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How can communication not be simple when we have so many channels at our fingertips to convey messages -  surely these are bound to get your intentions across to everyone?  So why is it that many managers have found that their efforts to implement change often fail in the early stages due to poor communication? They probably fail to recognise that communication is about really connecting with others, not simply about messages and channels of delivery.Theoretically the methods of conveying information to several groups of people are straightforward; you design a plan of action, create clear messages, send them through several media channels, steer those involved in the information flow process, listen and measure; however, we humans are extremely complicated when it comes to sending and receiving messages and have many aspects to our nature that affect this process making it less clear cut than we think.

A common misconception is to believe that something is easy to put into practice because it sounds simple, e.g. in a large body of work the complicated processes involved in arranging the practices may appear to be the main difficulty and this may overshadow what seems to be the easy task of telling everyone about the new practices. In illustration of this is perhaps a new training course that takes months to develop and organise so that it may be taken on line, the Department Heads are instructed to inform their staff that it needs to be taken and probably they will do this via e-mail or newsletter. Upon receiving this e-mail the member of staff will view this extra task within the context of all the other tasks they need to complete, some of which will have more pressing deadlines, and the training may well be viewed as something to be done when they can get around to it. They may not realise the importance of the training as they haven't actually read the message with their full attention.  Without the explanations offered by face-to-face interaction the communication does not achieve it's purpose and the recipients do not necessarily appreciate the consequences of ignoring or delaying any actions requested by the sender of the message.

Unfortunately communication does not rate highly as an exciting or fulfilling part of work. It requires discipline and doesn't appeal to the human desires of gaining power, building and flourishing. There is limited power involved in organising communication as you are in control of the method of delivery of a message, but less likely to be the composer of the message and it's contents; therefore it is difficult to find people who have the patience and drive, coupled with the expertise needed to communicate well.  Once they have been found their efforts need to be supported by managers who understand their position and who will provide the necessary resources for them to do their job.

Despite a communicators best efforts to deliver messages they still require the recipients to be open-minded and able to receive the information.  It is difficult for anyone to understand the meaning of something beyond their own experience and it is important that terminology used in a message is fully explained particularly when it refers to concepts outside or beyond the recipients experience.  A strategy discussed at board level which covers the whole of an organisation perhaps referring to teamwork and integration across the whole business being 'seamless' does not really help staff to grasp the concept beyond their immediate colleague base or department - the concept is beyond their experience and needs fuller explanation.

It needs to be recognised that we bring pre-existing beliefs, values and attitudes into everyday work and that this has a bearing on how a message will be received.  We tend to choose to protect ourselves from overload and will only open our minds to new ideas if we decide to e.g. if a person thinks that Health and Safety is just bureaucratic nonsense simply telling them about new practices will not persuade them to adopt these practices even if it is reasonable to expect them to do so - the message needs to be expanded and explained so that they understand the need for the new measures and cannot ignore it.

There are times when the individual at work may find it difficult to relate to the message being sent and it's wider context. Their perception of what is important may be focussed on completing their every day tasks within both the workplace and outside it such as making sure there is food in the house, the car is taxed and serviced, the children are organised etc. The wider strategies of the company for whom they work may be seen as someone else's (e.g. the managers) problem not something which concerns them as an individual. In addition they may not really want to be bothered by it.

It is part of a strategists job to search for information that they don't know and to find out what they don't know, but generally when people are working they do not have to do this. The impact of this ignorance may result in some believing that your message makes absolute sense to you and therefore does to others too - but this is not actually the case.  There is also the possibility that the receiver thinks that they know what is meant in the message, but they are in fact mistaken perhaps because they don't realise what they don't know!

Humans also have a more fluid sense of priority than we may think and it is affected by their sense of proportion at the time e.g. £5000 may not seem like a large sum of money when you are in regular employment, but if you lose your job it rapidly increases in significance.  Likewise in the workplace this can have an effect on the medium and long-term changes as the attention and support for them may be unstable.

Another human characteristic is that we react emotionally to messages and situations and not always logically. Feelings are often more important than facts.  On top of this we find reasons to justify our emotions and will often reinforce each others false realities and misconceptions in a form of bonding even though we don't know all of the arguments involved.  In a commercial setting where people put these reactions before the truth it can be very damaging.

What has been said above basically states that the problems that may arise in communication are: There are people with a purpose that they need to share but do not know how best to do this and do not necessarily have the support and resources to accomplish it.  There are others who do not want to know the meaning of the message or perhaps do not have the capacity to understand it. Some who think they already know the meaning of the message and some who simply don't want to know.  Added to this are the people who think they have connected and delivered their message only to realise later that it has been dismissed, forgotten or distorted to suit different motives.  All this shows that communication is actually quite difficult and not the easy process assumed earlier.

The obvious question now is "what can be done about the problem?"  We need to acknowledge communication as a process in it's own right, not as a quick final stage of a project or plan.  As we are all communicators we need to recognise the position and circumstance of others to whom the message is sent and be open-minded to the meaning of messages that they give to us.  Advancement is dependent upon us being in the 'real' world, not the one in which we would like to be.  To ensure that this position is achieved we have to realise that communication is not just about the channels and messages used, but is about really connecting with each other.  Speed is not of the essence - better to do three things properly than ten inadequately and good communication takes time and resources to complete properly.  We can only be sure that messages and meanings are understood by others if we check with them and by checking their understanding in commercial terms.

The hardest part of all is that you can't directly quantify the benefits of increased resources put into communication and a certain amount of faith in doing it properly is required.  Common-sense tells us that an e-mail is quickly forgotten, but a mutually respectful discussion between a line-manager and his or her team sticks with people; however, this is difficult to measure.

The logistical part of communication and information distribution has rapidly become easier with technological developments such as e-mail, the internet, the blackberry etc., but the real essence of communication lies in recognising the complexity of the thought processes of human beings and their effect on any message delivered to them. To achieve results through communication is a challenge which is beginning to be recognised as mature practices in organisational communication are starting to be developed.  Businesses need to acknowledge that it is worthwhile to provide resources for developing expertise in the art of communication as communication isn't simple after all.

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25/05/2011

01/06/2011