I AM Communicating, Now What?
By Michelle Malay Carter on August 18, 2008
Blog after leadership blog.? Book after leadership book claims to have found the Holy Grail of Leadership and Followership (engagement).? In case you’ve missed it, I will reveal it here.
Are you ready? ?Communication!? My Invoice is in the mail.
Now, go ask 100 managers if they do a proper job of communicating at work.? I suspect 99 would say yes.? Ask 100 employees if their manager does a proper job of communicating at work, and I suspect about 20 would say yes, since one of the top contributors to employee engagement is an employee’s relationship with their manager and engagement sits at about 20%.
Now what??
Communication training?? More frequent communication?? More detailed communication?? Less detailed (micromanaging) communication?? More one-on-one communication?? More team communication?? More big picture communication?? More written communication?? More personal communication?? More situational communication?? Books have been written about each one.?
What if miscommunication were a symptom and not a cause?
I’m OK.? You’re OK.? Let’s fix the system.
Your thoughts?
Filed Under Employee Engagement, Managerial Leadership, Requisite Organization, Work Levels
Comments
11 Responses to “I AM Communicating, Now What?”
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Michelle,
While I don’t agree that communication is the Holy Grail of leadership, in my opinion you did hit the nail on the head when you asked your last question – “is it a symptom or a cause?”
The danger with leadership blogs, books, etc… is that real leadership can’t be done by using a checklist:
Effective Communication – check
Walk the floor – check
etc….
So to say that communication is the Holy Grail would imply that if I communicated, I’ll be a good leader!
Miscommunication, whether it be lack of communication, micromanaged communication, etc… often happens because a manager communicates because he or she has to, not because they want to.
The essence of leadership (in my opinion) is that effective communication is a by-product of the person, not something they feel “have” to do to be a leader, but is instead something they want to do because they know it is important!
Is communication vital for engagement, you bet, but it has to come from the right place otherwise its just words!
Let’s fix the system!
Hi Bo,
Thanks for stopping by. Yes, whether a person values the behaviors necessary to be a good leader (one of them being communicating/working with and through others) will have a huge impact on the quality and quantity of their communication.
Thanks for the comment.
Regards,
Michelle
Michelle,
I feel your pain:-)
Let’s face it: most of the “presenting” problems we hear as consultants start off as “communication” problems. Probing questions uncover the actual issues.
So, I’m not surprised that “communication” has been miraculously discovered and actively marketed–no doubt, profitably.
(Whoops–I hit a key combination that entered the comment before it was finished.)
I think you were onto something when you touched upon the alleged low level of engagement. If people want to be engaged–and managers are the mediators of engagement–then the “c” word may be a substitute for “relationship,” which is a lot more difficult for people to discuss.
The communication thing drives me nuts…gotta think this through a little more.
Thanks for tossing the bone. . .
Hi Steve,
Thanks for stopping by and for your comments. I agree with you completely. More on this to come in tomorrow’s post.
Regards,
Michelle
This red herring communication problem is a thorn in my side too. I can’t tell you how many times I see communication listed as a major problem on engagement surveys without a clue as to whether more frequency, different details, type of information, etc. etc. are what this person is really looking for. All this endless buzz about poor communication and the solution isn’t more or different communication, but rather getting the right people in the right places so information is shared naturally in the format and volume that is desired.
Hi Alicia,
Amen sister. That’s where I am going with this. Thanks for stopping by and for the comment.
Michelle
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I’m of the “Three signs of a miserable job” philosophy. Employees want:
1. To be known. Not just in their work, but in their personal lives by the management team. Anonymity is not engaging.
2. To be relevant. Their work has to be relevant to a group of people or a person. Not goals, not corporate missions, but people. If they can’t relate their work to helping people, they are not engaged.
3. Know their success by themselves. Employees need to know they are succeeding or failing by their own ability to measure the work. Not a review that might happen six months down the road.
Is communication part of this? Yes. But communication is the activity you do. This stuff is the objective of the communication.
Hi Scot,
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your philosophy. Yes, I think these are key levers for all employees.
I agree the phrases you “added on” to the end of line items number 1 and 2 are critical, “must haves” for people-oriented people.
I suspect they might be “nice to haves” for task-oriented people. Although being known and being relevant are important to all, I suspect task-oriented people might be OK with being known only in their work and with being relevant relative to the work. This is just a hypothesis. It would have to be tested.
Thanks for the comment.
Regards,
Michelle
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