Small Business - Why Face to Face Communications is Still a Major Performance Improvement Tool
Summary Without effective face to face communication you won't get ongoing performance improvement.
Face to face communication is important in the workplace for many reasons.
But the major reason is often overlooked.
The Information Age...
Or Is It? We've been told for 25 or so years that we live in "The Information Age".
A wise man once disputed this with me.
"We live in The Data Age", he said.
"Information is data you can use".
Someone else put it this way, "Good information you can't use is useless".
As you're busily text messaging and emailing, ask yourself; "Am I communicating...
or just using words?" A One Way Street Perhaps the so called "Information Age" has seduced us into believing that merely because we leave a message in one form or another, we're going to induce performance improvement.
But I've never seen a memo, a fax - remember them? - or a letter create improved on job performance in a normal workplace either.
Work: A Social Event The workplace is social.
It contains people.
And no matter how technologically sophisticated it is, those people need to talk.
Think of all the reasons you need to talk at work: feedback, discussion, clarification, objection, agreement and disagreement, conflict resolution, grievance airing and reassurance are but a few.
It's true that all these things could be covered by email or text messaging.
But how clumsy, cumbersome and slow compared with one person saying to another "Let's get together and sort this out" or a phone call that asks "Is it OK with you if...
?" Performance Improvement: A Two Way Street Think of all the simple questions and comments used all the time in the performance improvement process.
"Is that clear?" "Do you understand?" "Show me.
" "Will you be OK now?" "Let me show you.
" "What do you think?" "Any comments?" "You've got it right now.
" "That's perfect.
" I could go on and so could you.
Systems and Performance Standards Of course we still need sound support systems, measurable performance standards and all that goes with them.
But we still need to ask "Is that an improvement?" "How can we measure it?" "Is the system working?" "Is that the result we wanted?" Have you ever sat with the phone to your ear while the musak ground tonelessly on or the recorded voice repeated how "important your call is to us".
Did these totally inept, impersonal and largely irritating episodes evolve because the people who designed them forgot that technology is our servant not our master? Clearly no one ever asked the question "But what if we upset the customers?" The Day To Day Reality You can send all the memos, emails, text messages and hi-tech one way communications you like.
But if you want to improve employee performance, sooner or later you must talk to the employee.
You must encourage feedback, negotiate resolution and agree on a course of action.
Conclusion Modern technology in communications has many benefits.
But remember its limitations.
If you want to encourage better staff performance, hone your face to face communication skills.
Remember both the virtue and the value of expressions like "Got a minute?" and "Can we talk about this?" Next time you reach for the keyboard to fire off another email, pick up the phone and talk.
If you don't, you're likely to be locked in the data age.
The information age could pass you by.
Face to face communication is important in the workplace for many reasons.
But the major reason is often overlooked.
The Information Age...
Or Is It? We've been told for 25 or so years that we live in "The Information Age".
A wise man once disputed this with me.
"We live in The Data Age", he said.
"Information is data you can use".
Someone else put it this way, "Good information you can't use is useless".
As you're busily text messaging and emailing, ask yourself; "Am I communicating...
or just using words?" A One Way Street Perhaps the so called "Information Age" has seduced us into believing that merely because we leave a message in one form or another, we're going to induce performance improvement.
But I've never seen a memo, a fax - remember them? - or a letter create improved on job performance in a normal workplace either.
Work: A Social Event The workplace is social.
It contains people.
And no matter how technologically sophisticated it is, those people need to talk.
Think of all the reasons you need to talk at work: feedback, discussion, clarification, objection, agreement and disagreement, conflict resolution, grievance airing and reassurance are but a few.
It's true that all these things could be covered by email or text messaging.
But how clumsy, cumbersome and slow compared with one person saying to another "Let's get together and sort this out" or a phone call that asks "Is it OK with you if...
?" Performance Improvement: A Two Way Street Think of all the simple questions and comments used all the time in the performance improvement process.
"Is that clear?" "Do you understand?" "Show me.
" "Will you be OK now?" "Let me show you.
" "What do you think?" "Any comments?" "You've got it right now.
" "That's perfect.
" I could go on and so could you.
Systems and Performance Standards Of course we still need sound support systems, measurable performance standards and all that goes with them.
But we still need to ask "Is that an improvement?" "How can we measure it?" "Is the system working?" "Is that the result we wanted?" Have you ever sat with the phone to your ear while the musak ground tonelessly on or the recorded voice repeated how "important your call is to us".
Did these totally inept, impersonal and largely irritating episodes evolve because the people who designed them forgot that technology is our servant not our master? Clearly no one ever asked the question "But what if we upset the customers?" The Day To Day Reality You can send all the memos, emails, text messages and hi-tech one way communications you like.
But if you want to improve employee performance, sooner or later you must talk to the employee.
You must encourage feedback, negotiate resolution and agree on a course of action.
Conclusion Modern technology in communications has many benefits.
But remember its limitations.
If you want to encourage better staff performance, hone your face to face communication skills.
Remember both the virtue and the value of expressions like "Got a minute?" and "Can we talk about this?" Next time you reach for the keyboard to fire off another email, pick up the phone and talk.
If you don't, you're likely to be locked in the data age.
The information age could pass you by.
