Communicating in the Face of Fear
Fear can be extremely debilitating and limiting in accomplishing one’s goals. On one hand, fear serves a purpose in protecting us from difficult situations. This is commonly known as the fight or flight response. On the other hand, many times we are kept, largely on our part, from moving forward with the things that are important to us due to fear. I thought about this as it relates to communication. Both personally and professionally, individuals face challenges with communicating their ideas or wishes because of fear. Think about the experiences you have had with this. What keeps you from sharing truthfully with others?
Maybe it’s the fear of being different from the majority and unliked. Or retaliated against, even ostracized. It could be that you fear people will question or distrust your abilities. Perhaps you fear that someone will be upset with you or that you will hurt someone. There’s also the fear that you are powerless and that in the end nothing will change, so speaking at all is pointless. There may be many reasons for why it is difficult to communicate freely. When I think about my own life and work, especially regarding advocating for change, I have experienced some of the fears noted above, which have at times been realized. Yet, pushing past the fears has been advantageous for me in pursuing my goals, including fostering growth and change.
It’s important to keep in mind why you are communicating in the first place. What something means to you, or your intentions for doing something, is important for establishing why you are communicating. Whether for yourself and/or others, the need that you have in communicating helps lay the foundation for what is communicated and how.
Unfortunately, in many ways we find that the result of our communication is often determined by multiple factors. A large one is the willingness/receptiveness of others to act on what is shared, especially by individuals who are in positions of power or influence. Yet, this shouldn’t be a deterrent from communicating. It’s important to remember that your voice or message matters, and in being thoughtful and intentional, it’s possible to effect change.
What is something that you haven’t communicated with someone due to fear? Consider the worst that could happen if you did, and the best that could be possible but wouldn’t know unless you tried. Keep in mind the end result - what would support you and/or others and how you can most effectively share your message.
Feel free to share your thoughts on this writing in the comments or reach out if you’d like to connect, have questions, or are interested in partnering.
I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to share a comment or reach out if you’d like to connect, have questions, or are interested in partnering.
Healthy Messages™ helps professionals, leaders, and business owners in human services improve, craft, and implement communication within and across systems.
Learn more about Healthy Messages™ mission, vision, and outcomes.
Measuring Success
How is the success of an organization measured? Often success is measured by numbers - how many people are served or products are sold or how much revenue is made. While organizations may be clear on their mission, vision, goals, and maybe even the results they would like to see, one area that I’ve found to be easily and consistently overlooked is how goals/objectives, practices, and outcomes are consistent (or inconsistent) with each other and contribute to success. A question I would like to encourage you to think about is how evaluating progress supports organizational health. As well, consider how you can achieve growth or change by the clarity of your message.
Over the years I have observed this missing link when providing mental health/human services supports more often than not, whether it was for-profit hospitals, non-profit community organizations, or largely government-funded agencies. Although identifying the right goals or questions and the strategies or services needed to achieve outcomes make up the foundations or building blocks of an organization or business, it is unfortunately frequently neglected. On the surface, it may not appear this way - some organizations, especially those which receive Medicaid or other government funding, are familiar with the task of filling out copious amounts of paperwork, even questionnaires that capture demographics and other information about the services individuals are receiving. Yet, when taking a deeper look it becomes clearer that despite these efforts, the most important questions remain unasked and unanswered. Are targets (population, outcomes) being reached? What’s working? What needs to be improved? Are resources being utilized effectively/efficiently? What information is needed and how is information used to achieve goals and outcomes? Is a difference being made and what is its impact? Are alternative solutions needed, and if so, what additional supports are needed or that can or should be outsourced?
It is the absence of these questions and the reality of the answers these questions would produce that has motivated me to advocate for change to support growth. I believe regularly measuring success contributes to the health of individuals (clients and professionals) and organizations as a whole. The information gathered from the ongoing evaluation of leadership, services, and administrative protocols and procedures better informs practice. Not only is it important to close the gaps between goals/objectives, practices, and outcomes, but it is imperative to understand the true impact of efforts. It is my hope that Healthy Messages can be a source of existing data on what makes human services and mental health services in particular successful as well as a resource for related research tools. Additionally, Healthy Message seeks to help shed light on the need for systems of gathering and sharing information and provide solutions for crafting, implementing, and improving healthy messages.
As a leader, how do you measure success? What’s important to you in evaluating growth and change? Please also keep an eye out for opportunities to participate in research from Healthy Messages. Your contribution will help to support efforts to craft, implement, and improve healthy messages for individuals, organizations, and systems at large.
I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to share a comment or reach out if you’d like to connect, have questions, or are interested in partnering.
Healthy Messages™ helps professionals, leaders, and business owners in human services improve, craft, and implement communication within and across systems.
Learn more about Healthy Messages™ mission, vision, and outcomes.
What’s Your Story?
Most, if not all people have the hope that they would spend their time doing work that they are passionate about and love. Professionals in mental health or human services may pursue work in their respective fields because they love working with and helping others. Some could also be motivated by their own experiences, including personal identification with the mental, emotional, and/or physical challenges they themselves or loved ones have lived through, and desire to share their insights or give back in response to how they or someone they knew was supported.
When you think about your life, what would you say are the experiences that have shaped your work? How is your work representative of your experiences, as well as your interests, passions, skills/abilities, and values? Overall, what does your experiences/work say about you? What is the message that you convey? Likewise, what do people think of when they think of you and/or your work? Is this representative of your message?
Your story tells others about you and your experiences, interests/passions, challenges, successes, and overall, what makes you unique. Your story is very powerful. Oftentimes though, we don’t think of the impact of our stories on others. What can someone else learn from your story? How can your story help others? Another component of stories that is very important to keep in mind is the use of stories as a vehicle to share your message – what you want people to know about you, your mission/vision, and business and/or services, as well as challenges and successes.
My focus and interest in mental health is fueled by my compassion for the healing and growth of others and my desire to see professionals and organizations convey healthy messages in words and actions.
Think about your story and message. Also, recall the questions I shared at the beginning of this writing. Additionally, consider how you can ensure that your story and your message is clear and consistent.
Tell me more about your story. I would love to read your message.
I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to share a comment or reach out if you’d like to connect, have questions, or are interested in partnering.
Healthy Messages™ helps professionals, leaders, and business owners in human services improve, craft, and implement communication within and across systems.
Learn more about Healthy Messages™ mission, vision, and outcomes.