Communications…It’s Not Just How You Talk To Others
We’re all familiar with the “sender-receiver” model of communications: I talk to you, you listen, you respond and I listen. It’s a useful model that effectively leads to lessons and discussions as to how senders and receivers can be more effective at, well, sending and receiving. So, we get articles, podcasts, and YouTube videos on empathetic listening, for example. And that’s a good thing; I’m sure readers will agree that there’s not yet a surplus of good active listening going on in their workplaces.
Three Purposes of Communication
Another view focuses on the goals of communications. This view broadens our horizon a bit so that we consider more than just getting better at sending and receiving. I tell my Kent State University business school students that communications have three purposes:
- Transmit information
- Get information
- Collaborate
Good Communication Depends on Ease of Accomplishing Purposes
In the case of each purpose, an important attribute of any organization’s culture is the ease with which any of these three purposes can be accomplished.
Let’s look first at “Transmit information”. The traditional “sender-receiver” model has us look at how effective the sender is. We also need to attend to how easy it is to actually be a sender. If I’m an employee with a great idea for making a process change that will save money, reduce frustration, and serve the needs of customers, the company will benefit to the extent that it’s already made it easy for me to “be a sender”. But if I have to jump through hoops and do backflips to get anyone to acknowledge, must less consider and act on, my idea, I’m not likely to transmit it. On the other hand, if the company has a well-developed idea system that facilitates the transmission of ideas from employees to managers, more ideas will be forthcoming.
Of course, communication channels, in addition to being easy to access, need to be seen as effective and viable. In the example above, a suggestion box is easy to use but if employees see it as being “sender-Twilight Zone”, no one will make use of it. The successful organization will make certain that communications channels are easy to access, easy to use, and that messages actually reach and are acted on by receivers. This means that organizations need to be regularly evaluating communications channels against the criteria of ease of use and effectiveness. How easy is it to get an idea considered? How easy is it to get a problem addressed? How easy is it to get a complaint addressed? How easy is it to give feedback to another department? In all these instances, what are the receivers of the information expected to do to let the sender know that the information has been received and is being acted on?
The same tactic of regularly evaluating communication channels applies to the other two goals of communications as well. How easy is it for planners, problem solvers, and decision-makers at all levels to access the information they need? Too often, when I ask clients about the availability of performance data, the response is “We know it’s somewhere around here but we don’t know how to get to it.” Inability to acquire information and data is a communication problem.
With respect to teamwork, does information flow smoothly and effectively between departments? Is interdepartmental collaboration facilitated by the ease with which department members can access and retrieve data? Do project teams access and retrieve data and information easily? The answers to these questions depend on the attention management has given to assuring that data and information storage and retrieval is easy and effective.
Good communication, then, isn’t just founded on productive conversations (as important as that is). Good communication is assured when channels assure that information flows smoothly and quickly from where it is stored to where it is needed.
