6 Principles of Effective Communication
Technique, the communication method, will be different from one person to the next. Method may even change depending on the situation. There are principles, however, that apply regardless of the method. Find YOUR technique, but use these principles to guide its use and communicate effectively.
Lead Like Jesus-Lessons on Leadership from “Good Friday”
This is why I believe we need to see the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross not as simply paying the price for sin (although that is the most important aspect of His death), but as a Leadership example that we can follow if we truly want to be “Servant Leaders”. Jesus is God and could have made salvation possible any way that he wanted to. He decided to do this by dying a very public death on the cross. He did this to provide an example for us to follow (Ephesians 5:25). Do you want to lead like Jesus? There are some lessons to consider as illustrated in His death on the cross.
Winning is about relationships: The Importance of Teamwork
Having the right team is essential to any victory, but winning is about more than just having the right people in the right place. It is about the relationships among team members that go beyond a skill set or proficiency. It is a relationship built over time that allows you to look into the eyes of those on your team and know what they’re
thinking. It’s about understanding when to push and when to pull back because you know how heavy the load can become before the team will begin to fall apart. Winning is not simply about the team; it’s about relationships. A team can win when everything goes according to plan. And when the plan needs to change because the situation has changed, you need more than a team. You need a group of people who understand each other and care for each other and are willing to adjust even though it may be difficult. You need relationships.
What is Your Standard?
All of these, and so many more, are determined by the standard against which we choose to measure them. Even though we rarely think about the process we use to draw conclusions, sometimes hundreds of times in a day, we are constantly measuring against a standard that informs how we think and feel. So if the standard is off, our conclusions will be off as well! I know that makes sense but most people STILL act like it doesn’t matter. And what do we use to measure our lives when we don’t think the standard that we use really matters?
An unsettled culture! We let culture become the arbiter of the most important areas of life. Is it any wonder then that we as people and as a country are so confused? We are driven by the everchanging sea state of popular thought and emotion never able to rest because the standard never stops changing.
Cancel Culture and the Christian
Unless you are living under a rock and because of that rock you do not have access to the internet, you are aware that we are living in a time of “Cancel Culture”. The events that have brought us to this moment are deeply rooted in both history and a long fought agenda to DEMAND conformity to thought and action as dictated by a small yet powerful group of people and institutions. In a country that has long valued freedom of thought and expression we are now eliminating both by removing anyone who is not playing along. Jobs have been lost, social platforms removed and standing in families destroyed because individuals have dared to be, well, individual. We have even gotten to the point where are eliminating books and movies that don’t fit new cultural “norms”. While questions like, “Who gets to determine what is right and wrong?” and, “When did we vote to give up our constitutional right of free expression?” are very important, as Christians we need to quickly move beyond asking “why” and start asking, “how”.
While the fight to get us back to a place of true individual liberty is raging we need to decide how we will respond when “Cancel Culture” turns it sights to those who follow Christ, believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, and attempt to live the world through the lens of scripture. The ultimate goal of “Cancel Culture” is to remove any authority not governed by the self-appointed cultural dictators and therefore MUST cancel the expression of beliefs held by American Christians for generations. Thankfully, there are some extremely intelligent, deeply devoted Christians who are working to address these issues and we need to do all that we can to support them. We may not be able to stop the attempt to silence Christians, but we can develop strategies that will allow us to live out and communicate the Gospel as commanded Christ. This needs to be done and needs to be done now before we have no other options.
What is Fair? Outcomes vs. Opportunities
If you are still reading I know what you are thinking: “That is the real problem. Not everyone starts at the same place at the same time.” And this should be the discussion. How can we make it possible for everyone to have the same opportunities. Not favoring one over another because of something that they had no control over. Also not picking who will win and who will lose but creating, or reinforcing systems that give everyone the same opportunity to succeed.
This is about perspective and warrants much deeper conversation to be sure, but the perspective and the conversations need to be about Opportunities instead off Outcomes.
Life is NOT fair!
It turns out that the statement so often made in frustration, “life is not fair,” is actually true! And its not true because the system needs to be reformed or restarted. Its true because the foundation that the “system” is built on was destroyed (not damaged) by the only humans who have ever actually lived in a “fair” world. When we look at the injustice in the world without an understanding of exactly when injustice began, we will work to solve problems that aren’t ACTUALLY the problem. I believe this is the reason so many in our culture today are frustrated and angry in their pursuit of justice. They’re looking for the one thing that will bring their version of “fair” to the world without understanding that “fair” died long before any of us were here.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Part 2)-You are not broken!
As difficult as life can be, it is not difficulty, or the trials, or even those moments when we feel so overwhelmed that we can’t see a way forward that defeat us. The thing that defeats us, that makes us throw in the towel and decide that we do not want to go on, is a loss of hope. When we begin to believe that “this is just the way it is, and nothing will ever change,” we condemn ourselves to a lifetime of drifting without purpose or direction on the sea of life. It becomes difficult to accomplish anything or fulfill the purpose for which we were created because we have accepted defeat as a way of life. We have accepted the label of “disordered” and resigned ourselves to just getting by.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Part 1)
PTSd carries with it some very real consequences. Any discussion of PTSd and combat trauma that tries to make coping nothing more than “try harder and get over it” can be extremely discouraging to the person who is struggling with trauma and its effects. Hope can be removed when we are unwilling to acknowledge that the brain and the systems that support it, as well as the individual emotional makeup of a person, can be profoundly impacted by traumatic events. Some of these things will never be fully repaired and the pre-trauma “normal” may not ever be the post-trauma “normal.”
We Need Heroes!
In my last post I did my best to answer the question: “What is a Hero?” (you can read that here). This often overused word really does have a meaning apart from the "other worldly" fighters of evil that we see portrayed in film. And, as...