Effective Communications
Q: In
interview 12, “Executive Communications”[1]
you talked about the lines of communications in an organization help to keep
customers, staff, and students more connected.
In a 2010 booklet from Towers Watson & Co., “Capitalizing on Effective Communication” [2]
They report that effective communications with employees is a key indicator of
employee satisfaction and institutional performance. I have heard that “no answer” is worse than
answering, “No.” How does the College
seek to improve office communications?[3]
A: A good observation. In the College curriculum many
courses teach students analysis and writing
In every organization there are managers and
followers. Places such as colleges may
have the lines blurred between managers and followers. A person may be a manager one moment and
follower in another. For example a
professor is the manager and leader in the classroom. In the college hierarchy s/he answers to a
department chair and dean. The professor
may also be in charge or just a member of a committee, event or process. Communications is about giving the right
message to the right people. A dean
needs department reports so that s/he can keep the departments working, on
track and have information for other reports.
The dean needs to co-ordinate efforts to prevent wasted effort and
resources. The deans need to create
reports for the provost, vice-president, or other managers and administrators
who supervise other College entities.
Sometimes the messages require courage to create and circulate. Urgent messages require systems that save
time, frustration or even limbs and lives.
It is better to tell people the sad or happy news than have them
wondering what is going on or to hear a distorted report on the 10 PM news.
For example when severe weather is a problem, we
communicate immediately via e-mail, phone, and text messages. Examples of poor communications are: the administrative office sends one message
to the students and forgets to tell the departments involved to be
prepared. The students are then met with
conflicting messages. A friend in
another city told me about the mayor of their city making an announcement about
a city college that the faculty and students heard about from news reports, not
official college messages. This behavior creates an atmosphere of mistrust. How
do you think a professor feels when asked about a college event and needs to
answer, “That’s the first I heard of it.”
Q: How does the College innovate? How do people learn
about the best practices?
A: The
best organizations are innovating and encourage entrepreneurial behaviors. At the College we listen to the students and
the community. We adapt our course offerings to change with the needs of the
community. Companies listen to customers
and give that feedback to the employees.
In large organizations there are internal and external customers. For example the information technology (IT)
staff is in charge of keeping the computers and all technology up and
running. The rest of the College are
their customers. They need to listen to
customer needs and not just supply the “latest” gadgets. They need to give the College the tools to do
their task.
The College is in the business of educating students
and the employees need to understand everything they do could affect student
learning. If the rooms aren’t clean or
the equipment does not perform, the prestige and trust of the College is
lowered in the student or faculty eyes.
Reaching out with social media, giant screens, signs,
etc. are venues to present the message.
For example at the College we have outside message screens for the
general public, inside screens for promoting events, and a presence on Facebook
and Twitter. These are ways to publish
short messages. We also have general
websites and departmental websites for more information and documents.
For best practices faculty are encouraged to
communicate with each other and with colleagues in other colleges with similar
interests. Membership in professional organizations is encouraged and
supported.
Q: In the Towers Watson booklet they talk about three
aspects of communications — courage, innovation, and discipline. This is not their original idea. They were just making astute observations based
on their organizational research. This past
weekend we celebrated Independence Day.
Is there a connection between the actions of the signers of the
Declaration of Independence and excellence in communications?
A: Good observation.
Last week’s Torah portion, Balak, (Numbers 22:2- 25:9) also has a good
example of powerful communications. The
story has Balak, King of Moab, hiring the prophet Bilaam to curse the Children
of Israel. Bilaam refused and gave a
blessing that is linguistically and politically powerful, “How goodly are your
tents O Jacob, your dwelling places O Israel.”[4] In the Hebrew it is powerful Biblical poetry. Bilaam spoke with courage and
innovation. He had the courage to go
against his employer and say what was right.
He opened up his eyes to the situation and followed the word of God
after his donkey spoke to him.
The signers of the Declaration of Independence
also recognized the power of God in the creation of the world and granting
certain unalienable rights – life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Governments are instituted to guarantee these
rights. Governments make laws based on
the just powers derived from the Creator and govern with the consent of the
governed. The signers were
communicating with courage, innovation, and discipline — courage to break with
King of England, innovation to write a type of document that had never been
created, and discipline to believe in God and recognize a power beyond that of mortal
of man. The message of the document is that the signers made sure the readers
understand the effect of their words and thoughts. Their powerful words that
included using the authority of the Creator gave a strong clear message to the
people of colonies and England. The
colonists would no longer submit to the tyranny of the King.
While corporate communications don’t start a
revolution, the communications do affect the employees and customers. Communicators (really everyone in the
organization) need to understand the organizational values and culture. But that assumes those values are well
articulated and appropriate to corporate mission. The acculturation process is the material for
a whole book.
Q: Corporate communications is not a new field. Arthur E. Phillips published the first public
speaking textbook[5]
specifically designed for business people.
His work was based on library research.
He examined the works of Aristotle, William Shakespeare, John Milton,
Homer, Victor Hugo and Dante. He didn’t
do any research in contemporary businesses.
What is your take on early publication communications publications?
A: In 1936 Dale Carnegie published a book, How to
win friends and influence People. He
offered courses and his company still exists today. He also did not do any behavioral research. Even without research, people claimed Carnegie
books and courses changed and improved their lives for the better. Today we are a bit more careful to do
research on how people behave. However, we still depend on library research and
personal experience.
In the late 1920’s, studies conducted by Elton Mayo
and Fritz Roethlisberger in the Cicero, Illinois Western Electric Company Hawthorne
Works plant, investigated the socio-psychological aspects of human behavior in
organizations. They wanted to discover
how to improve production with physical changes to the plant environment. What
they discovered has come to be called “The Hawthorne Effect.” That is that whatever the experimenters
changed helped production. What the
workers really wanted was to feel that they were important and that management
cared.
