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Mastering Team Communication Flow With Host Melinda Lee · Speak In Flow

• 0:02
  Melinda Lee: Welcome, dear listeners to the speaking flow
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  podcast where we share unique experiences and strategies to
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  help you unleash your leadership voice. I can't wait to dive in
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  today. It's been a while since I've done a solo episode, and I
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  missed it. So today we're going to dive into communication, team
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  communication breakdowns, as well as effective strategies for
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  you to help you maximize your team's potential to get more
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  into a flow and synchronicity. Let's start off with an example.
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  Let's take a team and each member on a team. Imagine they
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  all have their unique zone of geniuses, their unique
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  strengths, they know it, they do it well. And yet, they miss
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  deadlines. Why does this happen? What is the root cause? It's
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  almost always misunderstanding of priorities, as well as
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  misunderstanding, communication, misunderstandings. There's a
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  team. Sarah, let's call her. She is focused on the team's
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  technical aspects. She's diving in getting into all the
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  technical parts. And she assumes that John is getting all the
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  regular client updates. While John is getting all the client
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  updates she gets she goes to John and says, We're the client
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  updates. And he says, I got them. And she looks at the data,
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  there's mismatch of data. And suddenly, the project has slowed
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  down, and they've missed a deadline. Things happen like
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  this all the time. Let's face it in our complex world, there's
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  change. There's complexity, there's tons of variables,
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  there's going to be misunderstanding. And then your
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  team looks bad, the reputation looks bad, the overall
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  relationships are broken. So how can we prevent this? Today, I'd
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  like to talk about three strategies, the first one being
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  have a robust communication channel. When you are first
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  starting off, or brainstorming new ideas within the project,
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  you need to have creativity, those meetings are best when
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  they're live. I think it's important that you get the team
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  together to develop a bond. There's nothing like being in
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  person together to create a sense of bond to feel each
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  other's energy as well as fuel for creativity, brainstorming
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  together, open ideas, open the channel have new ideas. That's
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  when creativity sparks. So getting together, especially
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  when you need to develop some innovative solutions. Then once
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  you have those you can meet regularly over Microsoft Teams
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  or zoom to have regular meetings in your calendar, as well as if
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  you're a leader meet with each individual regularly, and really
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  understand where they're at, and how you can support them. Once
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  you have your communication chat, oh, Slack and cello are
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  also great, too. That's going to help with instant messages. I
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  use Slack with my team, we have different channels for our
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  different projects. And so we can go to each channel. And all
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  of the messages for that channel for that project are organized
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  within slack. And you can get and you can send messages
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  quickly and the other person will receive it quickly. And
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  then once you have these channels created, have
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  transparent communication. Oh, open dialogue. That means every
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  person is truly seen, heard and valued. When people feel seen,
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  heard and valued, there's a bond. And when there's a bond,
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  they feel safe. When they feel safe, they're going to want to
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  collaborate, they're going to want to go the extra mile to
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  make things happen. So do what it takes. And transparency
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  doesn't mean that you spew out all of your emotions and
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  feelings and escalate the tension. Knowing how to have
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  transparent dialogue means that effective transparent dialogue
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  means that you are direct. You're honest, respectful to
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  each other. You really think through what is it that you
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  want, and you say it calmly and clearly without trying to
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  escalate the tension to him. much. And then you, you listen,
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  you listen for feedback, you actively listen to others as
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  well. So creating that environment where everybody's
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  seen, heard and valued, that's transparent communication. And
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  that is where you forge bonds. And that's when people will go
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  the extra mile. And finally, you put in empathy. Empathy is one
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  of the most overlooked skills that can be developed empathy,
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  because we're always in our head, we're thinking we're
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  analyzing, we're building we have structure, Empathy means
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  going into your heart. But to have empathy means you need to
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  have very good self awareness. Self awareness, is the key to
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  empathy. Self awareness means understanding our own biases,
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  our own feelings in every interaction, whether you're
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  talking to your manager for or a colleague, what is my
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  interaction or my feeling in this? Am I afraid? Am I worried
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  or concerned, as I'm talking to this person, and because you can
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  subconsciously project your own emotion into the interaction.
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  And then you've broken the connection, you've broken the
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  empathy, because you're in your own emotion and projecting that
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  onto others. Empathy means that you understand the other
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  person's perspective, without bringing your own emotion into
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  it, you are fully present for the other person, listening to
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  their perspective, and really getting all the details of their
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  perspective. And also, their emotion, their feeling, what are
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  their feelings involved without your own assumptions. That means
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  that you have clear self awareness about where you're at,
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  and knowing whether that's that that you are breaking or opening
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  up the connection. Using these strategies that we share today
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  around team communication, having a robust communication
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  channel, having channels that streamline communication, so
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  people get regular updates and know exactly where the team's at
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  having transparent, respectful dialogue, honest dialogue in a
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  way that allows everyone to feel truly seen, heard and valued.
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  And having empathy, really putting yourself in their shoes,
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  feeling what they're feeling, listening to their perspective,
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  while refraining from your own. So having very clear self
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  awareness about where you're at in it, and not projecting them
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  onto others. When you can have this type of communication, you
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  will rise above all obstacles. Because doing it together is
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  better than doing it in one. And when you're in sync, and in flow
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  with each other, you'll be able to succeed, achieve outcomes and
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  get to that mountaintop. And I hope that you have some
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  takeaways from this episode. And until I see you next time,
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  continue to speak in flow. Connect authentically and be
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  inspiring