Communication Breakdown
Communication is vital; We're not as good as we think; We can get better
“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
― George Bernard Shaw“Excuse me, was you sayin’ somethin’?” ― Kanye West
Here’s a post that found its way to me. While working on drafts on other topics in/around logistics, I noticed a common thread through the various subjects (i.e., labor, freight tech, supply chain disruption, 3PLs, last-mile). Communication is at the core of each. So, I spent time reflecting on why that is, leading me to consider all the ways communication is so vital to individual health, healthy relationships, and healthy companies. How does it work person to person, and how does that scale within teams and larger companies? Believe it or not, while there’s plenty here for you to chew on, I had to cut this one short. So, expect a Comms: Part Deux in some form next week.
***
Just because you sent an email or had a conversation with someone, it doesn’t mean you communicated even close to as well as you may have thought. In fact, you probably didn’t think about it. This post suggests we step back and rethink our communications. How does that text really read (not just how it sounded in your head)? How can it alternatively be read? Did your co-worker really understand what you asked them to do? Do you understand clearly what your goals are at work and what your boss wants? Does your customer trust you? Does your service provider have any clue what’s most important to your operation? Do your parents know you love them? Does your significant other? Do your kids? Does it matter? If you think it does, read on.
Why is communication important? Because you want to be heard. You want to be understood. You want to understand. You also don’t want to waste your time or energy. You want to “get” others and have them “get” you. That’s connection. It feels good, and it moves you closer - to others and to where you’re heading. As a team or as a company, it is important to function as a unit for the team to move closer to its goal. To win. To reach its potential. And that only happens when communication is effective, so the whole team works together to become more than just the sum of the parts.
Lack of communication is death/disease; communication is life/vitality.
There can be pain in communication, but the alternative is more painful. In the health arena, I’ve read and heard that disease (including many forms of cancer) is essentially the result of erratic or inconsistent communication. One category of disease is 100% about unclear communication - autoimmune diseases. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, autoimmune disease happens when the body’s natural defense system can’t tell the difference between your own cells and foreign cells, causing the body to mistakenly attack normal cells. There are more than 80 types of autoimmune diseases that affect a wide range of body parts - all due to miscommunication.
“The cells in our bodies are constantly sending out and receiving signals. But what if a cell fails to send out a signal at the proper time? Or what if a signal doesn't reach its target? What if a target cell does not respond to a signal, or a cell responds even though it has not received a signal? These are just a few ways in which cell communication can go wrong, resulting in disease. In fact, most diseases involve at least one breakdown in cell communication.” - University of Utah
It can get even worse when there’s a complete lack of communication - when one system is cut off from another. Think of a band playing together on stage vs simply different people playing different instruments in different rooms without a sense of what the others are up to. They won’t be “on beat” or “in harmony” - the combined sound (were you to listen to the disconnected cacophony) goes from music to noise almost instantly. Same musicians, same instruments - but without communication, they don’t work as one. Again, this is what can happen in your body when cells and systems get cut off from one another. They may still be functioning, but if not functioning in harmony, results can be painful.
Communication is vital. I recently heard the phrase, “No comms, no respect,” and believe it has roots in the military. They know that when communication is not happening, you’re hurting the team and not showing respect for the healthy functioning of the unit. Many diseases manifest due to lack of communication among parts of the system. One example (below) is MS.
“Multiple sclerosis is a disease in which the protective wrappings around nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are destroyed. The affected nerve cells can no longer transmit signals from one area of the brain to another. The nerve damage caused by multiple sclerosis leads to many problems, including muscle weakness, blurred or double vision, difficulty with balance, uncontrolled movements, and depression.” - University of Utah
Now think about potential “diseases” within your organization, your family, your relationship.
And know these can be healed with improved communication.
Clear as day, or clear as mud?
I thought communication was fairly easy. I have been writing for years and talk to people every day. I certainly thought I was clear. If anything, I thought I overcommunicated. I was wrong.
