Importance of Communication
I am not sure whether some organisations fully understand the importance of good communication, and the consequences of poor communication. When we question poor performance people are often the underlying cause, "people make things happen, or not!"
Typically, the reason why people under-perform has nothing to do with their ability, or the lack of desire to perform, it is because of poor communication. In almost every case we design top-down and implement bottom-up, and the key ingredient to realising expectation is down to the quality of communication.
When I hear people say it is difficult to find the time, I don’t always buy into that, generally the truth is we don’t know how to communicate. There are many ways to communicate, one method is by making things visible. Unfortunately, some organisations lack such visibility.
For example, simply put, strategies comprise of high-level goals and objectives, and strategies change to meet demand. Plans however, describe how these strategies are to be enacted combined with cascading specific goals and objectives (strategy) through the corridors of the organisation. So how do we communicate this? Let's not forget, poor communication can ruin good plans.
There are a plethora of methods, one for example, we should have a reporting framework as a method of communication, adjusted in line with the current strategy. and made visible, this will influence behavior. Another method of communication, we should adjust the operating model accordingly, that is, if we have an operating model made visible. In brief, an operating model describes how we produce/deliver such products and services, in other words, how we run ourselves? Other methods of communication could comprise of making visible the utilities and warranties underpinning each service and not to mention, mapping the customer journey etc., and it goes on.
Here is a typical example of a scenario based on poor communication;
Senior Management introduce a new strategy to promote front line’ services based on providing a human touch, a human voice, and this becomes the company's marketing strap line. However, this new strategy is poorly communicated and as a result, the operations manager introduces chatbots and robotic automations to reduce front end’ operational costs (the total opposite to the new strategy) – poor communication, period...!