Healthy communication is a key to effective leadership. Peter Drucker in his book, “The Effective Leader,” says it like this: “Communications have been in the center of managerial attention these last twenty years or more. In business, in public administration, in armed forces, in hospitals, in other words in all the major institutions of modern society, there has been great concern with communications.

If communication is not clear, people will speculate and draw their own conclusions. People acquire information in different ways. For example, in the church, some read their church bulletins while others do not. Some need verbal communication, others prefer video. Some need a personal touch to fully grasp information. Young leaders need to be trained to use every method of communication possible to communicate clearly.

The person communicating the message is responsible to be sure those who hear actually understand the communication. To ensure your words are clearly understood, learn to ask, “Please tell me what you heard me say.”

Samuel R. Chand, in his book, “Cracking Your Church’s Culture,” explains the importance of process in communication. He says, “Make the first statement positive instead of negative, inclusive instead of exclusive, and hopeful instead of complaining about the past. The process of the conversation is just as important (and ultimately even more important) than the immediate topic of the conversation.”

On a personal note, I made a new friend today; Greg Surratt. Greg serves as the Sr. Pastor of Seacoast Church in the Charleston SC area, a church that has grown from 3000 members to over 13,000 members during the past few years. The believers at Seacoast are involved in hundreds of “missional communities.” I love what they are doing. Greg is also a founding member of the ARC church planting movement. Both Greg and I are speaking this week at the annual Church Foundational Network Leadership Conference at Liberty Church in Pensacola, Florida. My friend Buford Lipscomb, who heads up CFN, connected us. I love when the Holy Spirit makes these kingdom connections.