Being an effective communicator.

Communication is key to any successful business execution. It is essential that teams communicate within themselves, other teams and often with teams in external locations in an organization. When a team is small, communication often takes place on an individual level that is mostly warm, quick, personalized and result oriented. However, once an organisation starts growing, multiple teams evolve and often gives rise to communication gap over a period of time.

These gaps result in delayed execution, poor customer experience, loss of face, trust and eventually triggers stress and chaos within the organisation. Employees indulge in blame-game at the behest of other team members and the organization eventually loses productivity.

The most rational choice that comes to mind is to use different tools to bridge this gap in communication and set up process and policies. There are lots of software available nowadays that helps in effective communication within an organisation. Some of the widely used tools are Slack, Yammer, Asana, etc. Similarly, when it comes to external communication – be it with the clients or end customers, partners etc., we have various ticketing, VOIP, IVR solutions available like Freshdesk, Exotel, and several CRM platforms. The most widely used communication tool is of course Email!

People feel comfortable using such tools and protocols as it provides great visibility into what is happening, eliminates gaps, removes lacuna and drives productivity. It also helps them to safeguard in case of a crisis since it is clearly stated.

However, one aspect that gets pushed to the side burner while outlining policies and protocols is the underlying fact that it’s not because of the process that people have to communicate but it’s because of people that we need communication. Once the human touch and the warmth are lost, communication begins to lose its sheen. To give you an example, compare a good morning over an email and a good morning via a handshake with a smiling face - which one do you think creates more impact - Needs no answer – does it?

Because of us having too much pressure to follow the protocols and processes, we start neglecting the fact that it’s not a machine to machine communication. We are dealing with humans and co-workers. More often than not, you feel like a call from a colleague would have been better than an email or text. It is equivalent to sending a WhatsApp greeting vs making an effort to call a friend on a festival and wishing the same. A lot of Emotional Intelligence is needed while we are communicating. Most of all, verbal communication can’t be replaced by protocols and processes. You need them, they also solve most of our issues,  but only till the time everything is fine and there’s no firefighting needed, the moment a crisis/ situation will arise, you have no choice but to switch to face to face interaction. The entire Nestle Fiasco over the Ban of Maggi was mostly a result of lack of effective communication and only following protocols. As a result, millions of dollars of sales, uncountable worth of trust and a sizable base of customers lost. 

Teams and individual must, therefore, understand that whatever process and protocols have been set are meant to complement verbal and personal communication. You cannot provide a human touch without being human.

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