Communication: Managements Responsibility

I've just watched, again, an episode in the Back to the Floor television series, which aired on the BBC (United Kingdom) and PBS (United States). Once more, communication turned out to be a key issue, as it often does in business stories.

If you're not familiar with the series, it features real-life CEOs who leave their comfortable offices (well sort of comfortable, these days) and go work on the front lines of their organizations for a week. Cameras follow the CEOs and record their interactions with staff, and their responses to those interactions.

In this episode, the managing director of London's Heathrow Airport took the plunge and worked in customer service for five days. That meant facing customers and dealing with their problems, including problems created by the airport.

Once more, we saw a CEO suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, so to speak. This CEO was rebuked by employees on the front lines, as well as customers. Employees tried to convey to him the difficulties they experience because no one at head office listens to them.

And, that's a fairly constant refrain in all episodes, as one CEO after another finds out he or she doesn't know much about what happens when the organization comes face-to-face with real customers and their needs.

As most of us know, this is no anomaly. In many organizations, employees feel management doesn't know what's going on in the real world, and perhaps what's worse, feel that management doesn't care.

In some senses, this perception reflects a divide in the abstract-concrete spectrum. Workers deal in very concrete situations and matters; management deals in abstractions. That's both logical and appropriate, even if it does keep each side from understanding the other.

Management simply can't function effectively if it gets bogged down in details or specifics. Nor can it make important decisions if it stops to consider how each decision will affect individual persons in the organization.

Still, there's much management can do to bridge the divide. And the first step in that process is for management to accept responsibility for better communication. Unless management takes the initiative, there's no way for communication up and down the hierarchy to take place.

After all, employees can -- and often do -- express their ideas and emotions. But nothing can happen unless someone in management allows it to happen.

For example, in the Heathrow program, the managing director spots some trash in an out-of-the-way spot and calls in a cleanup crew. The customer service manager, who supervised the managing director for the week, chastised him for incurring an expense that wasn't in the budget (an appropriate response because the customer service manager would be chastised by his immediate superior if he had done that). The CEO responded by making an important policy change on the spot, yet what he really needed was a mechanism to get and give information about such problems, and a policy about when exceptions could be made.

By creating a mechanism that allowed workers at the front lines to communicate about that kind of problem (trash), he would get both results and greater employee loyalty.

About The Author

Robert F. Abbott offers unique and useful business communication ideas in the complimentary online ezine, Abbott's Communication Letter http://www.abbottletter.com; abbottr@managersguide.com

---

Finding Common Ground Through Consensus Decision-Making

It's clear to me that a workplace is a better place when employees truly work in teams, but the most familiar team models we have are those... Read More

Why You Need a Business Plan

This article was originally called "Do You Need a Business Plan?"The title was changed because in truth, every business needs a business plan. It's a common misconception... Read More

Performance Appraisals: Nightmares or Sweet Dreams

Some managers think of performance appraisal meetings and recollections of torn Achilles' heels or root canals immediately surface. They're sort of "been there, don't want to go... Read More

Workplace Security Plan: Does Your Company Have One?

Consultant's Perspective...The threat of violence whether it emanates from a disgruntled employee or the threat of terrorism require both a concerted and an individual response. Terrorism in... Read More

Five Essential Hiring Practices

Recruiting and hiring are often done in haste, leaving the company to repent in the long run. Today, there's a reason to be concerned about negligent hiring.... Read More

Disaster Prevention Tips For Hiring A New Manager

It happens over and over in businesses every day.Within large companies, people are promoted to management positions to reward them for performance as individual contributors. After all,... Read More

Problem-Solving Success Tip: Test Your Assumptions About Everything

Test your assumptions about everything.Assumptions have a way of creeping into all parts of a problem-solving project. They're often wrong, which can lead to a lot of... Read More

Employee Retention: Keeping the People Who Keep You in Business

The retention of highly skilled knowledge workers is one of the major challenges today for all organizatons. Knowledge workers are those whose work primarily requires the use... Read More

Problem-Solving Success Tip: Define the Problem First

Define the Problem First. It seems obvious, but how many times have we gone to a problem-solving meeting and the discussion started with either whose fault was... Read More

Creative and Innovative Culture, Change Management ? Three Easy Tests

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation and innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation. From this simple definition, it is... Read More

The Top Three Problems IT Managers Face and How to Overcome Them

Todays business environment has changed drastically from just a few years back. Rather than working exclusively with equipment, data, and systems, todays IT managers face issues such... Read More

Try It Out On Your Team First

Wow! You're brilliant! You have a great idea. You've looked at it every possible way to find holes in your logic, fallacies in your assumptions. You know... Read More

Document management : A dream of paperless office

What is document management: When we think about "Document Management" we usually see a picture of paperless office. It is not an easy task to make an... Read More

Dont Get Side-Tracked By The Nay-Sayers

You, the Entrepreneur, are 'normally' a type-A individual. One who has little patience with the establishment ~ he or she likes to do it 'his/her way' and... Read More

The Do?s and Don?ts of Giving Feedback

Being able to give effective feedback is not just a good skill to possess in business, it is a great life skill to have. Because when you... Read More

The Walmart Cult

The CultBecoming a part of the Cult, consists of being recruited a member of the cult, as a person that can be relied on to assume responsibilities... Read More

Few Things Are More Destructive Than An Insecure Boss

Few things are more destructive to a career than a boss who is insecure. Unfortunately, it is a near certainty that most people will encounter one or... Read More

A Leadership Screw Driver: The 90 Day Improvement Plan

I was talking with first-line supervisors in a utility company about how to deal with poor performing employees."You've gotta put the screws to him!" suggested one supervisor... Read More

2 Steps For Increasing Company Profits or Performing Business Turnarounds

1. Eliminate wasteEliminate reports, habits, products, duplicate input, and processes that waste time and money. These drain labor, money and energy from the business.Two-thirds of products or... Read More

Hiring Tip -- Picking The Best Candidates

I often hear leaders from all types of organizations ask questions about hiring the right person. Their questions usually sound like these:? What if their resume looks... Read More

Dialogue vs. Discussion

Have you ever sat in a meeting where everyone is busy giving their point of view and trying to prove why they are right? Where no one... Read More

Three Ways to Transmit Loud and Clear

The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of a wise man is in his heart. --Benjamin FranklinHow often have you said something... Read More

Top Ten Tips About Communicating with Your Employees Effectively

Communication is the basis of who you are as a manager/leader in business. The rules are simple and the good news is that you can learn them... Read More

Let the Intern Do It - Affordable Help for Your Business

Do you have more projects than time? Help might be as close as your nearest college. Many have intern programs, where students complete tasks for businesses as... Read More

Implementing Change

There are different reactions that individuals experience during time of change. Understanding the emotions of an individual may better help them get through the period of unexpected... Read More

Create Your Methodology Based on a Standard Framework - Part One

OK. So you have decided that your organization has to improve the way in which it works. You have chosen to implement a methodology as the best... Read More