A recent article in The New York Times generated several responses on a forum I frequent. The only problem was I could not believe they had all read the same article I had read. Each person reacted to a different component of the article. Latched on and took off. At the same time, each assumed the others were reacting to the same thing. The reality was they simply weren’t talking to each other. They thought they were, but they weren’t. It was unbelievable, but it wasn’t. I see this every day. I remember the first meeting I attended at a new job many years ago. I sat at the table and listened.
Not sure I’ve ever encountered an organization that doesn’t complain about “poor communication.” But what does it really mean? Too often companies respond to the complaint with meetings, memos, newsletters, announcements, presentations, and videos without ever touching the real cause of the complaints. There are four main reasons why employees complain about a lack of communication: 1. Employees don’t know what is important An unclear strategy and priorities make it impossible for employees to make smart decisions. While poor communication of the strategy and priorities is one possible cause, more often there isn’t a clear strategy, the strategy is too complex, and/or there are too many priorities. If there are too many priorities, there are no priorities. If employees don’t know what is important, they assume someone is failing to tell them and thus, poor communication is the complaint. 2. Employees don’t know who is supposed to do what when Ill-defined roles, responsibilities, and processes are another common culprit. Communication may be part of the problem but, more likely, roles, responsibilities, and processes are simply poorly defined. The resulting confusion is annoying at best. People begging for clarification often complain about poor communication. 3. Employees don’t do what they are supposed to do A lack of commitment, discipline, and/or accountability by even a small minority of employees can create the feeling that no one knows who is supposed to do what. You can clarify and communicate roles and responsibilities until you are blue in the face but if employees just do their own thing, confusion ensues, and others will complain about poor communication. 4. Employees don’t like surprises that affect their work and lives The way decisions are made and communicated is often more important than the decision itself if you are affecting employees’s sense of security and control. When… read more →
Is it foolish to send email to the next cubicle? How about arranging a conference call within a single building? Is texting just for teens? No, no, and no. What is foolish is believing that these methods are interchangeable. Choose well and you will save yourself and others significant time and energy while getting better results. Phone Pick up the phone when: It will take you longer to write the email than to make the call. A single, round trip email is unlikely to resolve the issue. You need an answer right away and an email that doesn’t get answered right away would require you to turn to other sources. Confusion and questions greatly exceed clarity; an email would involve guessing, lengthy explanations, and/or irrelevant choices and suggestions. The situation is sensitive and you need to listen before you speak.
Email is just WAY too easy. That “reply-all” button in particular should require a license to operate. Here are 10 tips to save all of us time. Pass this article around your company and community and maybe together we can reduce some of the unnecessary volume that is clogging inboxes, increasing stress, and destroying productivity. If you don’t know what you are trying to accomplish, don’t try to accomplish it via email. If your email is going to lead to an email, which is going to lead to another email, which is going to lead … you get the idea, don’t use email. Get on the phone or out of your chair and have a real conversation. Only use email when you believe you can accomplish your purpose in one round trip – one message and one response.
Many advise bloggers to post meaty articles frequently. Many serious business bloggers equate meat with length. I believe it is important to provide value and stimulate minds with as few words as possible. The time we have to read seems to be shrinking while the complexity of issues grows. Thus, concise is good. Of course, it’s not just blog postings that suffer from verbosity. Ever notice how most business books run out of things to say less than half way through? Ever tried to submit an article for publication and received length guidelines such as 800 – 1200 words? Just think about that. Could this explain a portion of the print media woes? No one should be more focused on filling space and meeting length guidelines than providing value. I say keep it short. Think haiku. A sonnet, perhaps. Remember the words often attributed to Mark Twain: “I did not have time to write you a short letter so I wrote you a long one instead.”
Email is amazing, essential and wonderful. Unfortunately, it can waste as much time as it saves. These simple tips will save you tremendous time as well as that of others. Do not send an email when: You are upset. Don’t even write it while upset. You’ll just waste a lot of time. I recommend a walk or other form of exercise instead. If you do write email while upset, wait 24 hours and then read it carefully before sending. The message will be long, complicated, or filled with options. A long, complicated, option-packed email will likely just cause confusion. A phone call first to provide an explanation, determine interest and understanding, and narrow the focus will likely save you significant time in writing the original message, not to mention the many subsequent go-arounds you would likely trigger.
Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus, and that’s only the beginning! Lots of people have written about the gender gap in communication, but gender is not the only factor that makes communication difficult. Picture this: You are talking to somebody. The other person is nodding. You think, “Good, this person agrees with me,” and you feel encouraged to continue talking. Which you gladly proceed to do. Now picture this: You are listening to somebody. You are nodding and thinking, “Yes, yes, OK, hurry up and finish because I want to talk!” Or perhaps you have heard this one before, “I thought you meant …”.