Communicating with your team

Hi, I'm Dr. Natalie and today we are talking about communications. So first off, if you are an entrepreneur, let's talk about communicating to your team. And when I say team, even if you're like a solo entrepreneur, there's always people you're working with. Your suppliers, your vendors, your customers, stakeholders. When you're getting licenses, any kind of person that you interact with is now part of your team. Because no man is an island, no business on an island. We need other people. So it's very important that you establish good relationships. Like I always say, it's not organizations or companies or institutes that hire you or that give you a contract. It's human beings or who work in those institutes and organizations and businesses. So it's about building relationships with different human beings. So when you're an entrepreneur, you want to have this delicate balance where people take you seriously and respect you and listen to you and like, understand your company and your product. But also they feel a kinship with you. They want to give you that contract or be your client or support your business or share what they got from you. So you need to have like a friendly rapport. And even with your staff, especially when you're still like a small business, you work very closely with a small team. Whether it's one person in your shop or it's like the accountant you use, or it's the HR that you have, or like your small team of 10 or 5, or even like before you reach like 100, I would say you need to be able to have a good friendly balance. This is important because you want to have an environment where people are giving you feedback and ideas. Because you can't be everywhere. I find that as my personal challenge as an entrepreneur to be the hardest part. I can't be everywhere. I wish I could have a thousand copies of myself all feeding back into my brain, but I can't. So the beauty is I get other people and they all have different perspectives, they have different experiences, they have different backgrounds. And so they have to be your eyes and ears and your feelers into the market, into the field, into whatever you're doing. So you need to build good relationships with people, get to know people. This is hard, I know, but it's worth it. It's an investment. Think about it that way. You need to spend time with this person. For example, if you are dealing with a supplier, this is going to be your long term supplier. You need to build the relationship, not just, hi, here's a thing. Thank you. Hi, here's your payment. Thank you. You know, invest, understand who they are, why they do what they do, why they started their business, where they're getting their products from. You know, you need to build that relationship. It will help. They might give you a discount, they might give you product before they give someone else. When there's a shortage, they might give you a heads up, oh, we're getting this new item. You need to have relationships with people. And people have no reason to go above and beyond for you or the extra mile or to be kind to you or to help you if you don't invest in them as people. Also do what you can to pay them on time, do what you can to be compassionate, to be kind, to give them other business, to give them referrals. If you're talking about splats, if it's your team, get to know them, who they are, their families, their goals, their ambitions, their challenges, their dreams. Because these are people you work with closely. And I mean this in a genuine way. Don't just ask people questions to ask. Like, oh, Natalie said, it's good to ask people this question. Let me tick the box. And not even listening, you know, try to connect with people. Human beings always have stuff in common. There's always something you can find. So try and connect and build those relationships. Because the stakeholders are the people who are in the ecosystem of your business. And your business is dead without them. Yes, it needs you. Yes, it needs money, yes, Needs a product or service, but it's nothing without all the other people. It's nothing without the person who will give you that license or the supplier who's going to make sure you have the ingredients, which your product or the customers who are going to buy your product. There's so many different people who are involved in your ecosystem and you as an entrepreneur need to invest in those relationships. The reason this falls under communications is because you have to be communicating with them. These are the people that you have to inform that you have to update, that you have to talk to, that you have to know. Because these are the people that are making the system go. You know, I feel like if you think about it like as a machine, like the way I'm saying, ecosystem, system, it's like the oil in the system that's going through that. It's like the blood, it keeps everything alive. Communication, you don't want to wait to the last minute. You don't want to disorganize people. You don't want to call your supplier, oh my God, I need a thousand pins right now. You can't do that to people and it's likely you will be disappointed and you will frustrate them and that relationship. So communication is key. You know, next month we're having a big event and I'm going to need a thousand pens on the 15, please. Can you start to work on that or think about how we're going to get that delivery done. Simple. That's all it took. But it makes a huge difference in their life, you know, in how they look at you and how they work with you. So communicate, communicate, communicate. Send a million emails. Send a million Whatsapps. I hate to encourage phone calls because I don't like phone