication style benefits you and those around you. Your employees or coworkers will have clarity of your message. Plus, there will be less opportunity for miscommunications or misconceptions (Sharma, 2020). You’ll ultimately prevent conflicts from rising (Buckner, 2023), and who doesn’t want to be a conflict combatant?
Well….. what about unhealthy communication? You want to stay away from this like you want to stay away from honey in an ant farm.
Unhealthy communication occurs when there is a discrepancy or disagreement between what is said and what is understood. For healthy communication, there should be mutual understanding (Grossman, 2022).
To quote George Bernard Shaw, “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion it has taken place.” So even if you feel like you are communicating, that might not be the case.
Unhealthy communication can also be accusatory, inflexible, or tainted with malice or sarcasm (Sharma, 2020). I’d recommend steering clear of sarcasm. Listen to Andy Bernard’s words of wisdom from The Office, “Steer clear big tuna. Head for open waters.”
If you fail to communicate, what fills that void is generally gossip and negativity (Grossman, 2022; Sharma, 2020). When this happens, you’re in trouble because you’ve lost control of the communication channel.
At this point, people might begin to mistrust you and question why you’re not communicating. There could even be speculation that you are trying to hide something (Grossman, 2022). The vast majority of us are not diabolical masterminds plotting behind closed doors, but if you don’t communicate, the spin doctors will spin and you could turn into your very own wicked witch or ghastly ghoul.
Healthy communication sounds like the way to go, right? You want to be a knight or princess ready to save the day and not a nefarious schemer. If it was only that easy…. It is hard to ensure you communicate effectively and prescribe to healthy communication. So hopefully, you find the five habits below to be the sword in your stone, your golden goblet, or your magic wand. 🪄
Five Clutch Communication Habits
Whether you’re in a leadership position or not, adopting these five communication habits will help you foster relationships and effectively share your message and/or goals. You'll be as carefree and happy as the puppy above. The one habit I have not dove into is listening, which you can explore further here.
These five habits are not for the light of heart… so gear up and get ready!
1. Control the controllable
Everyone needs a mindset shift. The first communication habit you must master is knowing and fully believing that you control the controllable. You have the power to communicate only what you know.
Blaming others for not communicating breeds negativity and animosity.
If you truly want to see a change in communication, have a one-on-one with that individual. Gossiping does nothing to solve the issue.
There have been many times I’ve had to send communications that were mere acknowledgments that things are still not determined. These communications were meant to assuage concerns and prevent the rumor mill. Even though I did not have a clear answer because I was waiting for one, I at least shared that with staff.
2. Believe people have good intentions
We must believe we are all doing the best we can given what we’ve got. Believing and understanding that people have good intentions can ease your mind. Taking this empathetic approach to communication can prevent negativity from popping up like invasive weeds.
We never know what someone is going through or what their story is. Until they prove otherwise, believe that people have good intentions. Give them the grace we all deserve even if they are not communicating.
3. Be clear and concise
The communications you share must be clear and concise. No one likes a long narrative email or a long-winded answer that is so serpentine, that you lose track of the entire point halfway through their explanation.
It can take years to master clarity and conciseness and a lot of trial and error. This is where AI can help you out. Whether you use Bing’s AI co-pilot, ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, or Grammerly, these tools can make your writing clearer and more concise.
Everyone benefits from clearer, more concise communication because that increases the chances that people will read what you’re writing or listen to what you’re saying.
Cut out those unnecessary verbs, adverbs, and phrases. Cut to the chase, Ace!! 😉
4. Create structures
Babies love consistency and so do adults. We are creatures of habit, which is why we all get into our routines even if the routine is to have no routine. Organizing communication and creating structures can make you a master communicator! In a previous post, I offered some tips and tricks on organization and one of those was using your calendar to create structure and consistency.
Put reminders in your calendar to remind yourself to communicate. Something that I quickly adopted in my new role was a weekly reminder email and a monthly newsletter. I try to appeal to those who like the long-term view and those who prefer to focus on what is in front of them that week.
Crafting these communications allows me to stay consistent with the messages and goals we have as a community while also preventing uncertainty. Now, I’m not perfect and know that I’ve made mistakes, but the point is, I am consistent with the structure and messaging.
My weekly communications come out on Sunday to give people the flexibility to view them either Sunday or first thing Monday morning. They also follow a consistent structure with some kind of opener and then a list of the items we have to focus on. I’ll also generally bold the text of any day I reference to help staff wrap their minds around what’s upcoming.
Now, the monthly newsletters are a bit more involved. They include a greeting, reminders of our goals, staff shoutouts, news and information, various articles, podcasts, a calendar, and more. These are designed to preview the entire month while also providing some focused professional learning that connects back to our priorities as a community.
My husband tells me I’m regimented, so I lean into this and create structures that benefit the community for which I work.
5. Bundle communication
One of the most frustrating and anxiety-inducing things for me is seeing my inbox flooded. I’m talking Noah’s Ark flooded, too. One of the reasons I’ve incorporated the monthly and weekly reminders is to limit my communication so it isn’t every single day. Or multiple times a day. 😬
I hate it when I have to send multiple communications in a day or consecutive days to the entire community. I cringe and hope that it isn’t overwhelming staff. So my final recommendation is to bundle that communication like you’d bundle a baby. 👶
One Last Thought
We’ve all been there… all of us have been frustrated by a communication we received or did not receive. Something we heard or did not hear. We must lead with empathy and understanding when faced with communication conundrums. However, that does not mean we simply allow things to go unaddressed or to fester.
We must take action. Rather than feeding into the negative or the gossip around communication, try to see what you can do to help the situation. I know this might be out of your purview, but to be complacent and maintain the status quo will do nothing to solve the problem.
Take a step back and see if one of these five habits can resolve the issue. You never know until you try.
References
Buckner, L. (2023, May 26). What is effective communication? (with benefits and tips). Indeed. https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/effective-communication
Grossman, D. (2022, August 29). Effects of Poor Communication in the Workplace (w/ Solutions). https://www.yourthoughtpartner.com/blog/poor-communication-in-the-workplace#:~:text=Poor%20communication%20is%20a%20breakdown,or%20at%20an%20organizational%20level.
Herriot, P. (2002). Selection and self: Selection as a social process. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 11, 385–402.
Sharma, T. (2020). A study on psychological benefits of healthy communication. International Research Journal of Human Resource and Social Sciences, 7(2).
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