August 2013

Overview

August 2013

Aug 2013

Substandard employee, department & organizational performance is often directly related to poor communication, but blamed on other superficial symptoms. Removing these barriers relies on trust, brutal yet empathic honesty, and achieving joint objectives.

You have compiled the brightest, most skilled team in your industry, but barriers in communication are making even the best and the brightest stumble; your organization is falling short of its goals. So, what can you do to battle with the elusive and invisible barriers to effective business communication? What do you need to do so your teams can achieve, so your organization can thrive?

Kelly Graves The Corporate Therapist can help you recognize, name, remove, and replace those barriers to effective business communication. With my extensive background in the business world, my command of organizational psychology, years of hands-on and in-depth formal education, I have the skills and knowledge to recognize and deal effectively with even the most unpleasant barriers to effective business communication. In the short term focus on these points:

1. For people, departments and organizations to flourish there must be two major components in place: the first is TRUST. If I trust you and you trust me then we can talk about the uncomfortable topics that surround every partnership and business. I must know that I will feel safe and that my dignity will be respected. If I don’t feel this, then I will nod, smile that fake smile, keep  my mouth shut and my head down. When problems arise I will shrug my shoulders outwardly, but in my head I will justify my tactics as survival in this untrusting environment.

2. The second major component to a successful business is what I call brutal yet empathic honesty. Brutal in that one cannot hold back; empathic means you can usually say things from a caring and respectful position and yet still be honest. One sacrifices the short term comfortableness in exchange for the long term growth and development required to evolve a professional relationship, department and/or business.

3. The third major component in this abbreviated model is joint objectives. People perform their best when the objective is clear i.e., a touchdown, crossing a finish-line, making a basket, closing the deal or hitting the quota. In each of these examples, multiple people are involved in front of and behind the scenes. And yet in every single case, when the winning objective is met, all anger, frustration and petty remarks are forgotten due to the team, department or organizational success. People in the stands cheer, players who had a tiff just moments earlier high-five and sales and production people smile at each other and shake hands IF the project is debriefed properly. For this to happen, objectives must be clear enough so that anyone in the organization knows what it is and where the organization is at in its achievement of the goal. This moves employees into being a part of the game rather than observers of the game. This INVOLVEMENT helps to inspire INTRINSIC  motivation and helps people overcome the pettiness that accompanies stressful events or environments.

These steps and actions ARE NOT EASY, but they are very achievable and the results are magic in their ability to disarm, reconnect people and transform people, partnerships, departments and organizations. Imagine the relief your team and you will experience once the barriers are taken down! Once communication is on track again and your team is moving toward common goals, the successes won’t stop there (nor will the work). I know that remission of bad communication habits is human nature; it is the natural tendency for people to return to familiar communication patterns (even if the familiar means dysfunctional). These phases are a natural part of the process of creating any improved communication systems. Be aware: improving communication is a process that takes time. But, when it’s done right, it’s self-perpetuating. (If quick fixes could have solved your organization’s communication problems, well, you might not be reading this now.) Maintenance requires that, once skills are learned, employees and leadership staff must practice and use these more effective communication behaviors and skills. Those who practice and use these skills must also be recognized and rewarded in a timely manner. Throughout all the steps and phases, I will guide you to build a learning environment where your team members teach and support one another, day in and day out. This is how your investment with me will continue to keep your organization on track long after I am gone.

You have my commitment that I will help to support, to coach, and teach your team to collaborate. Simply put: Your success is my success. I will work with you to make sure the habits of effective business communication remain an integral part of your organization’s culture and success for the long term. Replace the ineffective practices you’ve lived with for too long with successful business communication systems that get results and promote innovation and an improved work environment!

Kelly@InternalBusinessSolutions.com

I had been working with a group of managers and their director on preparing for some major restructuring within their large school district. A lot was going to be happening very soon and we wanted to be prepared. We all knew too well, that once it all started, any problems would be costly and would be played out in the local newspapers. As we approached this challenge, I noticed some uneasiness and quiet maneuvering surrounding two managers. I knew we couldn’t go on unless we addressed this covert problem.

It turned out that a couple of years earlier, these two managers had had a significant disagreement and, since then, they had stayed away from each other whenever possible. But, even with their attempts at careful avoidance, their once covert friction had grown loud and developed some teeth. We didn’t need internal sabotage in our mix. There were enough issues to deal with without adding this subterfuge. And, too many other employees sincerely cared about these two managers. Loyalties would be strained if these two formidable players squared off. We had to resolve this quickly so that we could go into our restructuring free of clutter, and with a crystal clear and mutually accepted vision.

