Thursday, 3 August 2006
Why are we no good at talking to each other?
Almost without exception, every organisation that I have been involved with has been terrible at internal communication. All the supposedly secret stuff is common knowledge, because everyone is good at gossip, but the the information that people actually need never seems to get to them.
With regard to some of my clients, I am often better informed than many of their own staff. This is not normally senstive stuff, just routine business decisions. I suspect that this is becuase I deliberately make an effort to build relationships with people across all areas of the business, so spend time just talking to people.
Church is at least as bad. Despite all the time we spend producing newsletters, people are always surprised when they learn about decisions that have been taken, especially variations from previously published programmes. I am still waiting for someone to notice that there is an Alpha course supposedly running here this term.
How can we spend so much time talking, but actually communicating so badly?
With regard to some of my clients, I am often better informed than many of their own staff. This is not normally senstive stuff, just routine business decisions. I suspect that this is becuase I deliberately make an effort to build relationships with people across all areas of the business, so spend time just talking to people.
Church is at least as bad. Despite all the time we spend producing newsletters, people are always surprised when they learn about decisions that have been taken, especially variations from previously published programmes. I am still waiting for someone to notice that there is an Alpha course supposedly running here this term.
How can we spend so much time talking, but actually communicating so badly?
# posted by Gareth Bezett @ 4:17 PM 
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We had office "drinks" this evening. It was hosted by my team, so I couldn't escape.
I was social!!! But I could only manage it for short bursts.
The rest of the time I freaked out, asking myself: What if there are no chairs? Where do you stand? If you talk to someone for a bit, is it really bad manners to get up and talk to someone else? What happens if someone starts a conversation on a topic I'm really uncomfortable with?
Perhaps the problem is that there are too many self-intimidated people. It's a pity that talking is such an effective form of communication...
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I was social!!! But I could only manage it for short bursts.
The rest of the time I freaked out, asking myself: What if there are no chairs? Where do you stand? If you talk to someone for a bit, is it really bad manners to get up and talk to someone else? What happens if someone starts a conversation on a topic I'm really uncomfortable with?
Perhaps the problem is that there are too many self-intimidated people. It's a pity that talking is such an effective form of communication...
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