By: Lenox Stanford
Let’s set the scene! YOU…LOOKIN…LIKE…A….WHOLE….ELEGANT VIBE….RIGHT….NOW!
Your skin is lavishly moisturized with the finest oils from a poppin product line, your personal wardrobe stylist understood the entire assignment and got an A and your barber/beautician executed the cut you showed them from your favorite influencer’s page. But wait, you need your theme music. What song are you banging?
Cue it up because the cameras are on you and it’s time for you to take your walk down The Tunnel. This section is dedicated to helping you craft, remix and spin the block on fun effective communication tactics to prep you in every area of your life.
For this month, let’s focus on communicating with your team members! Your team is your village, your tribe and your overall squad that moves as one unit. However, with this type of loyalty comes major trust, respect and quarrels.
Here are three tactics to add into your playbook that will help guide you when miscommunication rises. And don’t worry about getting it right, it’s all in the practice.
1. Respect everyone’s opinions- leave room for multiple perspectives and the possibility that maybe you missed a critical piece of information.
2. Identify the problem- Get to the root of the issue. Try these lines. “Hey, there’s something I’ve been noticing, you got time to hear me out?” Be careful in this area, you don’t want to immediately put a person on the defense. If the person says “Yes,” then move forward with the next sentence. “I saw that “X” happened. Is something going on?”
3. Focus on solutions- don’t stay in the blame game for too long. There are bigger goals to reach. Once the problem is recognized, figure out solutions that will help move everyone forward
Student Athletes, this is always a two-way conversation. We would love to hear your thoughts on how you took our tactics and perhaps put your own spin on it. Was everything resolved? Write us. [email protected]