I talked privately with these two managers and encouraged them to take the lead to resolve this matter. I suggested they use a structured, problem-solving approach to discuss this topic in front of their departments and the whole group, so that neither gossip nor misunderstandings would follow. They agreed. A whole group meeting was set up with my facilitation. Then, each taking turns, they each told their side of the story. As usual, they each harbored many misperceptions that needed to be cleared up. Clarifying what had happened, what had been said, and what had been meant was essential. Many misunderstandings were cleared up once and for all for all present. Some issues needed additional time and resources, so they were tabled to be addressed at a later time. When appropriate, the group joined in to lend support and clarify their own misperceptions and to squelch rumors and gossip, as well. This meeting didn’t take more than forty-five minutes, but it was invaluable for bringing this team together and helping them learn how to REALLY communicate. Loud and clear this session modeled two values they later chose to guide their group as a whole:

We agree to face challenges sooner rather than later.

We will always work as a team toward our agreed upon objectives.

Clarifying these values was especially important given the gravity of the challenges that lay ahead. We were embarking on one of the biggest restructurings this district had faced in many years. As a result of the problem solving meeting with all members together, the whole team became closer and learned to communicate much more effectively. From then on, as we all began to prepare our plans and contingency plans for the restructure, we had the strength of “all hands on deck,” which was good, because we needed each and every one of them.

When the final decision to begin the restructuring process was made by the school board, this department had their plans and contingency plans firmly in place. Each person knew his or her role and was ready, willing and able to get the job done. There was no lost or wasted time on unfortunate communications problems or cumbersome baggage to impede their work. As a result, their role in the restructure went very smoothly.

August 2013

Throughout history, many great communicators have mused about how difficult it is for people to effectively communicate — even those who speak the same language! Some scholars cite how subtle differences in age and style can potentially create real challenges in successful communication. Case in point might be the stereotypical communication challenges faced between teenagers and parents, husbands and wives, conservatives and liberals. These same kinds of communication issues appear in the work world, as well.

I was asked to work with a director and one of her high level computer technicians. This technician was responsible for a major account significant to this director. This technician had the ability to accomplish his work successfully, but it seemed he was horrible at communication and customer support. These two areas of deficit were greatly jeopardizing this major account, not to mention putting the tech’s continued employment in question.

The director, the technician and I sat down for a meeting to see what could be done to clarify the communication and customer service issues. The director spoke very clearly about what she expected of the technician when he met with the clients and when he interacted with others (both clients and colleagues). The technician nodded in agreement and said that he understood the gravity of the situation. He said he understood what he was doing wrong and assured his director that he would “improve.” After they were finished discussing the communication and customer service issues, and the detailed procedures the director had clarified for him, I asked the technician what his next steps were going to be to improve his standing with the clients on this major account. He looked at me and said, “I have no idea.” The director looked dumbfounded; her mouth was literally hanging open. She was without words. She believed she had been very clear. She believed the technician had nodded in agreement to all of the well-thought out plans she had presented, yet clearly now he didn’t know what his next steps should be. This was an example of an unsuccessful communication event.

I further asked the technician a series of questions and led him through the necessary steps, in his mind, using his metaphors and word choices. We essentially created his game plan in a manner that he could comprehend. We clarified expectations, created measures of success, and established timeframes. With that now visually and firmly in his mind, he was able to summarize his next steps. The technician left the meeting relieved. Over a reasonable period of time, evidence indicated that this technician had indeed learned some new communication skills and his customer relations had improved accordingly.

At the conclusion of the meeting with the technician, the Director and I spent thirty minutes debriefing. We discussed different learning and management styles. She was amazed how her message which had been so clearly intended and what she thought was so clearly sent, was not the message received or understood. This realization was a profound one for her. She vowed to check for understanding more often and especially when she interacted with this technician. She wanted him to succeed and had never seen the role she had played in the breakdown of communication between them. She saw how, as the person delivering a message, she had the responsibility to be sure the message had been received and understood. In the case of the technician, she needed to reframe her message in terms that made sense to him, ask him to summarize it back to her, and then review his next steps, so both she and he would leave the communication event with the same understanding. Although she had believed herself to be a skilled communicator (and by many measures she was), she learned that in this isolated event, she had needed a new set of communication skills. She foresaw how she could also generalize these new skills with other people and different situations. She had added another strategy to her repertoire of positive communication skills, one that would help her to be a better leader in the future.