Steve Browne* says too many organisations struggle because of differing expectations and definitions of what effective communication is.
A recent HR roundtable in Cincinnati dared to delve into the topic of communication in organisations.
When you ask what one factor could be improved in an organisation, it’s communication.
The challenge is that everyone has different expectations and definitions of what “effective communication” is.
So, the roundtable decided to dissect this topic by starting with the following questions.
Why do people struggle to effectively communicate?
Who’s worse in the organisation when it comes to communication — upper management, middle management or the front line?
How can we take steps to get better?
- Why do people struggle to effectively communicate?
We don’t know how to listen:
We honestly could end the summary notes with this point.
We don’t listen to others.
The moment someone says something, we’re already forming our response in our head.
We don’t wait until a person’s thought is completed.
We aren’t talking about “active” listening.
We’re talking about genuinely listening at all.
It needs to change.
We don’t think we’re communicating poorly:
Most people are great “senders” when it comes to communication.
We have no problem sharing our thoughts, ideas and insights in person or electronically.
There is no lack of communication going out, but the return message is not usually clear.
How we communicate matters to “us”:
Have you ever noticed that poor communication is never your problem?
We think everyone else would be better communicators if they communicated like us.
It’s good to be confident about your style and approach, but just because someone communicates differently, doesn’t mean it’s “wrong.”
We mix mediums (and don’t understand them all):
We are under a constant barrage of messages from our laptops, our phones, social media platforms, emails, conversations, etc.
It’s never the same medium, and it’s challenging to be masterful in all forms of communication.
The sheer volume of messages only adds to the constant pull and distraction from feeling that we must respond to everyone in every possible way.
We’re human:
We keep forgetting that we are diverse by nature.
There can be an untold number of factors that make us unique.
We rarely focus on the reality that we are all different in so many ways.
- Which level of an organisation is worst at communicating?
The answer is ALL of them!
No one layer of an organisation is better or worse when it comes to communication.
The same challenges and pitfalls that happen with executives happen with those on the assembly line.
The reality is that all levels of an organisation talk mostly about one topic — people.
We gossip about humans:
If you step outside conversations and listen in, as all good HR people should, you’ll hear one common thread.
We spend more time in our day talking about people than talking to them.
This is true at every level of an organisation.
Stop engaging in a conversation and listen to what is being said.
Chances are people are discussing how some project or task isn’t being done the way they think it should be done and it’s someone else’s fault.
We stay in our lanes:
Another organisational reality is that people spend most of their time communicating to others who occupy the same level.
That is where we have the closest work relationships and it’s who we go to when an issue arises.
This isn’t right or wrong; it’s just our reality.
So, when you wonder why communication is a struggle in an organisation, you have to see how people are currently communicating — within their level.
This includes HR, when we should be moving in and out of every level.
- How can we get better?
Set up feedback as an expectation:
Give people the parameters that conversations need to be two-way with all who are involved in the conversation.
Feedback is needed throughout all levels and in all communication.
It takes practice and a commitment, but it is well worth establishing this expectation.
Look at how you currently communicate — before coming up with some dictate launched from the mountain top of the executive branch, do an analysis of how communication happens now.
Look at interdepartmental communication, intradepartmental communication and methods of communication.
Don’t allow the agreeable nod:
Most people nod just to get the conversation to end, whether or not they understand what was just discussed.
So, ask for people to repeat what was discussed and make sure you practise the same behaviour.
Know that change happens whether you want it to or not:
In organisations we struggle with another myth — the myth of control.
We feel that if we use common internal acronyms or terms then everyone is “on the same page.”
They aren’t.
We want to have communication be so “sender-centric” for acknowledgement that we fall into the trap that once something is said, it will be completed accurately.
Communication is a continuum.
We need to fall into the flow of the constant movement of change and communicate within it.
* Steve Browne is the Executive Director of Human Resources for LaRosa’s, Inc.
This article first appeared at www.tlnt.com.
