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In several earlier columns, I pointed out the three legs of trust: character, competence, and communication. All three are necessary to gain and maintain credibility as a ministry leader. But of the three, communication often seems to be the least recognized as a component of trust.

By communication, I don't mean the communication of God's Word from the pulpit. I'm talking about leadership communication, the kind of communication that can help or hinder your church's attempts to row together in the same direction. Whether at the visionary, missional, strategic, or tactical levels, good communication is crucial to ministry effectiveness and to your personal credibility as a leader.

Years ago, when my husband and I signed the contract to purchase our first house, our real estate agent told us, "Congratulations, you're halfway there!" We didn't realize that agreeing on a price was only the first step of the process. Next, we had to find a lender, arrange for an inspection and appraisal, work through the entire loan process, and secure insurance, not to mention manage all the documentation needed to actually close on the house.

In the same way, many leaders fail to realize that reaching a decision on an issue is not the end of the process, but the beginning. The communication (or lack thereof) that follows is just as important as the decision itself.

How can you tell whether your communication is effective? There are several indicators that can help you evaluate this element of your leadership.

The Telephone Game. Can your hearers communicate your message back to you? More important, can they communicate it accurately? Like the old game of "telephone," the message can easily become garbled as it passes through another person's frame of reference. Does what they hear match with what you are trying to say?

The Pass-Along Factor. Do you hear people communicating the message to others? I'll never forget the first time I heard someone in our church communicate the vision to someone else, not just repeating words they had heard in a sermon or read in a bulletin, but passionately sharing what our church is about. The church's vision had become their vision.

Action Steps. Do you see communication translate into action? In a church, vision often breaks down at the implementation stage because of poorly communicated action steps and roles. Whether at the visionary level or the tactical level, do people's actions demonstrate that they got the message? For example, if you change the date of a meeting but everyone shows up on the original day, those actions point to a communicator problem, not a listener problem.

Improved communication will help those you lead better appreciate your character and competence, and thereby build trust. Here are some principles to help you become more effective at communication as a ministry leader.

1. Any time you need to communicate something, ask yourself: "Who else needs to know?"
   Many great visions, ideas, and decisions have been killed during the communication process because the word does not reach the right people in a timely manner. In addition, failure to communicate adequately throughout an organization can result in mistrust of the leaders as the congregation begins to wonder if the leaders are trying to hide something.
2. Always try to over-communicate.
   Remember that you are always less clear than you think you are. If you think you've done a good job of communicating, you've probably just scratched the surface. Also, remember that you may need multiple "passes" to ensure adequate coverage with your message. At my church, many folks are gone two to four weeks out of any given eight-week period because of school, work, and vacation schedules. In this type of setting, it's important, for example, that we follow up a "Vision Sunday" with additional communication to those who may have been absent. And something as important as vision needs to be re-communicated regularly throughout the year. A corollary to this principle is that the larger the group, the longer it generally takes to get a message across. Like the wave cheer at a stadium, communication ripples through an organization and takes time to get across a large group.

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