Pushing communication
So, I had a meeting today that didn’t seem to be achieving much apart from apparent frustration from the people sitting around the table. It’s a regular meeting about scheduling and I had begun to think it was getting a bit pointless.
The meeting centres around communicating workloads, but what was happening was that people were accepting that the system wasn’t working, that they couldn’t have what they want, and just getting a bit pissed off about it.
Rather than sorting the [root] cause of the problem, we were putting up with the problem at face level. For me, although there was silence in the meeting, the body language was screaming out loud and clear and I confronted it.
Why is it that often in communications, especially meetings, people simply put up with stuff rather than confronting any issues? Yes, it may be uncomfortable for a short burst, but ultimately you walk out of the room feeling like you may have achieved something.
So, lesson for today for me was two-fold:
- Notice all things other than just the words, yes, the other 93% of the communication*
- Do something about it. Communicate to resolve the issues - develop rapport, seek objectives and work together.
It seems so easy when you write it down… but don’t most things?
* In rapport, communication is said to be made up of:
- 55% physiology - posture, gestures breathing, facial expressions, etc.
- 38% tonality of voice - tone, tempo, timbre, volume, etc.
- only 7% of communication is the actual words that are spoken
Tags: NLP at Work
If I can throw in another perspective… an upward chunk…
Whenever a communication about processes is proving ineffective it’s a sticky one all the while you continue to communicate at the same logical level.
By shifting the frame up a chunk to intention you will have far more options available. All the while you remain communicating at a more specific level it’s a disagreement that will continue until someone gives up. Entirely new solutions that work for everyone are unlikely.
Comment by Daryll — March 27, 2008 @ 8:07 pm
That’s a good call Daryll. Thanks for the feedback. I guess this is a situation many businesses face… individuals almost not realizing that everyone within the organization is working towards the same objective.
Chunking up would certainly add more weight to any argument. It might be a big eye opener for all involved.
Comment by craigkillick — March 27, 2008 @ 8:26 pm