I’m not as clear, and it’s not as easy to communicate effectively as I thought. I learned this lesson in a new way last year at a SEALFit event….pics below. It’s essentially a mini-bootcamp for civilians, led by ex-SEAL instructors. Going into it, I viewed the crucible as mainly a physical challenge (an entire day straight of running, squatting, plank holds, flutter kicks, pull-ups, bear crawls, getting sprayed in the face with a hose, burpees, ice baths, push-ups, etc.) But it is actually intended to be more of a mental challenge, and what the instructors most emphasized throughout was communication and teamwork. The lessons they hammered home were that you are stronger as a team, you can do more with others than by yourself, never leave a man alone, and the team needs clear communication to be most effective. You got in more trouble for not helping a teammate than you did for underperforming on individual physical tests.
The Navy SEALs are an elite operating unit, a close-knit group who operate under the most extreme conditions and with their lives on the line. They need to understand each other and move together, or the consequences are severe. Most of us, fortunately, are not in life-or-death situations with our teams, but everyone can learn valuable lessons from those who have to communicate as clearly and effectively as possible.
And clear communication means making sure it’s clear to everyone - not just clear in your head. During that day, the instructors would periodically call one of us up to lead the group (~30 people, organized on the field in five or six single-file lines). When your name was called, you went up to the front, and the instructor gave you instructions that you had to then communicate to the group. You would listen for ~30 seconds, believe you understood, and then turn around to repeat to the group what (you think) you just heard in a way you felt clear. “Put your water jug down on your right, run your sticks over there and put them down in front of the rig, pick up a sandbag and bring it back. We have two and a half minutes. Go.”
Then you’d see 10 people doing one thing, five doing another, six looking confused, and the rest going in different directions. What went wrong? It couldn’t have been my crystal clear instructions, I thought. Maybe the instructor didn’t say it clearly to me. Maybe I didn’t ask enough questions. “In front of the rig on which side?” “When we put them down, facing which direction - parallel or perpendicular to the rig?” “When we come back with the sandbag, where do we place it in our space – right, left, front, back?” “With the water jugs, in what directions should all the handles be facing?”
So, a few (mistaken) assumptions were made - 1) I thought I understood the instructions, 2) I thought I could communicate those directions effectively, 3) they thought they understood what I told them (when they began to act on them), and 4) none of us needed to ask any clarifying questions.
“Always remember that it is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood: there will always be some who misunderstand you.”
― Karl Popper
Even a presumably simpler leadership task of getting everyone to do push-ups in unison was a challenge. You’re counting “Down-1-Down-2-Down-3…,” assuming everyone is on beat. Piece o’ cake! And yet when the coaches looked across the bodies in motion, it looked more like whack-a-mole - a visual lack of unity. So, you now have a problem to solve - you have to adjust - break it down and be clear. To try to bring everyone together in our movement timing, I just said, “everyone move in-time with the person in front of you.” And I’d have the guys on the front line follow me. If they were in sync with me, that was a good start, and I could keep an eye out to make sure. Then the guy behind each of them just had to stay in sync with him. And the guy behind him, the same, and so on all the way to the back. Everyone only had to stay on pace with one person right near them.
It worked.
Communicate, get feedback, communicate again, repeat as needed. This was the lesson learned. Attention to detail. Listen. Watch what’s happening. Adjust, as needed. Listen again. Watch again.
You can believe you’re being clear and concise, but if you don’t verify that it landed as you intended, something needs to be adjusted. The quality of the message is how it’s received, not how it’s given - at least in terms of measuring effectiveness.
Are you paying attention to the feedback from your communications?
Everyone is different - another important point
“A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other.”
― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
You’re going to constantly be dealing with different types of people, and as noted above, saying the exact same thing in the same way to different people can result in different outcomes. So whether we talk of the Big 5, DISC assessments, Myers Brigg, negotiating styles, creative styles, human design, etc, the key takeaway is that people are not built the same, they do not learn the same way, they do not communicate the same way, and they don’t process things the same way. On top of this, they bring in decades of experiences (conscious and unconscious) that inform their interpretation of what is said, what is going on, and how to act.
