COMMUNICATION PROBLEMS-Odds & Ends 58

I once carried out a survey in a large Government Ministry. I asked a simple question. I have since asked it many times in many countries and I usually get similar replies.

“What do you consider is the main communication problem in your job?”

* “Not knowing what other people are doing. Other parts of the organisation are too busy to tell us what they are doing.”

* Unclear instructions. I am often given a job but not told what it’s all about or when it’s required by.”

* “I am sent too many messages I don’t need to see – but I often don’t get the information I need, or I get it too late.”

* I ask for information, the person I ask, asks someone else to collect the information. The last person may not fully understand just what information is required nor the reason for seeking it.”

* “I get so many emails many important messages go astray.”

* “People read into my messages the information they seek, not what I am trying to tell them.”

* “I have a problem in deciding how much information to send on. It’s a conflict between keeping people informed and swamping them with information.”

* “When people come to us to do a job for them they have rarely thought it through. They often don’t know what they really want, and they usually want it yesterday.”

To sum up what I found:

         Too many messages; not enough time; poor instructions; people taking things for granted; lack of planning; having to respond to outside pressures; problems of size of the organisation and formal structures within; leading to confused areas of responsibility.

         Take care your business is not starting to clog up. For a business to prosper there must be an active dialogue between management and employees.

         The most important thing is to tell people what they want to know, not necessarily what you plan to tell them.

Geoffrey Moss (mossassociates.co.nz)

“Successful leaders understand people and get them to share their vision.”