Tips for Effective Workplace Communication ? Cop-Outs and Assumptions
One situation that comes with frequency and popularity, is the transmitting of messages of what someone else has said to another or has left to pass on to another. It is becoming increasingly common to shrug away specific information or instructions within messages that are left to be passed on to others.
For example, I was involved once with a community group that had no leader. This happens just as much in a business or a department within a business. Everybody was in charge. Or I should say everybody was ?not in charge?. Every time we met, I heard about something new that someone had spoken about to one person but not to another.
One time at the end of an event, I was introduced to a new member who was going to use the building for certain activities. Because I already had activities going on during that same time period, some members suggested we all get together on the following Friday night to schedule workable time frames.
For that night, I changed my normal itinerary and drove a long distance to attend this meeting. When I got there three members had come out but the individual who was the cause of the meeting was not there. I asked about him and simply received an acknowledgment of the fact that he was not there. Then someone casually added that this individual had been at another separate meeting on the previous Wednesday. Nothing to do with the present agenda. Nobody seemed to know why we were there.
I reminded the members of the reason I had come, but it meant nothing. It was as if everybody forgot about the reason we were there ? yet there was no mention of anyone having forgotten about it. It was simply that things had changed since the last conversation, but no one had bothered to make it known to myself or anyone else. Now the meeting I was at had a totally different purpose with which I had nothing to do.
The sad part about this is that it is typical of many mis-communications that take place all the time ? and many in business environments that affect services, products and customers.
The corrective action is, first of all, any group must have someone who is the leader ? or coordinator if one doesn?t like the word leader ? and who will see that there is some effective organization. Through this person everybody communicates with everybody else. If you don?t have that, there will be many unhappy members, and importantly for the group, many good people will simply disappear. Busy people can?t afford to belong to such time- and resource- abusing activities.
It is popular today to shrug off communication left for others. When an outsider communicates something to the leader, either by telephone or in person, or to any of the members of a group, it is the responsibility of the individual receiving that information to make sure to advise the leader and/or the rest of the group, depending on the circumstance. If an outsider, for example, brings up the subject of an unpaid bill, it is the responsibility of the person receiving this information to pass it on to the person in charge of paying the bills.
It is not the responsibility of the outsider to look further for the right person or someone else once he has communicated the issue to a member who is representative of a group or business. But this happens all the time. Then when the bill isn?t paid, the treasurer says ?I didn?t know anything about it?, and the outsider says, ?well, I told Jim last week?. Jim says, ?well I don?t look after bills, you should have told Jan?.
No, the person to whom the information was given was the representative of the group at that time and carried the responsibility to pass on the communication to the right individual in his/her group. In business, this is called accountability.
These situations have been occurring more and more in companies, especially in a time when secretaries are no longer available to managers. Often, this behavior is even deliberate. Now, secretaries are not there to ?dutifully and correctly? take messages and transmit them to those for whom the information was intended. Messages are often received by ?competing? peers who see it ?best? to ?not remember exactly? what the message was ? ?I think he said something about a phone call or a meeting or something?? is about the best way you?ll hear your message relayed to you oftentimes! You can?t say anything because they are not your secretary. This is a clear case of copping out of business responsibility and accountability.
On the subject of ?assumptions?, I remember a friend of mine who assumed that my husband was an accountant. He passed this false information on to others. One day, someone approached my husband and asked if he would do the books for a non-profit organization. After explaining that he was not an accountant, we found out how this rumor had started.
The most fascinating part is that this friend of mine and I had been looking for a bookkeeper for over a year for our own non-profit organization. When the false information came out in the group and was clarified, this friend replied, ?I wondered why your husband wouldn?t volunteer to do our books if he was an accountant.?
But, the most incredible part yet, is that this friend NEVER SAID ANYTHING all the time that we were looking for a bookkeeper, as he ?assumed? and ?wondered why?.
It makes you wonder what else there is that may be misunderstood and assumed that we don?t hear about and that are not questioned. Sometimes, time eventually tells. Problem is, it usually doesn?t. When and if it does, it often is too late? a friendship, a relationship, even a job may be lost.
Had my friend been trained in communication, he would have been attuned to the communication thought process and would have recognized that something did not make sense and would have questioned it to clarify his confusion. Many misunderstandings are caused by such sloppy and careless communication attitudes.
This is not to say that ?assuming? is wrong. Sometimes, we have to assume, because we have no other information available. The word ?assume? has acquired a bad reputation in recent years. When something goes wrong, we hammer individuals with ?You shouldn?t assume if you don?t know?. But, had that assumption turned out to be right, we would have lavished praises upon those same people who had assumed correctly. To assume is part of risk-taking. And risk-taking is part of business./dmh
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