COMMUNICATION

(Originally published Spring 1997. V3, I2)

            Today there are a lot of people talking at people who are hearing what is said.  These people feel they are communicating.  They are WRONG!  Communicating requires people to talk with, or to, other people who are listening.

            If you belong to a group that is attempting to reach a goal, there must be communication.  Any organization (which implies being organized) must have communication to function properly, and in most cases, to function at all.  Since we all know good lines of communication are necessary for people in their personal lives, it therefore follows corporations, companies, groups, committees, etc. which are all made up of people must also need these lines of communication.  These lines are more important because there, generally, are more people involved.

            The sad part of communication break-downs is that does not take a lot of effort to prevent break-downs from happening.

            Think about the following when you are ready to meet to discuss a problem:

·         You are not learning when you are talking.

·         Even the opposition can have a good idea.

·         Having to have the last word, usually serves no constructive purpose.

·         If you MUST have the last word, saying, “That’s a good idea.” can really work miracles, and it doesn’t hurt.

·         Before responding, consider the relative importance of the item being discussed to the over-all situation.  Do not spend time discussing a non-issue.

·         Always remember that what has happened, has happened.  If appropriate, discuss where you go from here, but do not waste time discussing how you got where you are.  It is totally counter-productive.

·         If something has gone wrong, discussion of how to keep it from happening again is all right.  Do not harp on who made the mistake.  Hindsight is always 20/20.

            Someone should keep a record of what was said, and what was agreed upon, during these meetings.  This will provide a follow-up document to help implement any actions to be taken.

            This leads to another area of bad communicating.  Too many people do not confirm their instructions in writing.  Wait a minute! It is more efficient and quicker to grab the telephone and speak to the person directly.  This is true, as long as everything is properly understood.  If there is any miscommunication, the time required to straighten out the resulting mess will outweigh the time required to confirm what was said with a letter or memo.

            The same holds true for written policy concerning procedures to be followed within an organization.  If you believe every individual thinks exactly as you, you do not understand the meaning of the word ‘individual’.  If you expect everyone in your organization to know what the more important parts of their jobs are, you have to tell them, COMMUNICATE.

            I always worked with the following rule.  If an employee made a mistake, it was a mistake and we should rectify it as quickly as possible.  If the same employee makes the same mistake twice, that employee was a fool.  If the same employee makes the same mistake a third time, I AM THE FOOL for not taking steps to prevent the reoccurrence.

            Good communication skills require that you also LISTEN with an open mind (This does not mean, in one ear and out the other).  Give every idea its moment in the sun.  You will be surprised how much better the final decision will be when everyone gets an opportunity to have their thoughts heard.

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EXPERIENCE

            Experience is the ability to know you are doing something wrong AGAIN!  As important as ‘book learning’ is, it is useless without experience.

            Take any college text book on business and try to find the chapter on “What to do when the bank calls your loan” or “What do you do when your business does not produce the necessary income”.  You will not find these chapters since the book has already told you how to run a successful business, and such chapters are not needed.  Well, EXPERIENCE shows that the best laid plans sometimes go astray. 

            You must know your business (A topic from a previous newsletter).  Look to make changes that will make you more productive.  Experience will tell you how to do a job economically.  If knowing, and controlling, one’s costs when business is down is good, it should also be good when the business is up.  Downsizing is nothing more than getting rid of expenses that probably should not have been there in the first place.  Unfortunately, it has now gotten to the point that some companies are eliminating jobs for the sake of a temporary ‘good bottom-line’, only to find the ‘savings’ later prove to be much larger losses.

INTERNET UPDATE

If you are considering having a home page for your organization, a recent survey of webmasters (keepers of the home page) shows that almost all spend more than the home page generates directly in revenue.  If you approach having a home page as another form of advertising, and not a direct revenue raiser, you should justify the expense as you would a newspaper or magazine advertisement.  Keeping this in mind you will find that it is less expensive to contract for a home page to be created for you than having it done in-house.  Out-sourcing the home page creation should cost less than part of a week’s pay of one of your employees.  It will also be finished more quickly.