One of the most important elements of having a cohesive team is effective, open communications. Simply put, it's fundamental. You can't build an effective team without it.

It's one of those things that you only really notice in the breach.

When communication breaks down among team members, everything breaks down, and everyone points to "poor communication."

Not on their own part, of course. We never notice when WE are not communicating well. But boy is it easy to discern when others aren't communicating.

The truth is, communication only works when both the sender and recipient of a communication are focusing hard on communicating. If either side isn't working hard at it, communication breaks down.

But is the breakdown because the sender isn't sending... or the recipient isn't listening?

Or are you just speaking different languages?

When the communication broke down, did you try again? Ask for clarification? Double-check to make sure you (or the other) understood properly?

In other words, did YOU do everything you could do to make the communication successful?

EVERYTHING?

Think about it.