by Eddy Parham, SPHR & OD Guy

The title of this post may sound more like I'm hawking a product for the latest and greatest system, DVD, or communication seminar but I assure you that is not the case. I believe communication is one of those topics that, while everyone agrees is important, far too many organizations don’t do it well. Consider what happens when communication doesn’t happen – unclear expectations, assumptions made based on incorrect information, upset employees or team members, cost overruns, missed deadlines, and the list can go on and on.

Now I know that volumes have been written on the topic of communication and I’ll not try to cover every facet but there are certain recurring issues that I see within organizations. Some have to do with generational differences; some have to do with not understanding the impact of not keeping everyone abreast as to the direction the organization is heading, et cetera.

But In order for communication to be effective – I am assuming that most organizations are trying to be effective with their communications – I believe that the first question that needs to be addressed is this: What format should we use? Can we simply speak to someone, send a text message, call them on the phone, or is a more formal report or business letter appropriate. This question can be answered by asking the following

•       With whom am I communicating?

Who is the audience? I am most likely going to be communicating to a project stakeholder differently than I would a project team member. This does not mean that either is less important than the other but a phone call to a colleague may suffice when a stakeholder may need much more background information and may be expecting the communication to be in the form of a report. And external customers will expect something totally different than those on the product line.

•       What is the direction within the organization i.e., vertical or horizontal?

Is the communication traveling to people lower or higher within the organization? Or is the communication taking place between peers? A CEO is going to be expecting “to the point” high level communication while an engineer is going to want all of the minute details.

•       What is the formality expectation?

The annual statement is expected to be communicated differently than a text message inviting the rest of the team out for sushi.

By answering these 3 simple questions a great deal of miscommunication can be averted. Of course if you don’t communicate at all, considering these questions are not going to help you.