Better Communication
Someone once told me that 70% of problems in organisation are caused by poor communication.
That may be a little high, but how often have you heard someone say:
- ‘I wasn’t aware of that’
- ‘No one told me’
- ‘I wasn’t informed’
Communication is vital to the effectiveness of business processes. If we aren’t sharing the correct information with the correct people at the correct time, then the process will break down and problems will arise.
I would advise that communication should be built into the process documents within your management system so that it is totally transparent.
To do this, consider the objectives of the process, the contributors and their requirements (handovers), the information created within the process and the documentation generated.
Then consider:
- What needs to be communicated – information, decisions, data
- When you will communicate – after completion of a task, at the end of the process, daily, weekly, etc
- With whom you will communicate with – make sure you consider both internal and external communication requirements.
- How you will communicate – what works for the recipient? Consider the method used (telephone, email, etc) and format of the information (paper, email, Excel, etc). Often, the format is incorrect & creates more work later for other people.
- Who will do the communication – Decide who is the best person (and who is available) to perform the communication.
Communication can be easily audited, and it becomes obvious when communication between departments, people and organisations starts to break down.
How do you manage your internal and external communications?
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