Metal rules
And we’re not talking Slayer and Metallica. Rules of thumb named after the elements. Almost everyone knows “the Golden Rule.” When it comes to communication and dealing with others, it’s probably one of the first things you remember learning.
Golden Rule - “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
There are slight variations in wording on the above, but that’s how I remember it getting drilled into my head.
Two other “rules” for dealing with others I’ve found are also helpful - maybe more so, going back to the “everyone is different” idea. All three have the goal of improving relationships through some sort of compassionate/empathetic treatment of the other person with whom you’re interacting. It’s just that the Golden Rule assumes everyone’s like you.
Silver Rule - “Do not treat others the way you would not want them to treat you.”
This is from one of my favorite authors, Nassim Taleb. The problem with the Golden Rule, he says, is that it can be “an invitation to interventionism, utopianism, and meddling into other people’s affairs”. The Silver Rule, therefore, is kind of an anti-meddling rule. We all don’t share the same preferences (especially as you mix different viewpoints, cultures, and systems), so it does not make a lot of sense for me to push something on other people, because I would have liked it myself. So, if you don’t want someone to impose their beliefs on you, don’t impose yours on someone else. And certainly, in the case of politicians/bureaucrats, don’t make others do something you’re exempt from (i.e., where you aren’t going to eat your own cooking).
Platinum Rule - “Treat others as they want to be treated.”
This gem comes from a top negotiation firm, Black Swan Group, and is the best of the three as it relates to high-quality communication.
“If you negotiate using the Golden Rule "treat others as you want to be treated" misunderstandings are inevitable. You're assuming your counterpart values the same things you do. They don't!”
Since everyone is different, people may not want (and they argue likely don’t want) to be treated the same way you do. It’s another twist to the other rules, suggesting you make the effort to cut across personal differences and see things from the other’s point of view. There are challenges in figuring out exactly how the other person wants to be treated, of course, but I believe the goal is aligned with improved communication.
But however it is that you communicate, as you’ll see next, the fact that you are communicating is most important in any relationship, effective team, or well-functioning company.
Quality communication boils down to three things
We’ll start with five and narrow it down to three. From what I’ve learned, these cover the many sub-areas and offer some focus around what’s important when thinking about your interpersonal, intracompany, and intercompany relationships.
a) Clarity (say what you mean - be precise with your words, include all relevant information, define terms, do your best to be understood, and make sure it’s received as intended), b) Compassion (have respect for other views, assume any static is a communication issue and not personal, understand everyone’s different), c) Consistency (back to “no comms, no respect”, messages repeated = messages received, stay in the flow, keep the band together), d) Trust (this can be hard, especially at first, but it’s much better than the alternative, assuming good intentions and “same team” removes barrier to hearing/understanding, but verify), e) Transparency (don’t hide things - don’t omit pieces of information, make sure information is relevant and understood, it’s almost a subheading of Clarity; this is where systems come into play - tech and other, clearing the channels, so accurate information flows freely in both directions in a timely manner.)
Top-3 hallmarks of good communication:
Clarity (includes Transparency)
Consistency
Trust (includes Compassion and Transparency)
So, if this is true, how do we use this understanding to get better? Well, we move from five to three to four.
“The Four Agreements” - a book written in 1997 (but only discovered by this author in 2021) - outlines what I believe to be a valuable blueprint for communication success. This leads not only to personal integrity and freedom but, when practiced in groups or an organization, to a high degree of alignment and a strong culture. Covered in their implementation are the three principles of good communication mentioned above - clarity, consistency, and trust. The four agreements to make with oneself, according to the book, are 1) be impeccable with your word, 2) don’t take anything personally, 3) don’t make assumptions, and 4) always do your best.
