Speaking the Wrong Language

Once we’ve been intentional about providing each individual team member with that crystal clear understanding of how each specific task they’re responsible for ties back to our mission, vision, and even values, we should certainly be seeing them buy in at a higher level. But that’s not always as simple as reading from a script; the message we send will be received so much better when we’re able to make it personal…

Earlier I referenced an article from SHRM that shared a study showing poor communication costing a 100 person company over $400k per year. In lesson two of our Emerging Leader Development course, I share details from an SIS International Research study that said “the cumulative cost per year due to productivity losses resulting from communication barriers is more than $26,000 per employee. Not only that, the study found that a business with 100 employees spends an average downtime of 17 hours a week clarifying communications. Translated into dollars, that’s more than $530,000 a year.” Regardless of which one you look at, miscommunication is clearly a profitability killer that needs our attention!

But just like talking louder or repeating the same words again and again isn’t all that helpful when someone doesn’t have any frame of reference for what we’re saying - or when they speak a completely different language - making sure they are tracking with us is critical! And in case that’s not enough of a challenge to deal with, consider these stats that John Maxwell shared on the first page of his 2010 book, Everyone Communicates, Few Connect: “We’re bombarded with thirty-five thousand messages a day.” (which I can only imagine has increased substantially as technology continues to permeate every aspect of our lives) and “Most people speak about sixteen thousand words each day.” With all those factors in mind, It’s clear that repeating ourselves with more volume won’t be enough to overcome all the issues leading to miscommunication…

If we’re serious about helping the folks on our teams know how and why their jobs matter, I’m convinced our best shot lies in tailoring our communication so they can best receive it; so our message really stands out from all the other noise around them. Nearly everyone I meet learned some version of The Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” I don’t care what religion you subscribe to, that’s some solid advice - except when it comes to eliminating misunderstandings.

I tend to focus on the big picture and work through the details (as needed) along the way. When I take that approach in running ideas by Cindy though, I can overwhelm her in a hurry! She works to deliver precision in everything she does, thinking through all the possible scenarios upfront then plotting a very strategic path to follow. Assuring her that I’ll circle back to explain all the details once a task is complete does not give her what she needs to understand where I think we should be headed… Rather than communicating with her as I’d want her to communicate with me, I’ve learned that we can work together so much more effectively when I follow what I’ve come to know as The Platinum Rule and communicate with her as she’d want me to!

To make sure each member of our teams have a reasonable chance of seeing the big picture, there are some simple steps we can apply (which will work through in detail soon) to keep misunderstandings from killing our profitability. But we won’t achieve it by taking the wrong approach so we’ll address that next…