How successful has your communication been with a mask on ?

Well I have had some epic failures and some pretty decent wins. 

I have come to realize that I read lips a lot and expect others to read my lips as well. So ha ha that has been an interesting discovery since going back to work and wearing a mask all day. I have discovered wearing a mask actually feels like a handicap to me. I feel like I’m getting better every day but there have been some challenges and obstacles to overcome.

Here’s how we have been able to overcome a few of them.

The 5 essentials that you can do in your business to achieve clear communication with your team at work.....

1. We write things down on a clipboard and talk about it out in front with our clients. I ask people to repeat back to me what they heard me say so that I can clarify our communication. I have realized that I need to slow down so that we can have crystal clear communication.
2. We smile huge with our eyes. So much so that you can see our eyes 👁 crinkle up a bit. We do it so that our clients know we are excited and overjoyed to see them.
3. We have weekly team meetings on zoom so we can make sure we’re all on the same page. The day-to-day operations of running a business do not allow for face-to-face contact anymore so we write  a lot more things down and we have a face-to-face meeting on zoom at least once a week. Honestly this has been the biggest game changer for us. For awhile it felt like we were only sanitizing, cleaning , and doing hair and that we were not able to do anything else in our business. It was like groundhog day at work. Now we go over all the ways we know how to properly love, serve, and care for our team and our guests every week in our face to face zoom meeting.
4. During the week we started utilizing Asana which is a collaboration and accountability app. That helps us all communicate and move the needle forward on everything that we need to get done to move our business forward.
5. Last but not least, actually opening up and talking about everything. I have been really honest with myself and my team about anything that’s gone off sides and we look for the humor and fun in that. Sometimes I have to share a crazy story or some delusional way that I processed something that happened. Instead of allowing my crazy brain to go offsides down a rabbit hole and interpret one thing totally in the wrong direction. I just nip it in the bud by sharing how I was feeling when this or that happened. I often say things like…… I might be crazy but this is what happened and this is how I feel about it. Then I ask “ is this how you’re feeling?”  Or what was your take on what happened? I’m often told oh my god that’s not at all what I meant. I was trying to do this. I am so glad you told me that.  So understandably I’m probably a little more comfortable sharing my crazier side than the average human so these conversations can be hilarious and lead us down a communication path that is way more on target even with a mask on.  So I hope learning about our communication miss-steps and overcoming all of the new challenges that we’re all facing together, helps you and your team get more clear communication! We would love for you to share with us what is currently working best for you? If you are looking for more ways to level up your communication with your team check out my latest book Beyond Common to help get your whole team on the same page.