1. “Be impeccable with your word.” This is a critical starting point in effective communication. If you’re not saying what you actually mean, there is something off from the beginning, and the odds that the person you’re communicating with will ever guess what you actually mean is practically zero. See example above with guitar teacher. A similar maxim is Rule #8 in the book “12 Rules for Life; An Antidote to Chaos,” which is “Tell the truth - or, at least, don’t lie.” There is a reason that advice like this pops up again and again in different places. It seems to be a fundamental truth and more difficult than most realize. I believe it starts with being clear with yourself, so you can be clear with others. There are many ways to improve your own internal clarity - changing your diet (eating real whole foods), getting adequate sleep (super important, as this is when your body repairs itself and resets each night), exercise (to make sure all systems are working), and cutting back on TV, electronics and junk information (to eliminate noise in your thinking). Inner clarity helps you express outwardly in a better manner for you and others. —> Clarity with consistency = trust (with self and others). It’s what I attempt to do here in this blog.
2. “Don’t take anything personally.” This is difficult - probably the one I have had the most difficulty with over the years. Because when we hear things, sometimes words, phrases, and tones will poke at wounds or hit triggers that we may not even be aware of in the moment. That happens immediately. Only afterwards can you consciously direct your body/mind to take a breath and focus on what’s being said and create some distance between your reaction and the speaker’s (or writer’s in the case of email/text) intention. If you think it’s personal, it’s probably not. Calmly asking questions for clarity should improve your understanding and give you a different perspective. —> Trust it came with best intentions, and it will improve communication.
3. “Don’t make assumptions.” The above #2, taking it personally, is almost always the result of making assumptions. One way to get around this is by asking questions when you can to make sure you understand. Remember the SEALFit example above - assumptions (lack of clarifying questions) can result in an outcome quite different than intended. Ask questions to make sure everyone’s clear. Trust, but verify. If you’re communicating using data, especially across different IT platforms, make sure what you’re receiving is the right information and that it’s accurate. This also goes to the importance of staying connected, as when people are in the room and talking, there are fewer assumptions to be made. —> In search of clarity, ask. And trust intent is good.
4. “Always do your best.” Your best doesn’t mean be perfect. Your best is simply trying your best at that moment. And then trying again the next time. Like lifting weights, the first time you try to do a max back squat or run a mile, it probably won’t be perfect form, and you probably won’t be happy with the number/time. But if you don’t keep trying, nothing will change. If you do your best consistently, your best gets better. —> Your best means being as clear and consistent as possible in your communication. It also means to keep trying, keep sending signals, as even subpar communication is better than no communication. And if the other person (or your team) knows you’re trying, that helps with trust.
Strong communication builds strong cultures; and culture wins
As an analyst on Wall Street, one of the intangible assets I often focused on when looking at and evaluating a company was “culture.” Those (e.g., Old Dominion Freight Line, Expeditors International, and J.B. Hunt) with high-quality, uniform, high-integrity, service-oriented, team-oriented cultures were winners. They had the best margins, the best growth rates, the lowest employee turnover, the highest customer satisfaction, and the best long-term stock price performance. Well, after further consideration and working on this piece, I believe the quality and culture of an organization can be expressed as follows:
Message x Strategy x Communication = Culture (Quality)
Culture is a function of the effectiveness of communication. The stronger the communication channels, the clearer and stronger the company culture. And culture and communication in organizations start at the top. The CEO (or board or management) should have a vision for the company - what it is, what it does, and where it’s going. The most senior leaders then need to make sure the message filters down to the front lines - and this happens through Clarity and Consistency, which fosters Trust. Trust can be hard, especially in a new relationship or in a new organization. However, trusting the other person (until they prove you otherwise) is the best strategy toward effective communication and both parties making out better. Trust is built over time. Having open conversations builds trust. Overcoming stress and challenges builds trust. Working through crises and seeing how people react builds trust.
