“Truth” is all important as you think about growing your team.
Connecting with like-minded and committed people that know the source of Truth produces growth. Showing love to one another is reflected in our actions toward others. Our team at Career Development Partners have a like mind, however each person is uniquely gifted with different strengths and weaknesses. We have learned the power of working together around the idea that we will hold to “Truth” as the most important glue that sustains us and helps us to grow stronger as a team. We challenge ourselves to answer this question, “Is this true?” as we seek growth in our organization.
Collaboration is something that energizes me when others participate in a conversational dialog. Speech that is filled with a person’s belief about truth creates growth and expanded energy for our team. From my experience with myself and others, speaking the truth, no matter how different or incompletely communicated, produces new insights and maturity. From a good dialog, new energy results and growth happens.
When team members feel safe to share their deepest truths out loud, it evolves into life and fosters thought and an open response instead of clattering around in their brain, where it wastes away unheard, unrewarded, and unconfirmed.
When a coworker is perceived to be speaking from the depths of their beliefs of truth, without hidden itineraries, without need for individual validation, what is communicated is more effectively heard for its own virtues and emboldens others to do likewise. This encourages others with strong beliefs to discover deeper, different meanings that extend beyond the original premise of their truth. The outcome is new collaborative thinking and dialogue that creates growth, discovery, and curiosity.
Five keys to achieving this kind of quality sharing are:
- Self-respecting humbleness. As the leader you don’t ask for direct or implied assurances for everything you believe is truth. My father use to teach me to ask myself what does the Bible say about the topic and see if I could identify a passage that supported the belief. He told me to always treat people with dignity and respect and in so doing it was self-respecting humility.
- No prejudgment of the participants. Withhold judgement till you hear them out. Always be open to discovering the truth and expect that from others as well. A few years ago, I met Mark Bowen, the author of Truth and Lies and read his book all the way through in one sitting. I found it insightful, and it supports grace in dealing with others.
- Confer with your listeners. Establish a frequent habit of checking with the participants to be sure you have made your thoughts clear, that they understand your thinking. Regularly solicit their reactions to any critical or controversial points. Ask, does this make sense to you? If not, repeat the thought trying to make it understandable the second time around. Amazing how this will help you to understand yourself better as well.
- Pay attention to what is being said. Take as long as possible to hear and respect the thinking (and feelings) of your listeners. Stay open. Stay present. The same letters in the word listen also spell silent.
- Share outcomes. Communicate progress, even holdups, to the plans agreed upon. The outcome becomes clear as you collaborate together for next steps.
Nurturing Growth Through Shared Truths: Coaching as an Engine for Success
The gift of sharing truths both spoken and received enables unbiased assumptions and opens new doorways to growth, gratification, and success. This inspiration and appetite for truth is core to the fuel of any effective leader’s desire.
This does not happen by happenstance. It must be deliberate, and a coach can help teams to produce the necessary growth of critical conversations.
Our team went through some training on critical conversations and discussions and found it beneficial as we work toward growth in our business and personal lives.
Coaching around communication is a powerful engine for successful growth to move your “Truths” forward in your organization.
