Nobody Communicates Around Here

How many times have you heard the statement, "Nobody communicates around here!"? With all of the new technology, research says people are communicating more but it's significantly less effective and meaningful.

A Manager Changes

A manager that I know does a good job, but recently his team gave him feedback saying, "Nobody communicates around here". It shook him to his core because he worked hard at engaging his team one-on-one. While there was conversation going on, something was bothering his team.

As a result, after a little investigation on my part, I found it wasn't an earth-shattering problem but it was important. The team felt that they needed a vacation calendar to see who would be on or off on which days. Recently someone was off for two weeks, and it wreaked havoc with their customer experience. They wanted to know who was off ahead of time. Consequently, they could gear up mentally, plan together and prepare to pick up the slack because it was extra work for all.

In addition, they also felt that communication had to better first thing in the morning; when someone was absent the rest of the team could decide who would pick up the pace with the person's accounts for that day. Again, it was extra work for all. The manager added a scheduling software app to take care of that and for their team meetings.

You see, they wanted regular team meetings, too. Those were hit and miss based on how busy it was. They felt out of touch. The team wanted to know the details of what was going on with the organization and to touch base.

Real Communication Requires the Personal Touch

Communication is at the core of our relationships at work (as well as the heart of employees' experience and engagement) but it seems so hard. It often comes down to empathy for the other person's situation as well as listening to other concerns or ideas or problems. This is where trust shows up.

Former President Barak Obama adds this: "There's a lot of talk in our country about a federal deficit. But I think we should talk more about an empathy deficit--our ability to put ourselves in someone else's shoes, to see the world through those who are different from us--the child who's hungry, the laid-off steelworker, the immigrant cleaning your dorm room. We live in a culture that discourages empathy, a culture that too often tells us that our principal goal in life is to be rich, thin, young, famous, safe and entertained."

Communication takes constant diligence and more than a text or Snapchat message to really to do that. Imagine if that was the prime way to talk to your significant other or family? People are using technology as a crutch to hide, not to engage others. Real communication is more intimate and requires a personal touch. It requires more face to face interaction.

However, as one executive told me, "What if I don't want to be empathetic?" Duh? I think George Bernard Shaw is right, "The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place."

Now that's the problem, isn't it? Agree? Your thoughts?

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Also, here are a few other posts to check out. Thank YOU!

• Real Leaders Are Good at Listening and Follow-through
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• The Plague of Employee Dissatisfaction and Disengagement
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• The #1 Glaring Weakness of a Bad Leader
• 10 Keys To Employee Engagement
• 7 Keys to Unleash Employee Motivation, Productivity and Engagement
• 13 Troubles of Terrible Teams
• Leadership is About People, Not Your Paycheck
• 6 Proven Ways to Deal with a Bad Boss