Get the message and strategy right. This is where I find writing helps clarify thoughts. Leaders should have a plan written out to make sure it’s coherent before unveiling it to the team. Good ideas need to fit together, and a plan in your head may fail contact with the paper. “Clear writing gives poor thinking nowhere to hide.” Amazon’s six-pagers are a great example. For the team will follow the plan, and if it’s not well-formulated, the leader will surely find results straying from the target. Another saying comes to mind here, too - “Simple, Not Easy.” And to make it simple, you really have to understand it.
"Simplifying as much as possible is critical to success. When plans and orders are too complicated, people may not understand them. And when things go wrong, and they inevitably do go wrong, complexity compounds issues that can spiral out of control into total disaster. Plans and orders must be communicated in a manner that is simple, clear, and concise. Everyone that is part of the mission must know and understand his or her role in the mission and what to do in the event of likely contingencies." - Jocko Willink & Leif Babin, Extreme Ownership
How strong is your company? Ask yourself a few questions. What’s the strategy (vision)? What’s the message (what is the company’s purpose, how should teammates behave, and where should they focus their time/energy)? And then how is all of this communicated to get the desired results? Communication is important but not a substitute for the right strategy or message, because if you perfectly communicate the execution of a poor strategy or incoherent message, who cares?
And in the pursuit of a strong culture with clear communication, how do you know you’re being effective ? Are you getting the desired outcomes? If not, it’s either the strategy or the communication. So ask a number of employees what the company stands for and where it’s heading. What I’ve done at many companies is to go around to different offices and even to different functional areas within the same office and simply ask the workers - “what does your company do?”, "what are you focused on right now?" and "how do you know if you're doing a good job?"
It quickly becomes obvious after talking with a number of people, if the strategy/purpose, messaging, and assigned roles are clear. If you get different answers, there’s a communication issue. But if everyone is saying the same thing and the results are poor, it’s another issue and likely time to shift the strategy. So the hope is that good communication (through the feedback loop) shines a light on that and helps you chart a course in a more positive direction.
The digital realm gets tricky; more care needed in communication
In communication, all elements are important, which is why so much is lost via Zoom, phone, and email…and especially in social media. Depending on what you read, you may see that up to 90% of all communication is non-verbal. I think that’s overstated on the high-end, because communication involves the combination of content (what said), tone (how said), and context (body language). No matter how you slice it, though, it’s a big slice - everything outside of the words used is important.
So, when you move further away from an in-person interaction, where you can no longer see the other person’s facial expressions, read their body language or hear their tone, you’re left to a lot of guesswork and to making assumptions. Therefore, when you have to communicate over email or text, it pays to make a much more concerted effort in being as clear as possible to give your message the highest probability of landing as you intended.
Working remotely can be like “talking to strangers”
Author Malcom Gladwell recently commented in an interview about the drawbacks and danger of working from home when you’re in a collaborative, creative environment and part of a team. Obviously, a soloist (someone who works by themselves) can work wherever, as he has done in coffee shops around the world writing his books. But his argument for return to work was really about improving communication for improved effectiveness of the team. And I completely agree, having seen it first-hand with my teams over the years. In-office is just better for communication, as there is less guesswork in the interactions and more intangibles that help clarify mission and understanding.
There is another idea I came across in my reading called the Allen Curve, based on a study from MIT professor, Thomas Allen, where the conclusion was that there is a negative correlation between distance and frequency of communication in that those who work in closer proximity communicate more often (via all channels) than those at distance. This makes sense. And when you think about what’s required for a healthy, strong nervous system, it requires strong, clear, accurate signals. The further away physically, the less communication, and the less communication, the greater the risk of something getting missed. And not only is there less communication, it’s generally lower quality at distance.
As distance grows, teams need higher levels of trust and clearer communication to function properly. And contrary to what some may think, tech advances have not changed this much. Tech enables communication – it doesn’t build trust and doesn’t make it complete. Trust is traditionally built through in-person interaction, and communication is clearer face-to-face. The more we see someone in person, the more likely we are to call/email/text them. Out of sight, out of mind.
