Thursday, January 14, 2010

Communication and Goals

It should be obvious I suppose that our success is almost entirely dependent on communication. But, I think it is easy to imagine that there are other and possibly more important elements that may lead to our success.

Business leaders continue to point out that they need people who are in general capable and are skilled communicators. They can teach you many of the things that you will need to be employed by them, but the communication skills you have are the basis for the relationship.

From the beginnings of our life until we die people around us know things about us because of non-verbal and verbal communications. This awareness allows for the development of relationships. If they are comfortable that we will “fit” or be able to accomplish specific goals then they push us forward in a variety of ways. They make it possible for us to attend schools, gain experiences that will broaden us, habits that will provide the best possible environment for our minds and bodies. It is a social investment in our future.

Sometimes this social investment is made by family members and friends. At other times social investments are made by teachers, coaches and acquaintances. Why would they do such a thing? Because they think it is the right thing to do and other times it plainly selfish: they recognize you capabilities and advance them as much as possible for the rewards spiritual and material that are available.

But, center to this process is our ability to express ourselves (communicate), encouraging the folk around us to make our trip through life as smooth as possible. The lesson we should take from this thought is simple: think about what you are saying non-verbally and verbally as much as you possibly can. Allow others to see in you what you are hoping to accomplish in life or at least the things that you are that might be useful to others.

In short: communicate deliberately and constantly. Another word for this might very well be network.

2 comments:

ToeJamm said...

Would you say that being ethnocentric when listening is always a bad thing?

I happen to take a lot of pride in my culture and I view my culture as being the best in a lot of different ways. I look at this as a good thing. Its kind of like having pride. I also think that my culture is the best by looking at history and the successes of my culture.

I understand that empathy is needed and shedding bias is important when listening but I always seem to think that western culture always does things right.

John Rice said...

Your culture is what you are and have. If it hadn't worked you wouldn't be where you are now. Don't abandon things that work.

On the other side of the coin, keep in mind that we are learning and growing all the time. Life and all its components are a process and we need to provide for the process to work.

Put another way, just because you have the "perfect" culture doesn't mean that there aren't elements in other cultures that would fit beautifully into your culture.

Listen, discuss and examine to be able to understand and if appropriate, adopt.

In short, the only way we can listen is from our current point of view.