Here's how you can navigate communication challenges with your team and partners as an entrepreneur.

I think that there are a few skills that are only perfected in the long term: - Eliminate Distractions: Ensuring that we are in an environment conducive to listening. Put away phones, laptops, and make eye contact with the speaker. - Use Non-Verbal Cues: Nodding, maintaining eye contact and appropriate facial expressions show that we are engaged and attentive. - Paraphrase and Summarize: Repeat what we’ve heard in our own words to confirm understanding. “So, what you’re saying is…” - Ask Open-Ended Questions: Encourage further elaboration. “Can you tell me more about that?" - Be Patient: Allow the speaker to finish their thoughts without interrupting. This patience fosters a respectful dialogue. Most people fails in this.

It's so important to take the time to really listen to your team or partners. Asking them for their concerns, feedback, and suggestions is key but really listening to them is what's important. Don't come back with your ideas, or arguments, just listen and understand from their point of view. Take the time to respond putting yourself in their place from what they just shared and ask more questions instead of giving your thoughts and trying to move on.

Being clear and concise is important and it's also important to ask follow up questions so you really understand their thoughts, feelings, concerns. It's also good to say things like, what I'm hearing is... from what you just said I now understand... and get them to confirm that you really heard and understand them before moving forward. This way you can be assured and confident that you know the true issues and feelings so you can properly move forward.

Once you set up a plan to get ongoing feedback, it's important to follow up and show you are acting on that feedback. I used to meet with my team and say, last time we had a team meeting you all shared that you wanted to see.. and I have done the following... how is that working for you? Things like this shows you are trying and asking for more feedback to ensure you are on the right path.

Empathy is so important when dealing with emotions. To avoid things getting too heated, try to stay composed and focus on facts over feelings. If you don't have all the facts, use the time to say I just want to hear you, understand your thoughts and concerns and then I would like time to process and we can follow back up. This way you have time to gather what you need to have a productive conversation.