“When the trust account is high, communication is easy, instant, and effective.”
― Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
In recent years, flexibility of work has ostensibly grown in importance to workers. And while I’d take 100% in-office over 100% remote (for a job where you’re part of a team - again, not everyone fits into this category), there is probably a “tipping point” at which you can get the benefit of the in-person interaction (i.e., trust-building and “learning the other”) while also deriving benefits from not commuting in every day and having a more flexible schedule. This will vary case by case, of course, by person and by job requirement. Remember, we’re talking about quality communication, effective communication, and increasing the odds that the signal gets through and the mission gets accomplished. Much of communication is non-verbal, and we talked about the challenges in even 1:1 in-person interactions. Well, in all digital forms, you’re missing at least several pieces of the puzzle, making the degree of difficulty that much higher.
So, there is a scale of most-likely-to-be-effective communication that goes from “least likely” to “most likely.” It looks something like…
LEAST > Silence…Fax…Text…Email…Phone…Zoom/AV Call…In-person > MOST
You’re simply NOT “all in this together” if everyone’s remote. The in-person work environment not only improves communication and fosters increased dialogue, but it also increases camaraderie among team members, making them feel more supported in their work. Working together in-person builds (and then maintains/strengthens) culture, plus it improves and speeds learning. One of the biggest fallacies company managements (and employees) have had the last couple years is the idea that “because the business kept running when we went remote, we can/should stay remote.” I told numerous CEOs over that time period that the only reason it worked so well when the transition was forced was not because remote work was as good as in-office (or better) but was rather due to the strong culture and team that had been built up over many years. The successful temporary transition was actually a compliment paid to the in-person culture that had been created and “the new model” only works well for a short period before problems arise. When people retire or leave and new employees join, on-boarding these new employees into the organization should be in-person (again, assuming they’re part of a team, although I believe lone rangers also significantly benefit from the connection). This is so they not only feel part of something but can learn more effectively and pick up on all the cues and context that you can’t get from your basement in Boston, Ben.
Scaling communication - big orgs a big game of telephone
It can be challenging one-on-one, as we’ve noted, so it should be no surprise that communication complexity grows tremendously when expanding beyond “one-on-one” to “one-to-many” or “group-to-group.” As it gets harder with bigger organizations, the speed of the feedback loop and quality of systems in place are important. There is a big difference between how start-ups and small businesses communicate internally vs national and multi-national companies with thousands of employees spread across multiple locations. The principles are the same, but the processes must be more robust, as the chain gets longer. In fact, this is where many companies fail, as they grow – they fail to adapt the organizational structure and communication channels to adopt to a fundamentally different animal. Remember, the signals still need to reach all the various parts to ensure healthy function. We’re not going to get too much into organizational structure here, other than to say that organizations need to scale communication and interaction as a bunch of smaller pieces working together. This increases robustness, flexibility, reaction time,
Keep in mind Dunbar’s numbers for scaling success. The British anthropologist, Robin Dunbar – in his studies related to brain size and social groups – concluded that people could only have the time and energy to have true personal relationships with ~150 people. In the days of thousands, or even millions in some cases, of Facebook friends or Instagram followers, that seems awfully low. But the number is not about people you recognize or know something about or who have hung out with once at a bar in Baltimore after a Vince Neil concert. It is about closeness and intimacy and actually starts smaller. He said the core group is up to five people (family), close group up to 15, acquaintances up to 50, social group up to 150, and clan/organization ~500 and going up to a tribe of ~1,500. Scaling at roughly 3x for every degree down in intimacy, knowledge, and trust you go. This number also seems to hold through military, business, and other organizational examples over the years. In talking about the importance of Decentralized Command in the book, Jocko says, “Human beings are generally not capable of managing more than 6-10 people, particularly when things go sideways and inevitable contingencies arise. No one senior leader can be expected to manage dozens of individuals, much less hundreds. Teams must be broken down into manageable elements of 4-5 operators, with a clearly designated leader.” Also, it seems the Platinum Rule mentioned earlier would be much easier for individuals to use in their interactions the smaller the group, as you’ll best know those with whom you spend the most time, and they’ll best know you.
