Communication+Management

Successful internal communication requires more than a finely crafted message. That message also must be delivered by the right person, using the right platform, at the right time. And all those decisions should be handled consistently across your organization. At one of my recent employers, we discovered we had a problem with several of these steps. Some situations that required specific messaging came up frequently, but they were managed differently depending on the team leader involved. That’s understandable, because each of them had a different take on what would be best in the various situations. However, this lack of consistency and standardization with our messaging led to confusion, miscommunication, and misunderstandings, which hurt morale. When I moved into the internal communications role for that division, one of my initial tasks was to create a communications protocol to clean up this mess. The first step in this process is to make a list of the different types of messages...

I’m not a fan of meetings. To be fair, I don’t know many people who are. However, I recognize that they are a necessary part of most jobs. Because we’re likely to spend large chunks of our careers in meetings with our teams, our supervisors, fellow managers, or others, we should at least make sure those get-togethers are meaningful. I believe a good meeting usually results in effective decision-making, and if it’s a meeting I’m running, that’s what I’m hoping to achieve.  Here are a few steps I follow to keep people on track and moving toward a decision during a work meeting: Consider the specifics of the situation . Before the meeting begins, answer several questions. First, and perhaps most importantly, do you need to have a meeting, or could the work to be done be handled via email? (If it could, please consider that option!) Assuming you do need a meeting, have you clearly been put in charge of solving the problem or completing the project that will be discussed? Do the other p...

When I was editor of the business section for a daily newspaper, one of our regular beats included writing about the state Public Service Commission, which was responsible for regulating utilities. I covered that beat for a while when I was a reporter, and it was complicated work. It took me months of attending meetings and asking questions to learn the technical terms the commission used and to understand the issues they were addressing. Just as I was starting to feel like I had it figured out, I left the beat, and another reporter took over. That may seem like a strange time to make a change, but it was absolutely the right thing to do. Why? Because that jargon I finally understood was starting to find its way into my stories. Having become somewhat knowledgeable about the commission’s work, I was no longer as likely to ask questions that would allow me to explain issues in a way the average reader could understand. My stories were still correct, but they weren’t as clear.  We of...