People at Work - Berke Blog

Posts about ‘Communication’

Bad Listener

by Janna  |  March 24th, 2011

I was talking recently with a manager about some problems she was having with a newly hired employee. Karen was frustrated because her rookie was taking “forever” (her word) to catch on to what she thought were some pretty basic job tasks. She was especially annoyed because she’d provided step-by-step explanations of the duties countless times only to have the team member continue to make mistakes and get stuck not knowing what to do next.

“I’m beginning to think John’s just a bad listener, ” fumed Karen. “Otherwise, he definitely should have picked this stuff up by now.”

But you know what the real problem was? Karen was forgetting a very simple training concept:

  • Some people learn with their eyes.
  • Some people learn with their ears.
  • Some people learn with their hands.

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Posted in: Communication, Development | Comments Off

So You Really Screwed Up

by Janna  |  March 22nd, 2011

If you’re a manager, the last thing you probably want to do is broadcast your dumb moves to your employees. I mean, they need to think you know what you’re doing, right? You want them to have faith in your good judgment and competence. They should feel like they can rely on you to chart the right course.

So when you actually do make a mistake, your first reaction might be to either keep it to yourself or downplay it if it’s impossible to hide. But that would mean losing a huge opportunity to teach your people the right way to handle the missteps.

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Posted in: Communication, Feedback, Leadership | Comments Off

The Great Communication Illusion

by Janna  |  January 25th, 2011

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” – George Bernard Shaw

That is one true statement. How many times have you thought you were clearly passing along information only to have the person who received it walk away having completely missed your point? How many times have you asked someone to do something and been disappointed when the results weren’t what you expected? And how many times have you lost your cool when you’ve had to repeat a message to someone who apparently was just not listening?

I know it looks like all these other people are the problem. After all, you’re a great communicator. Aren’t you? Well, I know you probably think you are, because in your own mind the information and requests and messages are all perfectly clear. You know exactly what you’re thinking and what you want. So why are you sometimes frustrated when people don’t hear what you’re saying?

If I had to guess, I’d venture that maybe your communication skills aren’t quite as sharp as they could be. I’ve observed scores of managers over the years who truly believe they’re speaking clearly and directly, asking specifically for what they want accomplished, being completely upfront with their expectations. But when I’ve heard these same managers speaking with their employees, peers, and even their own managers, I’ve noticed more than a few communication mistakes. But there’s one simple thing most of them could do better.

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Posted in: Communication, Leadership | 1 Comment »