Talk is Cheap, part 1

Talk is cheap, compared to no talk at all. Almost every problem in life can be traced back to a communication issue. "Didn't you get the memo?" "I told you we were out of milk!" "I really didn't mean it like that!" "Why didn't you tell me you felt like that?"

Talk is cheap compared to the price of poor communication. Good relationships don't just happen by accident, they happen on purpose and they grow because of effective communication. Think about this if you're married, when you first started dating you spent a lot of time together and you probably talked a lot. You enjoyed talking to your prospective mate.

The price of poor communications is high in many ways.

As in any relationship, communication is key to a strong business relationship. This can be the relationship between business and customer, or, equally as important, the internal relationships among different employees within the company. Communication can be improved in virtually every workplace, no matter the industry or size. After all, it is the only way for information to effectively spread throughout the business so that everybody can be informed to the degree that they required to properly achieve their goals. The same goes for ministry in churches. In fact the standard should be higher.

Marriages are ruined by poor communication. Rather than openly discuss sex, money, body problems or whatever, couples hint about their concerns or simply say nothing. But without support and understanding from your primary teammate, you do not go as far. In fact, a bad marriage can ruin everything in your life. Both parties in a successful marriage are able to give and receive communication from their spouse on any subject.

Friendships are based on communication. Life is miserable if you have no one to openly communicate with.The lack of friends or a spouse to communicate with often leads to mental problems.

So the first communication skill you need is to get out there and talk. In part two we will discuss the best ways and tools to use to improve our communication with each other.

What about you, do you struggle with communication in your life?