Lead with Communication

Communication in the clouds

There I was, staring into a vast, gray sea of cloud. The wind whipped by my head at over 100 mph. The man behind me was insisting that I fling myself overboard. I looked around. I had no other choice. I leaned forward and fell into the cold, misty space.

Communication Story

And that, dear reader, is the beginning of my story on communication. Communication does not happen easily. But, we take it for granted because we do it instinctively.

For communication to take place, it requires both a sender and a receiver. Think about what is happening right now.

Step 1: First, I had to think of the idea that I wanted to convey to you, my dear reader.

Step 2: Then, I encoded those ideas into words,

Step 3: I utilize a keyboard to translate the words into shapes that convey the words that convey the ideas from Step 1.

Step 4: Mode of delivery by which these words are contained and transmitted to you, my dear reader.

Step 5: Once that happens, there is the significant risk that this newsletter is delivered to your spam folder, or that you accidentally unsubscribed, or that you saw it and thought to yourself, “Tubbs again…I’ll get back to it.” In the off chance that you are actually reading this, then my missive traversed the harrowing cybertrek from my outbox to your inbox successfully. Congratulations! We can all go home, right? Nope…Step 6 incoming.

Step 6, read this rambling mess. You must now put your seeing eyes upon the squiggly lines, decipher the meaning of each word (Step 7), connect the words to decipher phrases (8), interpret meaning (9), and then…judge it. (phew! 10)

Hearing is not listening and oftentimes, listening begets judgment. You are either waiting until I finally get to my point to see whether or not you agree with me, or you’ve judged me already for being too wordy and pedantic.

All this to say that communication is not a simple process. Communication requires accurate encoding, accurate reception and accurate decoding to ensure that the DoorDash driver doesn’t drop off your pizza at the neighbor’s house, and other, more consequential events.

There I was…

So, there I was, staring into a vast, gray sea of cloud, 15,000 feet above a very hard surface, otherwise known as “earth.” I was strapped to a skydiving instructor.

This instructor had given me two instructions at different times:

Instruction #1

Instructor: Would you like to pull your ripcord?

Me: Yes, absolutely!

Instructor: Ok, I will tap you when it’s time, so that you will pull it and we both won’t burn in and meet our Maker this fine day.

Me: Got it!

Instruction #2

Instructor: We will have a cameraman diving with us. If you don’t see him, I’ll tap you so that you will look at him.

Me: 10-4!

So, there I was, staring into a vast, gray sea of cloud…

1! – Lean forward

2!! – Lean back

“3!!!” – tumble unceremoniously end over end into the abyss.

After we leveled out, I saw my brother flying through the air with the greatest of ease, I saw the cameraman, I saw…everything.

This was a cloud jump. The ceiling was somewhat low this day, and we jumped while in the clouds. As we fell through the bottom of the clouds, the whole world opened up and it took my breath away. I began to have the time of my life! I was looking around, mugging for the camera, waving at my brother, having a great time!

Then, the tap.

I looked around for the cameraman…not sure where he went.

Hmm. Oh well…look at that view! This is amazing!!

Then, out of nowhere, it felt as though God grabbed me by the collar and yanked me up like a Dad with lightening fast reflexes.

I didn’t open my chute, but my instructor did.

And this is why, dear reader, you don’t skydive by yourself on your first try.

Principles of Communication applied

Context

I began telling you a story out of context, and it was not clear what I was talking about until I began to give you more context.

Taking the time to give context treats people as thinking beings that can interpret for themselves, and make good decisions.

If you want people to understand your communication, let alone agree with it, you must provide context.

Clarity

Because I had perceived similar instructions for two very different actions, my confusion delayed my decision-making, and sensory overload prevented me from thinking critically.

When your team is receiving communication from you, especially if they’re in an intense set of circumstances, you must be crystal clear. One way to ensure clarity is the last piece of communication: the feedback loop.

You really do not know if your encoded messages were decoded and interpreted in the way that you conceived them unless the receivers tell you what they think you mean.

When communicating, always ask the receivers to give you feedback.

Confirmation

When you receive feedback, you must listen intently to know what they are communicating to you. When you hear, confirm that their understanding is correct, then the feedback loop is closed.

Confirmation solidifies understanding.

Contingency

Build contingencies into your plan because no plan survives first contact with the enemy. Even after you take every precaution, communicate context with clarity, and confirm the message, some kid will still think that you wanted him to look at the camera man when he is supposed to pull his chute. Leaders hope for the best and plan for the worst.

Contingency plans are the responsibility of leaders.

So, there I was, my feet on the ground after an amazing skydive that gave me a good lesson on communication!