DailyLeadership: Do you communicate with your team for understanding and action? (158-1))

Leadership Principles

Do you communicate with your team for understanding and action? (158-1)

Written by Barry-Werner on January 24th, 2011. Posted in Communication Skills, Jeremiah, Leadership Principles, Old Testament,Personal Development, Skills.

Effective leaders constantly seek to improve their communication skills by finding memorable ways to communicate with their team. Read Jeremiah 2:1-16.

According to Jeremiah 1:4-5, God set Jeremiah apart to be a prophet before he was even born. When Jeremiah was still a young man, God put His words in Jeremiah’s mouth and tested Jeremiah to insure he clearly saw the visions God was providing. God instructed Jeremiah to prepare himself because the kings, officials and priests that were in leadership had charted their course, had hard hearts and would choose not listen to His message. 

To communicate with “hard-hearted” individuals and give them a chance to hear God’s message Jeremiah would have to be straight forward at times and at other times would need to find creative ways to deliver God’s message. Jeremiah used analogies and metaphors to describe how Israel had drifted from the Lord. He used word pictures like a bride running to and then from her husband, a man digging a cistern that would not hold water and a slave that had lost his freedom. Jeremiah’s goal was communicate in such a way as to give his audience the greatest chance at understanding.

There are a few general principles leaders can learn from Jeremiah concerning communication:

  • Jeremiah got to the point quickly. He was direct in his opening statements so his audience knew exactly where Jeremiah was heading.
  • Jeremiah used simple language and didn’t try to impress anyone with his knowledge or theological expertise.
  • Jeremiah stuck to the topic God gave him. He did not have several themes in any one message but stayed with a specific topic. To address another issue he gave another message. His audience didn’t have to pick and choose what was most important to them but knew what was most important to God.
  • Jeremiah used everyday, clear, and universally understandable word pictures and object lessons to help his audience understand the application of his message.

Leaders who seek to communicate for understanding and action can learn from Jeremiah as they hone their communication skills.

Posted via email from ..................The Last Call Digest

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