I was recently reading an article by Jim Rohn in which he said:
“Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. We do not fail overnight. Failure is the inevitable result of an accumulation of poor thinking and poor choices. It is nothing more than a few errors in judgement repeated every day.
And failure’s most dangerous attribute is its subtlety. In the short term, small errors don’t seem to make any difference—we do not seem to be failing. In fact, sometimes these accumulated errors in judgement occur throughout a period of great joy and prosperity in our lives. Because there are no instant consequences to capture our attention, we simply drift from one day to the next, repeating errors, thinking the wrong thoughts, listening to the wrong voices and making the wrong choices. It is imperative to refine our philosophy in order to be able to make better choices.”
and it got me to thinking that relationships do not just disintegrate over night. They fall apart because of a consistent failure of communication.
Research studies tell us that 70% of workplace mistakes are a result of poor communication. Communication failures can be costly. It can cause loss of business, accidents, frustration, hostility, high employee turnover, low productivity and much more.
When we think about a failure in communication we often assume that two people have not spoken to each other about the issue. Maybe they have avoided having a conversation for fear of reprisals or have been afraid about how the other person will respond. However, communication is a two way street and it relies on:
- the ability to ask for what we want and
- the ability to really listen to what the other person needs.
Stephen Covey describes this ability to really listen to what the other person is saying as empathetic listening. It means listening with intent to really understand what is happening for the other person. Through empathic (from empathy) listening you can get inside another person’s frame of reference and see and experience the world through their eyes. This enables us to connect at a much deeper level.
However, empathetic listening is only possible when we are being truly authentic. When we are showing up as ourselves with no personal agenda and are open to hearing someone else’s point of view. Remaining authentic in our communication takes time and practice but impact is profound.
Julia Felton (aka The Business Wrangler) is the founder of Business HorsePower. Business leaders, entrepreneurs and executives hire her to accelerate their business performance by harnessing the energy of their people to work more collaboratively together. By aligning purpose with actions the team achieves exponential results as everyone starts pulling in the same direction.
Julia believes that business is a force for good and through designing purpose-driven businesses that leverage the laws of nature, and the herd, you can create businesses founded on the principles of connection, collaboration and community that make a significant impact in the world.