What Philips, Carnegie and Mayo/ Roethlisberger
discovered was that communication is complex.
It is not just the words, but also caring about the people receiving the
message. People need to be empowered in
the workplace and feel their efforts are accomplishing the corporate goals.
Q: Returning to the need to communicate correctly
what are some of philosophical pressures to the process. In other words how to people learn the “why”
of communications?
A: There is little doubt that the pace of data
production is accelerating. Back in the
1990’s a small company of 500 could produce more words in documents in one
month than the sum total of all the words produced before the start of
printing. In the study of ancient texts
scholars could dwell on the significance of every letter. Today the amount of data could double in less
than a year. I use the word “data” when
others may use “information” because the term “information” implies there is
some order or context. Data are pieces
of that need organization and context and may become information. Once in a useful format, one person’s
information could become another’s data. The data and information may include non-print
items such as pictures and videos. The
ability for anyone to become an instant publisher using social media, blogs,
and other electronic venues means that we are bombarded with too much data. We
probably have a harder time making sense and creating knowledge than the
scholars studying ancient texts.
In the organizational/business world managers are
dealing with information streams that did not exist when they first entered the
work force. Managers need to create
streams of information that help workers do their jobs. This requires a corporate mission that is
translated to everyday activities. There
are companies that send all the new employees to “boot camp” for 1 or more
weeks where they learn the corporate culture, how the company is organized, and
how they fit into corporate excellence.
I heard a story from faculty member in another
university who was hired two weeks before the semester started based on her
resume and a short phone interview. She
never even visited the campus before being hired. She learned some of the procedures from the
departmental secretary. She was invited
to a pre-semester meeting, but most of her colleagues didn’t bother to
attend. About April of the spring
semester she got an urgent e-mail asking why she never filled out a form for
graduating seniors. She never had a
request for the form, never knew which students in her classes were graduating
seniors, and in her previous experience never heard of this type of form. No one from the department or university
indicated such a form was required.
This is a case of poor communications in contrast to
the business “boot camp.” This professor
was denied the information tools to do her job and then was reprimanded for not
knowing the procedures existed.
In short we need to communicate so that the
organization stays on course and follows the mission. That also assumes the mission is carefully
worded with the wisdom of experience.
Grandiose mission messages that include unreachable goals are not
helpful to the creation of a clear message. The upper management must set the
example and everyone needs to feel they are part of the success. Nothing demoralizes staff like conflicting or
confusing messages. A chancellor or
president who says one thing to the faculty and another to the press quickly
loses credibility.
On one hand we must keep in mind those ancient texts
and how important every word is to the understanding of the message and balance
that with the ability to create messages quickly and easily. Tell the reader what they need to know and
don’t give unrelated ideas.
Four communication types include business and
professional communication, managerial communication, organizational
communication, and business/corporate communication. Professional communications include how we
connect to others in our profession or business roles. Methods of communication include list servs,
professional publications, and professional meetings. Managerial communications include telling
workers what they need to know about the organization and keeping people on the
track to complete the goals. These
methods include policy documents, e-mail communications, and face-to-face
meetings. Business communications
include the process oriented messages that we send to get the jobs done. These are the e-mails, personal contacts, and
phone calls used to keep each other informed.
Q: Any final words?
A: In 1953 B.F. Skinner published Science and
human behavior [6]
where introduces the idea of operate conditioning. We can shape behavior by giving praise and
reward for desired behaviors and punishing undesired ones. I take this idea further. We must use behaviors to set good
examples. Communications are not just
the words. Context, action, body language, and delivery
give strong clues to believability and credibility. Context includes correct
grammar, spelling and other language features.
A high concept movie may be great entertainment, but it will not be
confused with business communication.
Q: Thank you very much.
Part
thirty-one of imaginary interviews with the president of the College. After
more than 30 interviews the president is no longer “new,” but since we are all
works in progress I am continuing the series as if s/he were a “new president.”
Please feel free to suggest new ideas for interviews and presidential comments.
This article is for your information, amusement, and edification. Everything is
true, but some events have not yet happened. Any connection to a real college
or president is strictly coincidental.
[1] Stuhlman, Daniel D.
“Executive Communications.” Kol
Safran, October 25, 2012. Retrieved on July
3, 2015
from: http://kol-safran.blogspot.com/2012/10/executive-communications.html
.
[2]
Capitalizing on Effective Communication: How Courage, Innovation and
Discipline Drive Business Results in Challenging Times (2009/2010 Communication ROI Study
Report). [Arlington, VA] :Towers Watson & Co., c2010.
Retrieved from: http://www.towerswatson.com/DownloadMedia.aspx?media={70A3EAFB-0BDE-4359-B8FF-38FEC2E43853}
[3] This article is not meant to be a
comprehensive guide to organizational communications issues. To learn more read the book, Workplace
Communication for the 21st Century edited by Jason S. Wrench. v. 1. Internal workplace communication — v. 2.
External workplace communication. Santa Barbara, California : Praeger, 2013.
If you
are looking for a how-to article a good one, “10 Essential[s] of Effective
Communications.” may be found at this
link: http://successvalues.com/effective-communication/
[5] Phillips, Arthur Edward. Effective Speaking : an exposition of the
laws of effectiveness in the choice of material in speech … Chicago: The Newton Company, 1908.
[6] Full citation for the edition that I
used: Skinner, Burrhas Frederic. Science
and human behavior. New York : Free Press, [1965, 1953].
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