Business Communication Mistakes And how to avoid them. by Roy Sheppard Imagine a confident and skilful skier, as she glides gracefully down a steep slope in the brilliant sunshine. Now, think of the novice skier nervously inching his way across the snow, trying not to fall over. As additional insurance against a potentially painful mishap he has surrounded himself with a large number of well meaning advisers and underlings, each one closely on hand to catch him in case he falls. He can be sure he will never be allowed to fall - because when he does, they get fired. The latter approach to business communications seems to apply to a significant sector of British business. You cannot learn to ski by making sure you never fall over. But, as every skier knows, a face full of snow does not hurt - you can often have a good laugh about it - unless, of course you have been behaving irresponsibly, in which case, limbs tend to snap! The fear of looking foolish and a lack of self-confidence when communicating with staff, suppliers and customers often hinders the communications process. Personal communication skills will always impact directly on the effectiveness of ‘corporate’ communication. They are inextricably linked. In short, ‘backfoot’ behaviour costs money, creates frustration and slows down a business’ productivity and full potential. An international client of mine held a conference in Madrid for their most senior managers. It became apparent that no one felt they knew what was going on within the business; if they wanted information they felt the need to ask a junior. They were not happy. Despite the existence of a sophisticated electronic mail system, it was not used by senior executives. As part of my role as conference facilitator, I suggested a solution to implement a weekly bulletin from the managing director. His initial response illustrated what I believe is the most common communications mistake in business. MISTAKE 1 - Turning communication into a "Big Deal". The MD felt that with so many ‘delicate’ developments in the business, it would be premature to ‘announce’ anything until deals were signed. But by not communicating information he was communicating the message to his managers that they were not important enough to know about present and future developments. Worse still, his belief that confidentiality could be jeopardised sent another message - "I don’t trust you!" The most crucial aspect when considering any communication is - the message ‘sent’ is not always the message ‘received’. As a result of the conference discussion he began to understand why he was failing to get the cooperation he wanted and needed to implement new business processes. When he saw the effect he was having he instantly agreed to send out a weekly confidential bulletin on all developments affecting the business. This bulletin also encouraged feedback and requests for help from those 150 executives. This fundamentally improved their relationship with this rather autocratic manager who, in turn, benefitted from more co-operation and he was able to use valuable knowledge and insight from his management team. This 1 hour discussion had a profound effect on the way they conducted their business. It’s worth realising that asking for help from your team is not a sign of personal weakness - it is proof of intelligence. People who are uncomfortable about communicating openly and regularly with staff and customers often give the excuse for not distributing information because they are afraid; afraid of being held responsible for an embarrassing ‘leak’. Time and again I have seen examples of how sharing confidential information within all levels of an organisation - even with some customers and suppliers has dramatically improved staff motivation and business relationships. It has the effect of making them feel valued and respected. MISTAKE 2 - Using communication programmes as a vehicle for company propaganda. When a company actively embarks on a ‘communications programme’ for the first time it is often seen by directors as a one way vehicle for company propaganda. This is a wasted business opportunity. Staff are invariably far more intelligent and probably care more about the business than they are ever given credit for. Propaganda is easy to spot. There’s never any bad news! The confidence to distribute bad news or delicate issues invariably transforms the effectiveness of internal communication. Staff tend to gauge company messages by comparing their understanding of an issue against ‘the company line’. If everyone is talking about something but not there’s nothing about it in the newsletter or video - or its included but overly sanitised - credibility for everything else will hover around ‘zero’ on the believability scale! Surprisingly, plain old honesty can be really great for business morale. The only downside to ‘honesty’ is how it often leads to honest feedback. May be that’s why there are still so few companies without an effective mechanism for honest feedback which will be sincerely welcomed and acted upon. Instead we have businesses where directors believe and behave as if they have a monopoly on all thought, wisdom and knowledge. If this is you, your staff could shock you with how much they care, if only they were given a chance to show it. MISTAKE 3 Communication seen only as a cost. Recently I attended a meeting in the boardroom of a large company with a household name. The assembled directors talked only about the costs of their forthcoming communications project. These had already been decided and agreed beforehand. Not once did anyone discuss the ‘result’ they were seeking. Communication obviously has a financial cost, but effective communication will always produce a high return on the investment; improvements to staff motivation, productivity, efficiency and improved business. MISTAKE 4 Providing only ‘partial’ information to staff. It is so tempting to be selective about the information you give staff, customers or suppliers. A ‘need to know’ approach from the top of an organisation will inevitably cause pain, frustration and confusion for everyone in the longer term. This is well illustrated by the following example. I was due to interview a sales director at a meeting of his 70 sales staff. In the lead up to the event he refused point blank to discuss anything negative "It would be bad for staff motivation and bad for business." he said emphatically. He was adamant that the subject of the company car policy was absolutely forbidden even though it would certainly be at the forefront of people’s minds at the meeting. It had been a recurring and painful issue for him for the past 6 months or so. After sustained and gentle persuasion he explained privately what had happened. He confided that he’d even told his wife about it. Her response was superb - even though he didn’t think so. Finally, I persuaded him to talk about it in front of the staff. With his full backing beforehand I made the following opening remark "You’ve got a lousy car policy, haven’t you?’. This elicited cheers and a spontaneous round of applause from the audience. He then said (as agreed) when he’d told his wife what had happened she replied "And what idiot came up with that idea?" Howls of laughter from the audience. He went on to explain that all reps. cars had to be exchanged for diesels because his board had forced him to make a saving of £80,000 - he had two choices - going diesel or making three staff redundant. He added that he too had handed in his Saab Turbo for a diesel. The problem was solved in less than 5 minutes. He learned that his staff did need to know why he had made his decision. Morale instantly improved and for the rest of the meeting, delegates were far more open to the other demands which their highly competitive marketplace was thrusting upon them. Trained therapists are taught that all behaviour has a positive intention, but sometimes there are negative consequences. The sales director’s intentions were positive, honourable and professional (he didn’t want to fire 3 staff) but by assuming that people need only have partial information it resulted in the problems he and the staff encountered. MISTAKE 5 Failing to realise that ‘communication is the response you get’. When you make an announcement which receives a response you do not want or expect - your communication has obviously been ineffective. But so few people devote much time thinking about the response they want to evoke in the first place - too much effort is put into the composition or delivery of the message. MISTAKE 6 Believing that everyone thinks or processes information the same way as you. "If I tell you something and you do not understand it - who’s fault is it?" Without a doubt, it is my fault. Why? Because you are not stupid - or probably not! But it is surprising how this view changes when someone is impatiently trying to explain something complex to a ‘slow’ subordinate. In simple terms, people are either auditory, visual or kinesthetically minded. An auditory person will interpret a situation based on what they hear while a kinesthetic individual will process the same situation based on their gut feeling or their instinct. Anyone who is visual, trying to communicate with someone who is auditory will literally be on a different wavelength. The person who can switch at will to match the preferred method of understanding of the people they are communicating with, can raise his/her communication skill and rapport to a much higher level. MISTAKE 7 Just because someone speaks your language, do not assume they fully understand what you say. This is particularly true when communicating with foreigners who speak fluent English. They may appear to understand but it is worth realising that when they speak, they can choose the words they use. But when they listen, they are limited to the words they hear. MISTAKE 8 Always trying to be interesting. The best and most effective communication is based on improved listening skills. Really listen instead of using the time to work out what you plan to say next. An effective communicator concentrates more on being interested, rather than being interesting. Isn’t it strange that everyone is taught from the earliest age how to talk but I have yet to meet anyone who attended classes at school which shared the secrets of how to listen? © Roy Sheppard 1996 |