Proactive Communication

We had a long holiday week in Japan at the beginning of the month, so it seems people are now settling back to their regular routines.

As I got back into the groove of my daily work for my corporate job, I was strongly reminded of the importance of communication, and why it’s more important than ever at this point in time.

I was going back and forth with someone over email, and started to only get partial answers to the questions I was asking. This meant that I couldn’t move forward on my side.

I proposed that we have an online meeting and use screen sharing to discuss until we had all of the answers we needed. I had prepared some material that helped with visualizing the process as well.

Not everything was solved at the meeting, but we were able to get to the next step of specifying the plan of action.

When you’re feeling that your communication is not going so well, or what you’re trying to tell the other person is not being received, I think it’s important to change your mindset and move forward in a creative way, instead of giving up before you even try. I know that sometimes it’s a hassle and it may not seem worth it.

But in this type of situation where I had to find a solution, there was no choice but to approach it in a different way.

Things will go into stalemate quickly if we assume that the other person won’t understand us anyway, or because we can’t see them in person, especially during these times when we are working remotely. 

It’s about not striving for perfection in the communication, but being proactive while incrementally adjusting to the changing situation moment by moment. 

This situation at work reminded me of how important it is to be conscious of our communication and our ability to do so directly, with respect and integrity.