I have never met a person who doesn't communicate in some way, shape, or form...have you? We all know that communication is extremely important as a leader, within our families, with our goals, on social media, and the list goes on. Communicating effectively helps us share how we feel, delegate to our team, set new expectations, handle conflict, cultivate trust; it is how we interact on a daily basis.

Did you realize that you are always communicating? From slack messages, to zoom meetings, you are communicating something with your facial expression, posture, words, tone, and even with emojis.

With the rapid pace we are moving these days, clear communication is being overlooked in favor of "getting the job done". In the aftermath, we are finding that results may occur, but it is happening at a great cost. When one thinks of remote teams, hybrid teams, global teams, multi-generational teams, great care needs to be taken when we are communicating.

What are the two types of communication?

Verbal: Verbal communication is "interpersonal communication that includes oral communication, written communication, and sign language. Verbal communication relies on words to convey meaning between two or more people." And it seems more and more, that our verbal communication needs a decoder in many situations. People are talking at each other, over each other but not really with each other.

Nonverbal: Nonverbal communication "encompasses a whole host of physicalized nonverbal cues that convey emotional states and complement verbal messages. Nonverbal human communication involves many different parts of the body and can be either conscious or subconscious on the part of the communicator." And sadly so many assumptions are made with nonverbal communication. For example, a face showing a lack of emotion can seem like the person is not interested while silence can be interpreted as a lack of interest or understanding; while both assumptions can be far from the truth.

Both verbal and nonverbal forms of communication are key in life and in business. You cannot have one without the other. Two tools that I use with clients to help them understand the various communication styles are DiSC and TypeCoach. If you feel you or your team might benefit from taking one of these assessments, then send me a message and we can discuss it further.

COACHING QUESTIONS:

1. What are some ways that you can become a better communicator?

2. How effective is your communication style to the listener?

3. Have you ever used a tool to assess your communication style?

Inspiring You To Thrive,

The 5 C's of Communication:

LEADERSHIP RESOURCE: Asana

Asana is a helpful tool that allows you to communicate with your team by bringing organization around goals. You can set and track goals with this tool. However, before that can even be done utilizing a tool like this, it is important for you to communicate what the goals are for those around you. It can be used in any type of business or company as a source of accountability tool around the communicated goals, projects and/or tasks.

Some of the features Asana offers include: Timelines, calendars, setting goals, being able to assign tasks, and various forms. They also have an app version if you like to do things from your phone instead.

There is a free version of Asana; for premium features you can pay a monthly fee.

Their website states: "From the small stuff to the big picture, Asana organizes work so teams know what to do, why it matters, and how to get it done." If you would like to use Asana for your team, click here!

LEADERSHIP SPOTLIGHT: Rodney Smith Jr.

A young man driving home from his college class in Alabama, noticed an elderly man struggling to mow his lawn on a scorching hot day. He pulled over and offered to help.

Rodney Smith Jr., originally from Bermuda, moved to the United States on an education Visa. The day he stopped to help an elderly man mow his lawn sparked a life movement for him as he realized the need and decided to help. He thought about all of the elderly or disabled people who can't afford to have someone cut their lawn and wanted to do something to help.

Rodney started out mowing lawns in his community for those who weren't able to, then ended up mowing in every state.

As people heard his story, they became inspired and followed suite. Rodney started a movement. He started "Raising Men's Lawn Care Service".

He challenged other young people to step up and help people in their communities.

Sheeba Varghese is a strategic partner for your talent development solutions and the author of Confidence, Clarity & Ease: A Guide For Emerging Leaders To Thrive. Her passion is to inspire and equip men and women to lead with excellence and authenticity within the spheres of influences that they are called to impact in life. The spheres may be in a home, on a team, in a classroom, among partners in a firm, or within management, to name a few.

Senior Leaders and professionals who want to develop stronger leadership skills, have impact and move forward in their careers

Teams who want to work cohesively within their organizations

Coaches who want to renew or apply for certification with ICF

If you want to improve your leadership skills, transition from managing to leading, ensure your team is amazingly successful, increase your own self-awareness and progress your career, or you aspire to be a masterful coach for your clients, then Sheeba would love to support you. She works with clients globally, both face-to-face, phone or by Zoom.

In her time apart from clients, Sheeba enjoys time with her husband, Santosh, and their 2 sons, Sam and Steven. She loves great movies, a good book, decorating and dining at the wonderful restaurants in the Bay Area.

Why Understanding Communication is Key

Hello Sheeba,

The 5 C's of Communication:

LEADERSHIP RESOURCE: Asana

LEADERSHIP SPOTLIGHT: Rodney Smith Jr.