As a management professor and management consultant, we have had the opportunity to work, train, and problem-solve with executives and managers in nearly every type of organization, from small businesses and Fortune 100 companies to nonprofits, associations and government agencies at the city, state, and federal levels. The most frequently cited challenge, beyond all others, is “communication”. Over the last twenty-five years of teaching and consulting, we have discovered two things about the “communication problem” in organizations.First, most people do not know that communication is actually made up of different types of conversations. People think of communication as a broad general area riddled with problems, gaps, and pitfalls in which success is a matter of skill or luck or both.
Unfortunately, this generalization is like saying, “I have a driving problem” when one needs to start by learning the difference between ignition, steering wheel, accelerator, and brake. Generalizations do not solve the very real problems of organizational work.
Second, most people do not understand that their own communication, not someone else’s, is the key to recognizing and resolving the communication problem. It is easy to blame others, either individually or as a group, for not communicating well. Now we need to consider that we might not be using the appropriate conversations, or using them properly.
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