calls, but call people. Just make sure that people are up to date with what is going on. All the stakeholders in your life need to know what's happening. It's like releasing a new product and you don't tell your customers, oh, yeah, you know, we have it in disclaimer now. We just forgot to tell you. Communicate. You have to communicate with your team and build that rapport. You know, it has to be a good thing that goes back and forth that they care about you and you care about them and some delicate balance because, like with your staff or with your suppliers, you need them to still take you seriously. Not that you're friendly or like, just because we hung out after work sometimes doesn't mean you don't pay me on time. You know what I mean? So you have to be able to have that balance because you might have to hire people or fire people. You will have to work closely with people on good days and on bad days. Money always makes things hard. I can't say I'm perfect with this. Sometimes I pay people late, sometimes they pay me late. It's not ideal. Communicate. Say, I'm sorry, say this is going on. Say, this is happening. What can we do about it when things are good? By the way, the event did great. I'm so happy we're splitting these profits. Well done, everyone. You know, communication really helps to grease the wheels to make the system work better and to make the relationship work better. Part of communication when you're dealing with other people is active listening. Active listening, you can actually Google that. That is a thing. It is completely different from just listening. You know, we say listening, but you know the saying that God gave us two ears and one mouth. We usually talk way more than we listen. And it's something that's really important. You know, I never really used to value that. I always thought I'm a good listener. I don't think I was a good listener. I think I'm just observant as a person because I'm curious. So I used to notice things, and I thought that meant I was a good listener, and it's not. What taught me about active listening was doing a coaching course when I was learning how to be a proper coach. During that course, they explained the different stages of listening. There were four stages. Yo, I was shocked. I was like, okay, I can see how I'm not doing this. I like active listening. I think it's only stage two. But it makes a huge difference when you start to actively listen. So most of the time, when someone is talking, you're listening to respond. You're immediately thinking about, what am I going to say when they stop talking? I think that's like an anxiety thing or insecurity thing. You don't want that awkward silence. But the thing is, it takes your attention away from what they are saying. So you're not fully present because a part of your brain is thinking, oh, my God, what am I going to say? And I know this happens, and I do it too. Today I was on a panel, and I knew I was next to answer the question. So I was busy thinking about, oh, gosh, what I going to say, because I don't really have an answer. Instead of listening to the lady before me, and she was saying a really interesting thing. And so I realized I was doing it and I was like, you'll figure it out. Focus. And I focused on what she was saying, and it clicked what I was going to say because it was great what she said. Sometimes it helps that way. But active listening is being present when people are telling you something. Stop thinking about other things. Don't think about what you're gonna have for lunch. Don't wonder if I left this on. Did I take off those. What shoes do I want to buy? Did I repair that Instagram message? Your mind is always doing these things. But if you hold all those thoughts and you focus on what someone is telling you, one, you will hear it. Not just, oh, yes, they were talking about something like this. You will hear what they are saying this point, this point, this point. And human beings are so emotionally intelligent, I think naturally, and we suppress it with the way that we don't encourage it. I think anything you cultivate and encourage and grow like a muscle grows by practice. But you can sense other things. You can understand where they are coming from, what caused this, how they feel about it, where they are going with this. If your focus are present, people's tone of voice changes their body language, changes their micro expressions in their face. You can learn so much. If you're not thinking about what am I going to say? Just be here. And the beauty is, once you're there and you're present, you will know what to say. It will come because you're actually in the moment. The right energy will come through, the right words will come through to speak. But also it's okay to pause when someone says something to you or is giving you feedback or is asking you a question or is telling you how they feel about something. Especially someone who works with you or works for you or works in your ecosystem. Try and listen because you can learn so much from what they're saying. Sometimes people will say something that they don't believe at all, or they are saying it because someone told them to say it. But if you're not really paying attention, they're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I've heard you. You think they're actually saying it. But if you are actively listening, you would sense there's something deeper here or there's an agenda here, or why did they say it that way? Why did they use these words? Why was their face looking like this but they were saying this? Sometimes people are saying something positive, but they look upset about it, or they're saying something negative, but they seem happy about it. You can