Thinking about Communications?
Wednesday, July 16th, 20081. Who Is Responsible? The most common flaw in businesses of all sizes is lack of communication among employees. People don’t share information between departments and divisions. They are building silos. Here’s a typical scenario. The sales department decides it’s going to increase market share by launching four new products. The operations department never hears about it and is completely caught off guard when it comes to delivering. The result is finger pointing.
2. Innocent or on purpose? Often times it’s not through a conscious decision that people horde information. Sometimes it’s just “sins of omission”. Did you include all the people that are impacted by a decision or who could have important information to add to the decision making process? Why not let everyone know by copying more people on the information. If they feel they can’t or don’t need to contribute – it’s their decision and they know they were not left out. Make your list of who might be impacted and be inclusive. The benefits in to teamwork and information flows will be many.
3. How Easy Is It? Maybe the hording is on purpose. Instead of having information flow back and forth, and working together with a common goal, employees may hide information for “political” or selfish reasons. Employees spend time compiling reports which no one reads and which don’t relate to each other’s needs or produce meaningful knowledge for anyone. They don’t share information, they hold back. It’s no wonder CEOs don’t know what’s going on in the business.
4. Is Anyone Listening? Listening seems to be a lost art. Everyone is multitasking while other people are talking. Great listening is fueled by curiosity and curiosity helps you ask questions—just don’t believe you have all the answers.
5. Why Care? Because companies are losing millions of dollars every year because of poor communications.
This sounds hard. It’s not. Once you understand the key forces at work you need to fight them. And, if I was a CEO, I’d fight them and through teamwork, not silos, make more money.