I was having a conversation with some of our volunteer leaders the other day and a very important topic came up. Communication.
We we were talking about what the best way(s) were to keep volunteers informed, up on vision, and pumped about what’s going on. We were asking good questions about how we can make sure they get the information and WANT the information. However, as the conversation evolved the question became…is their one ‘best way’ to communicate with all people?
For instance, the following can be assumed to be true…
- All people are different.
- People don’t care what you know until they know you care.
- People like to be shown that ‘you care’ differently (see Love Languages, platonic).
- How people like to be shown “you care” says a lot about how they choose to communicate.
- Therefore, everyone’s preferred form of communication will be…different.
So, maybe the question isn’t “what’s the best way to relay information?” Instead, maybe the question is “what’s the best way to connect with my people?”
We concluded that time would be better spent “relating” to our people than “relaying” to our people. Long term, once the “relating” is established the “relaying” will naturally begin to happen more effectively (and not forced).
As we finished the conversation and began to go our seperate ways, I was blown away at where we had just been. I thought about all the times I’d try to do a ‘mass email’ and all the people it probably never reached. I thought about the many times I’ve asked, “am I communicating clearly” when I should have been asking “am I even speaking their language.”
In the end, it’s true…people don’t care what you know, until they know you care. So, we can’t lead by just “relaying” information to the masses…we have to lead by “relating” to people on an individual basis. This means, we can’t do it alone (and successfully grow).
But maybe this is all just me…? Truth is, I want to learn more! I want to learn from you guys! So, what’s God been teaching you about this lately? What have you learned about how to communicate that’s helped you? I would LOVE to hear it! 
August 12th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
I think that the buy-in principle can be applied to. Sometimes even if you relate to someone and can easily communicate with them, their response is determined by how much they buy-in to what you are doing. I think that is what I have learned more and more the past 5 or 6 weeks. Just because you relate to people doesn’t mean that they want to be on the front lines with you. They have to see that you are making a difference and trying to improve whatever cause you are involved in.
Great post my man!