Common Communication Pitfalls

By Shawn McQueen, Mentor for Two-Brain Group Coaching Course

At a certain point, everyone learns how to say words but so few ever master the art of communication. 

We are going to communicate with other human beings our entire lives, yet so few seek out mastery in an area that can make all the difference. Consider the following questions:

• How would being a better communicator help your marriage or personal relationship? 

• How would being a better communicator help your leadership or ability to influence others in your current career? 

• How would being a better communicator help you with all the interactions of life, from doctor visits to the DMV, to sales, all the way to parenting or even a conversation with a friend?

The art of communication is really the art of connecting with other human beings with a level of grace supporting it.  

Yet many into the common pitfalls of communication mistakes. Here are a handful we’ve identified:

• We all have that friend who always finds a way to make a conversation about themselves.

• There are incongruencies between the words coming out and their body language and facial expressions.

• Perhaps they are too direct, matter of fact and lack care, empathy, or consideration in how they speak to other people. And when asked, maybe they respond with “I’m just being me.”

• They lack the ability to read the other person, read the room and have emotional intelligence or situational awareness. 

In the system we teach at Two-Brain Coaching, Learn-Design-Deliver-Refine, the first ‘L’ in Learn stands for Listen. While it’s a very powerful skill to hone, I’ve admittedly been guilty of:

1. Not really listening
2. Thinking ahead and planning what I am going to say or how I will respond
3. Interrupting and talking over someone before they are completely done

Any of these sound familiar? (Hopefully I’m not the only one guilty of these!)

The truth is that we all encounter these common pitfalls all the time in our everyday lives. 

So who taught you how to communicate? 

We learned much of it from observing others.  

Mom, dad, friends, people we look up to. 

If you really want to excel as a Professional Health and Fitness Coach, you have to become a great communicator. 

Where to start?

We will break down in detail the key things to become a great communicator tomorrow!

If you care to share any best practices you live by, please by all means hit reply and share them now.