The plumbing of communication
"A relationship should be based on communication, not on assumption." marriage.com
"You need to work on your communication." I've seen this written about me and others in efficiency reports or appraisals. Lack of or better communication was a root cause in many assessments done on organizational failure. We could all work on communicating better. Instructions get missed or misunderstood in organizations daily. Leaders and their teams fail to share information between each other and with customers, leading to problems.
Better communication begins with an increased level of consciousness. "What is happening and who else needs to know?" Good leaders are proactive about their communication. They huddle their teams often and share information. They deliberately reach out to other people to share what they know and what they are doing or plan to do. They almost over communicate. This is all healthy and helpful for efficient work environments and leader-to-lead or company-to-customer relationships but there is more needed. Plumbing.
Communication must have pipes through which it flows or architecture which fosters communication. This plumbing or architecture comes in the form of meetings and reports all under the heading of organizational rhythm. We called it battle rhythm in the Army and it was the plumbing through which commanders issued guidance and teams synchronized their efforts. Mark is required to share the financials each Thursday along with his assessment. This is an example of plumbing. This event - Mark's communication with the team, and the report - financial assessment, forces Mark to communicate. It forces people to be in 'receive mode' and it may cause them to communicate back to Mark or others. A weekly team huddle is another example where members can share information and communicate with each other in more formal ways. I'm not advocating meeting overload here but there must be some plumbing.
Indeed, there must be informal, impromptu communication between people, teams, and customers to achieve greater efficiency but this method of communicating on its own is incomplete. As a leader you must erect the plumbing through which communication flows and you must assess its efficiency. Is there enough plumbing? Too much? Is what flows through this plumbing sufficient? This is the constant work of leaders to make their organizations great. Don't go looking for a plumber - it's you!
Make it Personal!
Rob
Rob Campbell