When you carve out time for communication, problems get easier to deal with.
With respect to work, when the leader takes time to communicate with his team, he or she has a better understanding of the employees’ challenges. When you communicate with your customers, a better understanding of their dealings with your organization – good, bad or otherwise.
Similarly at home when you allow time to discuss with your spouse or teenage child, you can solve a lot of issues. Today, I spent the day with my wife Farzana and whilst driving around running errands we resolved many unfinished items. One of the items involved my 16 year old son.
Similarly over the speaker phone both my wife and I spoke to him about carving out time on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays for the tutor. After a bit of convincing he finally agreed. The agreement was facilitated by allowing him to have a say in the timings, especially weekends.
How about you? Do you allow time and space where healthy communication can occur? Have you tried to resolve a thorny issue by listening actively to understand the real issue?