I’ve had a few experiences recently that have reminded me of a comment that a mentor shared with me years ago – “Communication is a two way activity”. What did he mean by that?
His comment came about as we were reviewing a status list of a project, trying to tick items off the list that were complete. The list was a mess. It had grown to a point where items were marked complete when they were not… and vice versa. Project staff had been reading what they were supposed to do on the list, doing it, then marking it complete. You might expect that this is exactly what you want done to progress the project, right? But the communication was too simplistic. People were interpreting the work to be done but this didn’t always align with what the project managers were expecting to be done. There was the appearance of communication via the list, but we were not communicating, we were simply stating our version of events.
Any form of communication should contain a message, the recipient should respond with their understanding of what they heard, the originator should then acknowledge the response or make any corrections in the message.
All too often someone hears part of the message and act’s on that, assuming then that the job is done. Meanwhile the other party waits in vain for the job to be done.
Ironically, Email and SMS, technologies that are designed to improve communication can be the biggest problems in this communication disconnect. It’s so easy to assume that when we send a message that that the other person receives the message, reads and understands the message and then acts upon it as we expect they will. Never assume the message gets through, and don’t assume that you have fulfilled your responsibilities just because you sent an email. Get acknowledgment before you mark it off your list.
Keeping emails to one subject per message is a good practice. Keep the subject line on topic and insist on acknowledgment.
In verbal communication, get the other person to describe back to you, in their words what they heard and what they will do.
What methods do you use to avoid communications mix ups?
