Recently I read in a Harvard Business Review article that a whopping 91% of team conflicts are caused by 4 triggers! Well, I wanted to know what they are, as I bet you do to! The #1 cause is communication differences, which ranks at 39% of the 1000 first-time managers across the 76 companies surveyed from around the globe. #2 at 22% is unclear expectations (lack of clarity and also a communication issue), #3 at 16% is unreasonable time constraints (I hear that one a lot!), and #4 is opaque performance standards (also lack of clarity, about expectations). Did you catch that? Communication differences play more of a role than numbers 2 and 3 combined! Thankfully communication is something we can get better at. I'm so glad I'm not stuck communication as poorly as I did 40 years ago, and I hope to continually get better. Better is possible for you and me, and your organization too. Think for a minute about your core values. Are they something that includes communication at some point? Does your team believe it is something good to do, or something that they actually do? I heard that one time Patrick Lencioni was talking to a CEO at an event. He asked the CEO what his favorite value was. He responded listening, at which Patrick asked if his team was made of really good listeners. He replied, "*#!% no", they need to get good at it, that's why it's my favorite value! That's an aspirational value, not a core value that you don't compromise! How's the core of your communication? Is it something everyone knows you are great at doing, or something you know your team needs to do better? Thankfully we can train, assess, and discuss together and find the next small step toward helping everyone grow towards better communication (and the other areas) and create a healthier organization all around. For assistance with helping your team be their best at clear and healthy communication, contact me today! Always remember, "Better is possible".