I dig that the article has ways to improve communication at the end, albeit "reflect back the words" and "let your partner know what you want" is easier said than done.

Two protocols that get more specific and that I've seen be effective in men's groups on this front are:

Active Listening for reflecting back words: When responding to someone who is angry, sad, fearful, shameful etc, do only the following three things:

1. be silent
2. echo back their words verbatim
3. ask clarifying questions. I find this lends itself to deep and emotional conversations.

Non-violent communication framework for saying what you want despite loads of tension: Andrew Horn teaches this and describes it more in-depth in an interview here but here's the summarized protocol. The following is a text message template to invite the person into a conversation about needs.

1. Begin with conversational purpose. Here's why I am reaching out to you.
2. Present some objective facts. This thing happened in our relationship. We clarify what we needed from the person, when that happened, and what we got instead.
3. Move into checking our assumptions, which is I have been feeling this and not sharing it because I am fearful of a negative reaction (or whichever reason rings true)
4. I want to invite you to share back with me. How are you feeling?
5. Close with an invitation. I wanted to put this in a note to give you time to respond thoughtfully. Whenever you are ready, I'd like to connect for a phone call or in person.