Have you ever been in a movie theatre and known a much easier way for a conflict to be solved, only to watch the main character take 10 times the amount of time? I know I have. So, I am going to try as hard as possible to not make this post sound like a rant. But no promises.
Sometimes, I feel like shouting at the screen saying “Just talk to each other directly and LISTEN to each other!” Yep, that’s right. So often, conflicts escalate due to a lack of clear communication between people and groups. Not convinced? Think about the conflicts in movies like Mulan 2, where the conflict between Mulan and her fiancé could easily have been solved if the two of them had taken a moment to listen to each other when Mushu was trying to drive them apart.
In my previous post about 3 Bad Habits To Have When Communicating With Someone, I talked about the importance of listening to the other person instead of immediately jumping on the defensive.
Imagine that you have heard a rumor about someone thinking you weren’t doing well at your job, and you reacted by being rude back. You just reacted to secondary source information. If you hear from one person that another person feels like you aren’t doing a good job as a leader for a particular project, a good idea would probably be to send out a survey asking for feedback (receiving that person’s opinion directly, and hearing them out), rather than acting coldly towards that other person.
Bottomline: Communication needs to be clear, and that can be more easily achieved by remembering that communication is two-way. Listen. Try to understand where the other person is coming from. Put aside your own point for a moment and listen to the other person’s.
Thank you for reading, and feel free to leave any comments or feedback below!
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