Several years ago, I joined a new leadership team in our organization. Since every team has a character as unique as any person, I was a bit uncertain as to how the team would function. In addition, like most of the teams I’ve been a part of, it was a multicultural team, consisting of 4 different nationalities, and 3 different heart languages. Of course, we functioned perfectly right from the start and throughout our 5 years of working together. (Hahahaha!) But we can talk about that later…
I was immediately struck by the realization that our single core task was to communicate effectively. We oversaw about 175 individuals working in the African desert (the Sahara, the Sahel, and the Savannah), but if you’ve read about Chollas you know that the desert is a place where resources are thin, and “the heat is on.” We had to effectively communicate to our workers who had to communicate with their teams. We also had to communicate effectively to our superiors and sometimes to other stakeholders.
In part because our workers came from 25 different countries and represented 6 different mother tongues, and in part because they were all members of the human race, clear and effective communication was an exceedingly complex and demanding task. We also had to build effective habits of communication within our leadership team. I have to say that in the end, our successful communication habits perhaps barely outweighed our failures and miscommunication.
A major complicating factor was differing expectations between all the parties,
but that’s a subject for another post.
Communication in orgs is like fishbones times ten. Every message filters downward and upward through individuals. And every stage of this process is a branching, an opportunity for misunderstanding and degradation of the original message. Check for understanding! If you aren’t constantly checking for understanding, your team will be ineffective in it’s core purpose: effective communication. Remember, this principle applies whether you’re running an auto supply shop in Schenectady, serving refugees in Kenya or managing a computer design house in Silicone Valley. Communicate; overcommunicate. You won’t be sorry.