Bring Congruency and Truth to Your Communication

16 Apr Bring Congruency and Truth to Your Communication

At a time when discerning truth from fiction and noise has never been more difficult, it is important for you to be sure that you are saying exactly what you mean.

Prior to the pandemic – social media, mainstream news, and the events of the day made it easier than ever to be loose with your facts, loose with your words, and loose with the things those words effect.  It was a poorly accepted practice to “backtrack”, “spin”, and “pivot” in the interest (or self-interest) of the moment – without a second thought about the consequences of what we say and how we say it. Now more than ever, people are looking for you to be concise, consistent and accurate with the information that you are delivering and are depending on you to bring congruency and truth to your communication.

 Congruency isn’t as hard as it looks – the key is authenticity.  If you act honestly in one situation, you’ll react that way again when it comes around a second or third time.  You’ll do it every time because you know no other way.  That kind of congruency is what builds trust – in you and in others.

In the Amazon best selling book, DARE: Accepting the Challenges of Trusting Leadership written by Speakeasy’s CEO, Scott Weiss – he dares his reader to accept the challenge of being honest and authentic. The “tangled web” gets much easier to manage if you don’t have to remember exactly what you said last time, or whether what you’re about to say can be backed with supportive action next week.  Showing up as your authentic self every time builds the kind of congruency that allows all of us to move beyond communication to trusted connection –  where things are achieved much more quickly and easily.

One way to be more congruent and truthful while communicating is to separate opinions from facts. 

There is a difference between what is – or what happened – and how you feel about it or what it means to you.  Separating those two in your own head and heart is the first step to being a responsible communicator.  That can be harder to do than it sounds.  Our brains work hard to take care of ourselves.  They can distort an event, change a memory, or cloud an objective to be sure we’re protected or rewarded.

Separating yourself from that brain and objectively cataloging what you know to be true requires mindfulness and a deliberate set of measures.  What is it that proves this fact? That’s not to say interpretation or belief should be discounted.  They are inevitable and invaluable and they are exactly what make you who you are.  But they aren’t facts.  They should be used differently when you communicate – fueling your passion and commitment, and driving your desire to motivate others toward shared goals.

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