Cut out confusion to improve communication

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Stephen Dugan
  • 60th Surgical Operations Squadron

TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - Throughout the years, many of us have been bombarded with leadership theory.

They include these theories in every professional enhancement seminar and at every level of professional military education.

We start with the process of learning ourselves and flow straight through to learning our Airmen. We cover every temperament and assign each a pretty color or a fancy term. Is this what it takes to lead? Can we simply identify a person’s temperament and apply our learned leadership skills? I believe, through all of our training, we have skipped the most important part of leading: Communication.

Communication is a broad term and often thrown around too liberally. We use it to refer to e-mails and conversations with friends and coworkers, but at its root, it’s much more than that.

Communication is not a “fire and forget” weapon. It requires much more of a fine-tuned touch to apply it properly. This, unfortunately, is one of the most overlooked aspects of being a successful leader. As John C. Maxwell says, “Good leaders must communicate vision clearly, creatively, and continually.” Although that sounds easy, there is a real art to communicating.

To communicate, not only do you need to see the message through your own eyes, you must also be able to see it through the eyes of the ones receiving the communication. As leaders, this is one of our most missed steps in communication.

So many times, we sabotage ourselves from the start of our communication. Our messages tend to look past our people and either underwhelm or overtask them. We use words that mean something different to ourselves than what is in turn received by our team. How can we avoid this?

There are two important ways to help eliminate the confusion in our communication. First, you must know yourself. You must know how you communicate and, most importantly, you must know your own pitfalls in communication. Knowing these two things can give you an exceptional advantage in planning your next communication and give you areas to focus on while generating your message, paying special attention to the areas that you are weakest.

It’s equally important to know how to best engage your intended audience. For some occasions, a simple e-mail or Post-It note may work, while others are better left to a personal interaction. Either way, take into account who’s receiving your message. Limit technical jargon and use common vocabulary. Most importantly, get right to the point. Last, but not least, follow up. Make sure they heard the message as you intended it.

It’s important to remember that communication is an art, one that not many of us have perfected. Practice, practice at every opportunity and be prepared to make mistakes. As you progress on to bigger leadership roles, take those failures and successes with you and share them with your teammates. Teach and learn from each other’s mistakes.