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EP. 06: THE "O" IN TEAMWORK IS FOR OPEN COMMUNICATION Open communication is the cornerstone of great teamwork. Proverbs 13:17 (LB) says "Reliable communication permits progress." There are three common barriers to great communication: Presumption – How many problems have been caused by the phrase “But I assumed…”? Here are some fatal assumptions: assuming that there’s only one way to see a problem; assuming that everyone else feels just like you; assuming that someone will never change (they do); assuming that you can know someone else’s motives (you can’t). Impatience ruins open communication because we are more interested in what we are going to say than listening to what others say. Impatience causes you to jump to conclusions. Pride – When you think you know it all, you are resistant to feedback, and you become defensive instead of really listening to others and learning. QUOTABLE QUOTES Now this I would argue is one of the greatest ways that the enemy attacks a team or the health of a team: that we have a cloudy or convoluted communication. – Mingo PalaciosClick To Tweet DOWNLOAD TRANSCRIPT Grab your reading glasses and download the PDF here. READ THE TRANSCRIPT Mingo Palacios: The next value in teamwork is actually "O". It's open communication. And I actually love the scripture reference that's brought out of this in Genesis 11. We've always heard, if you're like a part of church for any amount of time, you always know the Tower of Babel as a story of something that goes horribly wrong. But I love that it actually shows the power of open communication. In Genesis 11 it says this, "As if one people speaking at a speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan will be impossible for them." So it's articulating the idea that these people with one mission, one consistent language, one focal point had done something so significant that the author actually writes, nothing they planned would be impossible for them. That's the power that is able to be grasped or gotten or received when we understand what it means to use open communication. Now this I would argue is one of the greatest ways that the enemy attacks a team or the health of a team: that we have a cloudy or convoluted communication. And as a communication major, I'd like to think that there are some great tools that we can bring to the table as a team or some great values that we can give individuals in order to keep communication at its prime. So what are three blockages that we can experience as a team when it comes to communication? The first one is that we would grasp on to presumption, that we would presume things of people. And you and I both know, like when we start buying into that internal dialogue of what we think this other person is thinking or what we think what ought to be done or we think our own perspective is the only right perspective, we can instantly create blockages in communication. I don't think it takes very much for any of us to think of ways or times when we've come to an idea. We've come to a moment in our ministry, we've bought our own presumed best route and we've failed to realize, "Gosh, there could have been two or three different ways that would have been just as good, if not better," but because we presume something we actually robbed the collective value of a team giving that kind of input. The next one is impatience. Nothing will disqualify or discredit the ability to have open communication, like being impatient, right? When we don't take time to really value what could be considered in a ministry or we don't take time to actually hear or take in the valued insight from each person. If we make an impatient call, oftentimes it's not the best call. So, presumption, impatience and the next one is pride. Just thinking that what we've got or what we will receive if we are the person...