…And I’ll Tell You No Lies, is an oft used phrase attributed to the Irish playwright Oliver Goldsmith. It’s been bouncing around in my head on and off for a few weeks now, courtesy of a recurring theme – communication, and specifically how do folks get better at it?
The Front Line
A lot of my work involves spending time conversing with and listening to frontline staff which is very stimulating because with apologies to all you shiny tabled, big desked, thick piled carpeted CEOs out there, the frontline is usually where the real action is. The edges of an organisation buzz, any place where one group interacts with another and dialogue is taking place offers great learning and great opportunity. And yet thanks to the multi layered effect of most companies that vibrancy often doesn’t manage to penetrate to the centre.
The Centre
But that’s OK – because the centre does its damnedest to communicate, frequently too often as it tries to compensate for the fact that so little feedback is received. ‘Maybe we’re just not shouting loud enough and often enough?’ ‘Well let’s send out more news more often then’, and so it goes on, and on, and on.
Ask More, Tell Less
So how does it feel to be on the receiving end of all of this? Let me paraphrase something I’ve heard many times in recent years which I think will help create that feeling: ‘All they do is tell us stuff. They never ask us any questions’.
Alas – all too often ‘they’ simply don’t ask questions or invite opinion, and ‘they’ also mistake their approach as communicating. Sure there may be times when you just need to get a message out, so go ahead and broadcast it. Most often though – if you begin the practice of asking for feedback and ideas and reflecting and responding, you’ll create an environment that’s less coercive and more open – more communicative.
Remember this:
com•mu•ni•cate: Verb/k??myo?oni?k?t/
To share and exchange information, news, or ideas.
Encourage honest feedback. Want to encourage communication and stimulate improvement in processes then encourage feedback, honest direct and without prejudice. We don’t do it enough. It’s empowering for the person giving it and the person receiving it should always take it a positive. No matter how damming the feedback might seem is there is always a positive to take from it. O
I accidentally got this right earlier this year while getting our PM Community going. I was busy and didnt have time to write stuff so I asked big open questions like “What makes a great project manager”. The results were astounding, the conversations raged for weeks and have informed what we needed to do to help build the community for the rest of the year.
Anthony
Thanks Owen and Anthony – two different perspectives – both spot on.
Cheers – Doug
This applies on a much smaller scale as well. Once upon a time several of us shared office space in an old house. One of the other businesses was owned by a person who always used the phrase, “We need to communicate.” It took me a little while to figure out that they didn’t want my input. What they meant was, “You need to let me talk at you for far too long and then agree with me.”
Great story broc – your comment and a conversation I had with a good friend today are nudging me towards another blog…may take me a few days, watch this space. Cheers for another great contribution.