water all day long, touching down only periodically.”
– CLIVE THOMPSON10
Fighter pilots indeed. Organizations make incredibly large investments in technology. What is the purpose of all of these systems and devices? To help us perform better, of course. What other reason could possibly justify the spending?
Given the focus on information technology investment in the average organization, it often seems that we put much more effort into selecting systems and devices than we do in understanding how they will actually help us communicate and perform better.
SO, HOW DO WE COM-MU-NI-OATE?
Several important trends are having a profound impact on the way we communicate with each other. First, as stated above, technology has given us many ways to communicate. Second, we are now working in many different places (and often alone). Third, globalization and technology have come together to enable us to work remotely and get things done from the car or airplane or basement office, and communicate in myriad different ways. Finally, layers of management have been consolidated and many of us serve as both leaders of others and individual contributors.
“Imagine what we could accomplish if we spent the same time, energy, and money to use the information skills we already know as we do on the tools and technologies otherwise labeled as Information Technology.”
– NATHAN SHEDROFF11
Of course, these trends can have a positive impact on competitiveness by allowing each segment of work to find the lowest available costs. They are also changing how we communicate, in ways both good and bad.
It’s convenient that we can call from the car on the way home to see whether we need any last-minute groceries. It feels more secure to know that our kids and our parents have immediate access to us if they need us. And it’s energizing to be able to collaborate with talented people no matter where they are in the world.
There is also a downside—a downside that people are just beginning to realize. These new ways of communicating have changed the content of our communications. Almost without realizing it, we have begun to communicate in bits and bullets.
“When the bullets are flying, no one is safe.”
– JOHN SCHWARTZ12
And now we’re addicted. Like any addiction, after a while it becomes hard to imagine a future without this new stuff. Over time, our behaviors change and we fall into a predictable, repeated pattern. If you are one of those people who say, “I’m not addicted. I can stop if I want to,” just recall the last time you were caught checking your e-mail while someone was talking directly to you. Gotcha!
“A researcher at Microsoft, Mary Czer-winski, has studied how the average computer user behaves and has found them to be “as restless as hummingbirds…. On average, they juggled eight different windows at the same time—a few email messages, maybe a Web page or two and a PowerPoint document. More astonishing, they would spend barely 20 seconds looking at one window before flipping to another.”
– CLIVE THOMPSON13
In an organization, rules for communication are established the same way as rules that govern any community of people. Social conventions, norms, and accepted ways of communicating are built up and when one becomes part of that community, one must live by those rules. This socialization is beneficial in that it helps us get work done and not have to spend time inventing ways to communicate. We don’t have to think too much about it.
But therein lies the problem. Because we don’t have to spend time thinking through our communications, we don’t. We go back to the usual ways of communicating. And when it comes to high-stakes communications—communications affecting leadership, mission, ethical behavior, and teamwork—we most often find ourselves on the losing side of the battle for hearts and minds. Many times, leaders lose the chance to ignite the performance of their people because they have chosen the expediency of bits and bullets over a more rich and engaging approach.
“Get to the point…I don’t have all minute!”
– ERIC CHESTER14
LOTS OF TOOLS, NO BLUEPRINTS
Think for a moment about all of the communications tools at our disposal. We have e-mail, a phone, a mobile phone, a pager or BlackBerry, instant messaging, and text messaging. We also have meetings, conferences, and informal conversations. We spend vast amounts of time learning how to use, program, sync, and trouble-shoot our communications tools. We also spend considerable time setting up appointments and managing our calendars.
Once all of these unproductive activities are squared away, do we then turn to our well-thought-out blueprint for how to actually use different tools in different situations so that we can increase performance? Or do we often fall back on the most familiar and expedient—treating all of our tools like hammers and our communications like nails?
“I sometimes think we have become so obsessed with the means of communication that have been developed, that we have lost all contact with the message that is being conveyed.”
– TED KOPPEL15
As Figure 1.2 shows, our communications devices can actually push us apart, instead of bringing us together. All of this technology-enabled communication we rely on enables us to stay in our cubicle or office (bunker) and get work done. But our devices and tools certainly come with a Faustian bargain. Yes, they speed our access to information and increase our flexibility, allowing us to work wherever we are. But they also take away some of what makes it fun and energizing to work with people; that is, the social interaction and learning we get from each other (especially because we now work all the time).
FIGURE 1.2 How Organizations Communicate
“It is safe to assume that any individual or group you wish to influence has access to more wisdom than they currently use. It is also safe to assume that they also have considerably more facts than they can process effectively. Giving them more facts adds to the wrong pile. They don’t need more facts. They need help finding their wisdom.”
– ANNETTE SIMMONS17
We have become so incredibly busy sending and receiving email alone that our face-to-face interaction drops like a stone. A client said to me that she asked her employees to turn off their BlackBerrys for a whole day and interact with each other face to face if they needed a piece of information from someone, or needed to convey something. The results were amazing. Her employees told her that they found out so much more about what they needed to know and that it was a lot more fun!16
One of our main challenges as leaders is to not be like the fish that is oblivious to the water around it. We must take stock of what communication methods we have at our disposal and which one is best suited to the particular task at hand. We should be using a blueprint to determine exactly what kind of communication we will use to impact a specific performance issue.
The worst software feature ever invented.
