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Big Picture Communications:
5 Traps to Avoid in Workplace Effectiveness
by Nan Andrews Amish
We all think of ourselves as skilled communicators, right?
We did not get into leadership positions, without being able
to communicate.
Yet, over 90% of management mishaps have a communication misunderstanding
buried in the mix.
And over 50% of employees after receiving their performance
reviews, regardless of whether or not the review is favorable
or not, do not know what their bosses like about what they are
doing. They do not understand how to repeat their own success
(or avoid repeating their own failure).
The major reason for this is miscommunication. Here are five
communications traps to avoid.
Assumptions: How often do we assume that people have
the same point of view as ourselves. How often do we assume
that we have the same perspective. More often than not, we have
different perspectives. Bosses tend to see the world through
the things they are measured by. Employees tend to see their
world through their day-to-day activities. We often have a different
perspective. Perhaps the boss or owner sees the big picture,
the employee only sees his/her part. The employee does not appreciate
what is needed. Or perhaps the owner is focusing on costs, whereas
the employee is focused on the customer. The "oops" here is
to assume, rather than ASK.
World View: In diverse workplaces, we have different
experiences that shape who we are, what we believe, how we think,
what we value. World views include values, beliefs, assumptions
about what is, and is not appropriate, right, wrong. Most world
views are learned early in our development, say by age 6 or
7 and by the time we are operating in the workplace they are
unconscious. They include religious, ethnic, gender role models.
World view can influence what we see as right, wrong, and appropriate
in the workplace. In diverse workplaces, different world view
differences can create unintentional misunderstandings. The
"oops" is to believe that different world views are right or
wrong. They are simply different. By appreciating difference
not only do businesses benefit by the different perspectives,
but they are better able to serve diverse customers as well.
Style: We were taught to obey the "golden rule". The
problem is, the golden rule assumes that by treating people
as we wish to be treated, that we all want the same things.
Nothing could be further from the truth. We often want and need
very different things. These differences in our needs show up
in our communication styles. One person prefers to focus on
relationships, and social interactions. They have cheerleading
energy, rah, rah. Their co-worker is more about getting the
facts and data, and making sure that the rules are followed.
The boss is focused on getting things done, the faster the better,
thanks. Perhaps the owner is more direct, and does not bother
with small talk about relationships. While our cheerleader is
a people person, and thinks everything is about the relationship.
It is easy to think that someone more direct than ourselves
is pushy or mean, and someone more relationship focused than
ourselves is wasting time, unfocused. The "oops" is misinterpreting
their style as ineffective, or to think that they are not doing
their best. We each use our own strengths to get results. When
we both misinterpret the needs and requirements of each other,
the business suffers. Turns out the key to productivity with
people who have different communication styles is awareness,
appreciation of difference and ASKing.
Song and Dance: Sometimes body language and tone are
inconsistent with the content that comes out of our mouths.
Often "relationship residue" (which can be positive or negative)
shows up in our body language, which is more powerful than the
words that we speak. A boss or co-worker can be perfectly clear
in what comes out of his/her mouth, but if the body language
gives a different story, the words will be missed, because our
colleague is paying attention to our body language. The key
here is to be aware of the song and the dance as well
as the words. The "oops" is to pay attention to the words alone.
Role of Relationship: It's a fast, fast, fast fast world,
and speed is everything, well almost. In a world of Internet
speeds and instant communications, it is tempting to try to
run faster, faster, faster, to multi-task, just to catch up.
Turns out that in an Internet world, anyone can deliver information
faster, but what will get you through a crisis is not communicating
faster; it is not having to communicate at all. Which sounds
like a paradox. The idea is, it is not about the words. If you
slow down to build solid work relationships when there is a
crisis, the relationships will provide you the awesome loyalty,
and the heroic contribution when it is needed. The communication
is "what ever you need", our relationship is strong enough that
I trust you. Trust can take time. The "oops" is Internet
speed without relationships. The prescription is "slow down,
to speed up", build trust that will serve the big-picture, the
long term.
Avoid these pitfalls, and your workplace communications will
be big picture effective.
(858 words) Copyright © 2005-2007 Nan Andrews Amish. All rights
reserved.
Nan Andrews Amish and Big Picture Perspective
offer facilitation, member surveys, management assessments,
tools, workshops and keynote addresses to help associations,
leaders and teams increase their effectiveness by seeing the
big picture perspective. Nan knows associations. She is past
president of a 1000 member New England regional marketing association
and current board member and 2002 Member of the Year of the
National Speakers Association/Northern California.
Permission to reprint this article is granted,
provided original author is given credit, and a link to www.BigPicturePerspective.com
is included.
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