Quotes About Communication

there cannot be alignment deeper in the organization, even when employees want to cooperate, if the leaders at the top aren't in lockstep with one another

Most people are generally reasonable and can rally around an idea that wasn't their own as long as they know they've had a chance to weigh in.

No action, activity, or process is more central to a healthy organization than the meeting.

Trust is the foundation of real teamwork.

The only way for people to embrace a message is to hear it over a period of time, in a variety of different situations, and preferably from different people. That's why great leaders see themselves as Chief Reminding Officers as much as anything else. Their top two priorities are to set the direction of the organization and then to ensure that people are reminded of it on a regular basis.

When team members trust one another, when they know that everyone on the team is capable of admitting when they don't have the right answer, and when they're willing to acknowledge when someone else's idea is better than theirs, the fear of conflict and the discomfort it entails is greatly diminished. When there is trust, conflict becomes nothing but the pursuit of truth, an attempt to find the best possible answer. It is not only okay but desirable.

Keep in mind that a real team should be spending considerable time together in meetings and working sessions. In fact, it is not uncommon that as much as 20 percent of each team member's time is spent working through issues and solving problems with the team as a whole. p. 105

leaders confuse the mere transfer of information to an audience with the audience's ability to understand, internalize, and embrace the message that is being communicated.

the best way to ensure that a message gets communicated throughout an organization is to spread rumors about it.

The most well-intentioned, well-designed departmental communication program will not tear down silos unless the people who created those silos want them torn down.

find someone who can demonstrate trust, engage in conflict, commit to group decisions, hold their peers accountable, and focus on the results of the team, not their own ego.

when leaders fail to tell employees that they're doing a great job, they might as well be taking money out of their pockets and throwing it into a fire

Because when a team recovers from an incident of destructive conflict, it builds confidence that it can survive such an event, which in turn builds trust. This is not unlike a husband and wife recovering from a big argument and developing closer ties and greater confidence in their relationship as a result.

The most important part of the development process, and the part that is so often missing, is the leader's commitment to constantly "reminding" an employee if she is not yet doing what is needed. Without this, improvement will not occur.

If team members are never pushing one another outside of their emotional comfort zones during discussions, then it is extremely likely that they're not making the best decisions for the organization.

People who don't like conflict have an amazing ability to avoid it, even when they know it's theoretically necessary

it is far more natural, and common, for leaders to avoid holding people accountable.

Conflict is about issues and ideas, while accountability is about performance and behavior.

a leader's first priority is to create an environment where others can do these things and that cannot happen if they are not having effective meetings.

few groups of leaders actually work like a team, at least not the kind that is required to lead a healthy organization.

people in a healthy organization, beginning with the leaders, learn from one another, identify critical issues, and recover quickly from mistakes.

Conflict is nothing more than an anxious situation that needs to be resolved.

Scare People with Sincerity

The healthier an organization is, the more of its intelligence it is able to tap into and use.