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The problem with communication…
…is the illusion that it has been accomplished. George Bernard Shaw
I saw an amusing (and thought provoking) cartoon the other day. It pictured a man in an office with a bookshelf behind him, filled with books with titles like zero-based budgeting, business process re-engineering, management by objectives, rightsizing, benchmarking for business etc etc. He is reading a book and thinking ‘Hmm… this new management fad is crazy enough that it might just work. The title of the book? ‘Just do your flippin’ job!’
So what makes this amusing? Is it that doing your job is unusual? That people are so creative that they find all sorts of ways to avoid doing this? Or is it that there are so many management fads (and even worse, so much management jargon) that people are turned off by it? Probably a combination of all of these, and more.
One thing is certain, that clarity and simplicity in communication seem to pass business by! Maybe it’s because jargon sounds clever or people use it to feel superior, but the fact is that you are much more likely to be heard and understood if you are clear about what you want.
 My daughter Zoë recounted an interesting experience to me recently. As the longest serving member of her team, she was interviewing with her boss for a new team member and from a question asked by an applicant discovered that more money was being offered to the new recruit than she was earning. Following the interviews she told the boss in her inimitable fashion that she was now looking for a new job! This prompted them to act and, pleased as punch, Zoë later told a friend working in a different team who then promptly asked for a payrise too. Zoë’s boss was cross and told her off for not keeping her payrise to herself. How was she to know that if no-one told her? And in her words ‘how does that fit with the company ethos of openness?’
So the moral of these stories is to encourage you to think hard about how and what you communicate.
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Think about the language you use – especially when you are explaining something new. Give examples to help people understand what it means for them and check that they have understood.
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Be clear about your expectations of your employees – they are much more likely to meet them if they know what you want.
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Only choose values which you believe in – and much more importantly – live by them.
And last but not least, if you want to retain your good people, don’t offer more money to new recruits than to your existing employees!
And if you’re in HR, you need to keep employees informed about new policies and procedures. Take a look at CoachingforHR.co.uk to see how we can support you to deliver that even more effectively.
If you’d like support to achieve your goals in 2009 visit our website , send me an email or call me on +44 (0) 1763 245 323 for an initial, no obligation discussion.
Are there particular topics you’d like to see covered in future newsletters? Please let me have your suggestions.
And who else could benefit from reading this too?
Till next month,
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