Summary: Santa Claus is part of the magic of Christmas for a child. Ultimately, one day, some kid will mention something negative about Santa Claus to other kids. Similarly, every day in our organizations, our businesses, our communities, and our relationships, communication is happening. Sometimes communication is about something negative. Communication is more than just sending and receiving words. Those words carry meaning and emotions. We need to be responsible for the words we say and how we use them. The first lesson we can take from this is about the person communicating the message. Does that person have the responsibility to communicate that message? Does that person have the right to communicate that message? Is the person communicating that message for the right reasons? What is the purpose of communicating that message? In this case, this student could have wanted to show her superiority to other students, or she was impacted negatively by hearing this news and wanted to bring other people down to her level. This is important for us to understand. Information like this can cause someone to feel alone, to feel like they no longer understand the belief system of other people around them and one of the ways people deal with that is to bring others down to their level. I know we have people like this in our organizations. They try to stir up negative feelings because they feel negative. Or they try to make other people dislike someone because they dislike them. This is a cancer in our workplaces and needs to be removed. Remember we are responsible for the words we say and the meaning of those words because they have a huge impact on people and can have a ripple effect. For more information or to connect with Mike via email, LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook, please visit www.crucialtalks.com.
