This exercise will assist you in establishing communication agreements with your team, ensuring clarity on what is needed from one another to facilitate inclusive discussions.
The Way We Communicate with Each Other Matters
Effective communication fosters a strong team. It not only enhances performance but also establishes the psychological safety necessary for individuals to openly express their opinions and be their authentic selves at work.
Although we may not be able to address all differences in communication styles, there are specific aspects of communication that teams can agree upon to minimize misunderstandings and conflicts while fostering respectful and constructive discussions.
Establishing guidelines or creating alignment around shared communication practices within your team can clarify what the group deems acceptable and necessary. This approach also promotes accountability and provides a reference point for addressing communication breakdowns and identifying areas for improvement.
Prior to the Exercise
The entire team must be aligned on what the guidelines are and understand their significance. To achieve this, you can facilitate a discussion with your team about what everyone needs to communicate effectively with one another and work towards reaching a consensus.
As a facilitator, the following tips can help you maximize the effectiveness of the conversation:
- Embrace your curiosity and refrain from making assumptions.
Individuals have diverse needs and expectations that may surprise those who do not share them. Adopting a learning mindset that is open and inquisitive will enable you to understand what is meaningful to others, rather than imposing your assumptions about their needs. - Pose open-ended questions.
Starting questions with “how,” “what,” or “why” encourages elaboration and comprehensive responses. These types of questions will provide valuable insights into why something may be significant to another person. - Make sure everyone has the chance to contribute.
Be conscious of speaking time to ensure equal participation, and highlight additional communication channels that enable individuals to share their thoughts after the group discussion. - Be patient.
Achieving consensus often requires time. There may be misunderstandings to clarify, viewpoints to articulate, and common ground to identify. However, investing this time now is likely to pay off, as it will lay the foundation for more effective communication in the future.
The exercise
- Share their views openly and honestly?
- Engage in respectful communication?
- Provide constructive feedback?
- Resolve conflicts effectively?
- Gather input from all team members?
- Have sufficient opportunities to express their opinions?
- Be equipped to respond when someone makes an offensive remark?
- Prioritize inclusive communication?
After gathering input from the group, you can begin to formulate guidelines that address the diverse needs within the team and save them in a shared document that is easily accessible. Make sure everyone agrees to the guidelines before finalizing them, and maintain open lines of communication for ongoing adjustments and references as the team evolves.
Bring It to Coaching
Achieving agreement among diverse communication styles can be challenging. Differences in opinions are likely to arise, but with effective collaboration, you can foster solutions that enable all team members to communicate respectfully and constructively with one another.
What specific challenges might you face when leading discussions within your team? What strategies could you implement to create an environment where everyone feels heard and empowered to contribute? Additionally, how could you personally benefit from having communication guidelines in place within your team? Consider discussing these questions with your coach to best prepare yourself for facilitating a group conversation about shared communication guidelines.