sense these other things if you're focused. And we take it for granted. We think we're always listening, but we're really not. Once you start to practice active listening, you see the huge difference. And it's hard because it takes a lot of energy, because you have to take energy to stop all the thoughts, and then you take energy to focus and you absorb so much more from what someone is saying. But it's very interesting and useful. The next most important thing I would say is the method of communication being consistent in it. You see, people are creatures of habit. And it's useful for them to know how to anticipate what you want and how to plan for what you want, to execute what they need to do. So whether it's a supplier, it's your team, it's someone you work with, someone who is processing something for you. They need to know how to be in touch with you. Some people like phone calls, some people like WhatsApp, some people like emails, Some people like physical meetings. You know, we all have that person in our life that we know that one. If you call them, they won't answer. That's why if you call them, they'll answer until you come and see me in the office. They want physical. Some people say send it in an email, you know, but it's good if you can communicate clearly. This is the method of communication you'll be using. This is the frequency. I'll send you an email once a week. We'll do a zoom call once a month. I'll come to your office every two days. Sometimes that's what it takes. But it's good if you communicate. This is how we're going to communicate, and this is how we're going to stay in touch, and this is how we're going to make sure things are done. Like today, I am part of a project team, and usually we have zoom calls if we week, but the last two weeks we've all been busy and had to keep changing the zoom calls. So now the project is not moving at the pace it's supposed to. So I was like, perhaps you should start a WhatsApp group. So in between these zoom calls, we're actually moving forward because now nothing has happened for three weeks because we missed two weeks of meetings. And now it's like at the back of all our minds. Yesterday someone was telling me because I missed a zoom, we were supposed to have a zoom, but because I was traveling, we couldn't. They were like, let's do voice notes instead. So. So send me the voicemail with your update. I'll send you the voicemail with my update, and we can keep the intention of what we want to talk about in zoom. I was like, great, thank you for mentioning that. Let's do this. Sent them a long voicemail last night. Here's all my updates. You will send it to me when it's your own time. So it's important that you communicate with people and you have these systems so that when your team grows or when you have an event or a project or things are changing, people know what doesn't change, what remains the same. This is how I'm going to talk to my boss, or this is how I'm going to talk to my teammate, or this is how we're going to make sure the project is moving. Because every week we talk about this, or every month we have this, or every quarter we have a board meeting. So all human structures, like all community groups, have a system of communicating, whether it's we meet at weddings or we only see each other at funerals. You know how we have family members who we only see at weddings and funerals. That's that communication style with that group in Your life, that sort of society group. If it's a team you work very closely with, you know, the people that you see every day. Good morning. Good morning. This is what we do every morning. This is our routine. This is how we update each other. I remember when the junior chemo offices were starting, those guys had the most fun, like morning and evening meetings. They would all have like a kickoff meeting in the morning. The whole team. What is everyone doing today? Who is doing this, who's going where, who's doing what? And then they all go out. And I was there once for the meeting in the morning and as all the field guys are going out, the MD was there giving them high fives at the door. Pepper, Pepper. Have a good day. Have a good day. Have a good day. And they'd start their day like that every day. So that was their communication structure. And then they all knew. At the end of the day we're having a team meeting. How did the day go? Who did what? Did you hit your target? What happened? Okay, well done. Everyone go home. So they start and end the day like that and had that structure. So everyone gets used to that structure and knows they have to fulfill their own responsibilities and update you in that structure. This all falls under communication because these are communication norms you have to set up. These are things you have to communicate to people. Tell them so that they are aware and they are present and they are ready. No one hates when someone comes to a meeting unprepared. Uh huh. So what is this meeting for? Excuse me, Suzanne, we sent you the email with the agenda with the minions with the team project plan. You know, don't be Susan. Let's all like be ready for what we're supposed to do do. That's why it's important to communicate these things. And as an entrepreneur, it is your responsibility to set up these communication methods and hold people consistent to them because your company is at stake. Nothing is going to move forward unless you are driving this communication. And if everyone is quiet and everyone doesn't know what's going on, nothing happens. If you found this video useful, be sure to subscribe on my social media channels so you can get more information. I believe in you. I want you to succeed and I'm here to support you.