According to the Joint Commissions’s sentinel event program, communication problems are the most common root cause of serious medical errors. In order to help reduce these deadly errors, many hospitals and medical professionals have implemented strategies such as structured and standardized handoffs to improve communication among members of the healthcare team to help reduce these errors.
We know that communication problems are the most common root cause of serious medical errors.
What is the most common root cause of serious problems inside your family?
What is the most common root cause of serious problems between you and your friends?
What is the most common root cause of serious problems between you and your boss at work?
What is the most common root cause of serious problems between you and your colleagues at work?
The answer is the same: Communication!
Every important thing you do in life will require a team effort. And communication is crucial to the success of all team activities.
There is an ancient story about the Tower of Babel that illustrates this point well. According to written accounts, once upon a time, the entire population of the world spoke the same language. Communication between them was effective and there was strong unity. The entire population decided to build a huge tower into the heavens, something that the story says challenged God. Even God appeared powerless to stop these people who were communicating effectively and united behind a cause. The account quotes God saying, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”
Without being religious, the moral of the story is that the only way to stop a people from achieving any great thing is to break down their communication. I think that where there is effective communication, you will unity, and nothing is impossible for a group of people that communicate well. With effective communication, a small group of people can do the impossible.
- If you want to destroy a marriage, destroy the communication between husband and wife
- If you want to destroy friends, destroy the communication between them
- If you want to destroy a family, destroy the communication between them
- If you want to destroy a city, destroy the communication
- If you want to destroy a nation, destroy the communication between its people.
- If you want to destroy a company, destroy the communication between the team members.
In the same way, if you want to restore these relationships, it starts with communication. If you want to strengthen them and prevent destruction, also strengthen the communication among team members.
What can you do today to improve communication between you and those you have a relationship with?
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