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INTERACTION FUELS ACTION!

When Gordon Bethune took over Continental Airlines back in the 1990’s the company was a mess with its stock price at $3.25/share. They had gone through 10 leaders in 10 years. The airline arrival and departure was quite unpredictable. In his book From Worst to First CEO Bethune began a process of changing the culture of the company by opening up communication. His communication policy was simple: “Unless it is dangerous or illegal for us to share, we share it!” In 1995 the company lost $204 million. In 1995 it gained $202 million.

Communication is not the only reason for the turn-around. However there is no denying that without good communication they would have continued their death spiral.

Effective teams have teammates who are constantly talking to each other!

FROM LEADER TO TEAMMATES

John Gardner observed; “If I had to name a single all purpose instrument od leadership, it would be communication.” If everything rises and falls on Leadership then it must be said that everything rises and falls on communication.

Here are some guidelines for communication:

BE CONSISTENT – Nothing frustrates people more than leaders who cannot make up their mind.
BE CLEAR – Your team members cannot execute if they do not know what you want. Do not try to dazzle people with your intelligence, impress them with your straightforwardness.
BE COURTEOUS – Everyone deserves to be shown respect, no matter there position or kind of history you might have with them. Being courteous to people sets the tone for your organization!

FROM TEAMMATES TO LEADERS

Good team leaders never want yes-men! They want direct honest communication from their team members. Encourage open, direct, and honest communication with people. If you develop strong relationships you can disagree and still remain effective.

Respect is an important quality of communication. Team leadership is not easy – it is HARD! Show loyalty to those who have assumed the position of leader.

AMONG TEAMMATES

Author Charlie Brower stated, “Few people are successful unless a lot of other people want them to be.” If a team is to be successful, all members must communicate for the common good. That means the following qualities;

BEING SUPPORTIVE – Magic Johnson stated “Ask not what your teammates can do for you, ask what you can do for your teammates. Communication that focuses upon giving versus taking moves the team to a new level
STAYING CURRENT – You cannot solve tomorrows problems with today’s insight!
BEING VULNERABLE – “If we are to use the word community meaningfully we must restrict it to a group of individuals who have learned how to communicate honestly with each other, whose relationships go deeper than their masks of composure.” M. Scott Peck, The Different Drum
BETWEEN THE TEAM AND THE PUBLIC – Internal communication is not the only communication that is important. We have communication outside of the team. In order for this type of communication to succeed remember the three R’s: receptive, responsive, and realistic. Working together means that we win together!

LINKS

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Music: “Gratitude Mood” by David Arivett. You can learn more about his music by clicking on his name. THANKS DAVID!