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I am a publicist for Sam Carpenter, author and owner of Centratel, a multi-million dollar telephone answering service in Bend, Oregon. Sam is author of the new book, "Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Working Less and Making More." He's also the founder and executive director of Kashmir Family Aid, an international non-profit that provides relief work for earthquake victims in a third-world country. Please visit 
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If you are a manager in your organization, there’s most likely a reason for that – people trust you, think you do quality work, and respect you as a leader. But if you’re not an effective communicator, you’ll lose that reverence and you won’t retain employees.
A study in 2001 involving some 20,000 exit interviews found that the number one reason people leave jobs is “poor supervisory behavior.” In other words, bad bosses.
And one of the biggest factors cited in the findings was poor communication skills. Discussing communication mechanics can be a monstrous proposition, so let’s boil things down. Utilize the following basic communication tips, applicable to both business and personal life, and watch your network of friends, colleagues, and valued employees expand.
1. If there’s a problem with someone, have a meeting NOW. Talk things out one-on-one. If silence ensues, do something to promote dialogue. But be careful; if emotions are running high, put point-of-sale aside and wait for things to calm down.
2. Be accessible. Give people an opportunity to leave a message if you are not available. Can those people who are important to you reach you readily, or are there mechanical and bureaucratic barriers?
3. Make communication tools available to your staff — cell phones, digital recorders, voice mail, e-mail, and various meeting places for one-on-one, in-person dialog. Scheduled group meetings are prime tools that provide everyone a forum for communicating. Keep meetings brief (training classes excepted).
4. Can your staff, clients, and potential clients find out more about you through a Web site, hard copy, or other medium, or do you remain a mystery? Do you talk about your world to the people around you or do you keep to yourself? Mysterious people typically don’t do well in business or friendship.
5. Yes, it’s important to keep lines of communication open, but are you going back and forth with a person who consistently works against you? This could be in a personal relationship or with an employee or client. If the other side’s intentions are consistently malevolent, it’s irrational to continue to communicate. End the relationship. You are not in the business of being coerced. Do you have a close family member who is on the attack? If so, I sympathize. That’s a tough one.
6. Be concise. Get to the point. Unless you are at a barbecue on a Saturday afternoon, do yourself and those around you a favor by getting on with things.
7. Be cordial and friendly, but don’t overdo it.
8. Never bash others behind their backs. It’s low-class and any employee, client, or relative who has any degree of personal sophistication will devalue you.
9. Talk up to people if that is the context. Your client — who is paying you — wants the bottom line and your personal friendship is not part of his or her expectation. Likewise, with your boss. These people expect you to listen to them and not to give orders, although they want you to provide them advice. Again, while you take direction and provide information, be cordial, but not too cordial.
10. Speak authoritatively to the people you direct. They want respect, concise direction, and they expect their paychecks to be on time.
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Leave your thoughts here. (8 responses)
- 1 Trackback on Apr 30th, 2008 at 7:14 am
- 2 Trackback on May 1st, 2008 at 3:50 am
- 3 Trackback on May 1st, 2008 at 8:39 pm
I think all these tips are great, but one thing struck me in the post: “Mysterious people typically don’t do well in business or friendship.”
I thought about the successful people around me and I would say the majority of them are extremely mysterious and don’t give up a lot about their lives. They listen instead. Maybe this is changing with Gen Y though since Gen Y wants more authenticity and transparency. Interesting.
Rebecca,
I agree with you to an extent. I 100% agree that people who listen instead of talk are more successful. However, I also know that I’ve worked with people who were very secretive about their personal lives and thought it inappropriate to share any personal information at work. My co-workers and I had a hard time trusting these people, because they seemed to be distancing themselves so much from the rest of the team.
Some pretty good points! Here are my 2 cents:
Communication does not just mean giving people information. Communication means giving people *relevant* information. I get “communication” all day long from people in the form of emails that have nothing to do with my job. Our corporate communication department regularly spams all employees with “Employee Communications” (EMPCOM’s) emails. About 90% of these are not relevant to my job. For example: I don’t particularly care about the new VP they hired in some other department; he’s one of 50 VP’s whom I don’t deal with anyway. Be sure to tailor your communications to the people to whom you are communicating. If you don’t, then the relevant information can get lost in the noise.
For Bosses: Remember, no one will meet your expectations if you don’t tell them what you expect. Be sure you clearly communicate exactly what you want your employees to achieve. If you don’t, then you lose the right to complain when they don’t do what you wanted.
You would find yourself leaps ahead of the competition if you get yourself a coach or course on speaking/presenting/communications. And a Toastmasters International membership would compliment that with ongoing practice and improvement.
This post rings true with personal experience. The biggest thing I would suggest for any leader is to constantly ask for input or agreement from the people that work for you. Sometimes you have some really sharp people who aren’t giving you their best ideas because they don’t know if you’ll hear them out.