Organizations that don’t get this right at scale are at great risk. As the complexity increases, the odds are that the “right hand” is not doing what “the brain” is telling it to do. Operations on the front lines may be out of step with management’s intent or running counter to its goals. This is dysfunction. And it’s an illness – similar to paralysis in the body, which happens when the signals running through the nervous system are not clear, and your body isn’t getting the messages coming from the brain.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, “the nervous system is your body’s command and communication system. It sends signals from the brain throughout your body, telling it what to do. An injured nerve has trouble sending a message. Sometimes it’s so damaged that it can’t send or receive a message at all. If something damages the nervous system, messages can’t get through to muscles. A problem with the nervous system causes paralysis.”
If the signal’s not clear, your body can’t do what you want it to. What the brain is aiming at is unclear to the “front line workers” who need to “execute.” In the business world, this development leads to adverse outcomes for companies like poor service and thin margins. In that case, it’s important to get the employees or office who’ve gotten out of step back in sync and functioning properly as fast as possible.
In order to follow the three keys to effective communication with a longer chain, you need to make sure the channels are clear, and that messages and data can move as quickly and accurately as possible in both directions. Consistent communication will keep all parts of the organization connected and feeling alive. And trust must be built among small teams within the big team within the bigger company.
Good communication also improves response time and effectiveness to adverse (or positive) developments. Change is happening all over - internal and external - so, it’s critical to make sure your communication is on-point during these periods. Keep the signal clear amidst the noise. Take a breath. Refocus. Repeat as needed.
Good communication does not mean having complete or perfect knowledge. It’s how to keep the ship on course through whatever changes in weather may come your way. Things change, and many things can't be known. Leaders must always act amid some degree of uncertainty, making the best decisions possible based on available information. Constant communication allows for updates to the picture, which may call for adjustments based on the new information and evolving situation.
Those companies with better communication will be more valuable (especially in times of uncertainty) and should attract more customers, employees, etc. This is one of the reasons the strong seem to get stronger after adversity. They expect the curve balls and have contingencies/plays planned ahead of time to allow for smoother navigation of choppy waters or unexpected storms. They also don’t do anything too drastic to preserve the culture and the ability to execute on the upside.
To wrap up, communication is vital
Overcoming communication challenges is worth the effort, as communication is the key to a) understanding, b) learning, and c) doing. We want to communicate better. We need to communicate better. Problems emerge when communication is off, and things die when it stops. How clear are we with ourselves? How clear are we 1:1? How clear are we with our teams? What’s the feedback loop, and how do we know if we’re off track? How do we get back on track? Keep communicating until the signals become clearer - clear to yourself and clear to your team. Speak with clarity and precision, don’t make assumptions, don’t take things personally, and keep sending signals.
It’s worth the effort. Better communication = better health. And better health is good for you and everyone around you. Clear as day, or clear as mud?
In Case You Missed It
Beyond Logistics post #1 re: trucking 101/recession chatter —> here
Beyond Logistics post #2 re: life —> here
Beyond Logistics post #3 re: pricing —> here
About the author: Dave Ross currently serves as Chief Strategy Officer at Ascent Global Logistics and EVP at Roadrunner. He is also a Director of Global Crossing Airlines. Prior to his current roles, he was Managing Director and Group Head of Stifel’s Transportation & Logistics Equity Research practice. Based in Miami, FL, he’s also an artist, investor, proud dog dad, and serves on a few select non-profit boards.
** All opinions in this piece are solely those of the author and not intended to represent those of Ascent Global Logistics or Roadrunner or other affiliated entities.
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