Overcoming Barriers to Improve Communication

Effective communicators work hard at perfecting the messages they deliver. When they make mistakes, they learn from them. If a memo they've written doesn't get the response they hoped for, they change their approach the next time around. If a meeting they're running gets out of control or proves unproductive, they do things differently at the next one. If they find that they have to explain themselves over and over again, they reevaluate their choice of communication medium or rework their message.

Just think about the people you know. Which of them would you call successful communicators? What do these people have in common? Chances are, the individuals on your list share these five traits:

•	Perception. They are able to predict how you will receive their message. They anticipate your reaction and shape the message accordingly. They read your response correctly and constantly adjust to correct any misunderstanding.

•	Precision. They create a "meeting of the minds." When they finish expressing themselves, you share the same mental picture.

•	Credibility. They are believable. You have faith in the substance of their message. You trust their information and their intentions.

•	Control. They shape your response. Depending on their purpose, they can make you laugh or cry, calm down, change your mind, or take action.

•	Congeniality. They maintain friendly, pleasant relations with you. Regardless of whether you agree with them, good communicators command your respect and goodwill. You are willing to work with them again, despite your differences.

In the coming chapters we present real-life examples of both good and bad communication and explain what's good or bad about them. After a while you'll notice that four themes keep surfacing: (1) adopting an audience-centered approach; (2) fostering an open communication climate; (3) creating lean, efficient messages; and (4) committing to ethical communication. These guidelines will help you overcome barriers and improve your communication. Here's a closer look at them.

When you adopt an audience-centered approach to communication, you focus on and care about your audience, making every effort to get your message across in a way that is meaningful to your audience. To create an effective message, you need to learn as much as possible about the biases, education, age, status, and style of your receiver. When you address strangers, try to find out more about them; if that's impossible, try to project yourself into their position by using your common sense and imagination. Whatever the tactic, you need to write and speak from your audience's point of view to help your audience understand and accept your message.

Centering on your audience is paramount because it facilitates the fulfillment of the three other guidelines that help you overcome communication barriers and send effective messages. Because you want to know what your audience's needs are and what they think of your message, you work for an open communication climate inside and outside your organization. Because you value your audience's time and anticipate your audience's expectations, you create lean, efficient messages and use communication technology responsibly. And because you sincerely wish to satisfy your audience's needs, you approach communication situations with good intentions and high ethical standards. Throughout this book, you'll find important advice on how best to use the audience-centered approach to communication. For example, Chapter 4 (Planning Business Messages) presents in-depth information on learning about your audience and focusing on your audience's needs.

An organization's communication climate is a reflection of its corporate culture: the mixture of values, traditions, and habits that give a company its atmosphere or personality. Successful companies such as Hallmark encourage employee contributions by making sure that communication flows freely down, up, and across the organization chart. They encourage candor and honesty, and their employees feel free to confess their mistakes, disagree with the boss, and express their opinions. These companies create an open climate in two ways: by modifying the number of organizational levels and by facilitating feedback.

One way to foster an open communication climate is to reduce the number of levels in the organization's structure. The fewer the links in the communication chain, the less likely it is that misunderstandings will occur.²⁵ In other words, a flat structure (having fewer levels) and a wide span of control (having more people reporting to each supervisor) is less likely to introduce distortion than a tall structure and a narrow span of control.

As a $1.5 billion global manufacturer of electronic-connector products, Molex keeps its organization relatively flat to encourage communication at all levels. Officers at Molex work in cubicles, just as regular employees do, and they are accessible to everyone.²⁶ Although flat is not necessarily better, more and more companies are flattening their structure in an effort to cut costs, boost productivity, and get closer to customers. Flatter organizations enable managers not only to share information with colleagues and employees but also to include employees in decision making, goal setting, and problem solving.²⁷ Still, designing too few formal channels and having too many people report to a single individual can block effective communication by overburdening that key individual.

Giving your audience a chance to provide feedback is crucial to maintaining an open communication climate. According to a recent American Express survey, the thing employees want the most from employers is personal feedback (money was rated second). But many managers are eager to avoid conflict, so they avoid giving frank feedback to underperforming employees until it's too late.²⁸

To encourage feedback, many companies use techniques such as employee surveys, open-door policies, company newsletters, memos, e-mail, and task forces. Still feedback, it isn't always easy to get. You may have to draw out the other person by asking specific questions. Also encourage your audience to express general reactions; you can gain useful information that way. Long-time General Electric CEO Jack Welch used this process successfully. A fierce believer in the power of his people, Welch encouraged near-brutal candor in meetings. He not only collected unfiltered information but also ensured that GE's triumphs and failures were shared openly.²⁹

Too much information is as bad as too little; it reduces the audience's ability to concentrate on the most important data. You must realize that some information is unnecessary, and you must make necessary information easily available. Try to give information meaning, rather than just passing it on, and set priorities for dealing with the overall message flow. Successful communicators overcome information overload and other communication barriers by reducing the number of messages, decreasing possible distractions, and using technology wisely.

A good way to make your messages more effective is to send fewer of them. Think twice before sending one. For example, if a written message merely adds to the information overload, it's probably better left unsent or handled some other way—say, by a quick telephone call or a face-to-face chat. Holding down the number of messages reduces the chance of information overload.

Although you don't have power over every eventuality, the key to overcoming distracting barriers is control. To overcome physical barriers, exercise as much control as possible over the physical transmission link: If you're preparing a written document, make sure its appearance doesn't detract from your message. If you're delivering an oral presentation, choose a setting that permits the audience to see and hear you without straining. When you're the audience, learn to concentrate on the message rather than on any distractions.

Overcome emotional barriers by recognizing the feelings that arise in yourself and in others as you communicate and by attempting to control these emotions. For example, choose neutral words to avoid arousing strong feelings unduly. Avoid affecting attitudes, placing blame, and generally reacting subjectively. Most important, be aware of the greater potential for misunderstanding that accompanies emotional messages.

As a listener, overcome listening barriers by paraphrasing what you've understood. Try to view the situation through the speaker's eyes, and resist jumping to conclusions. Listen without interrupting, and clarify meaning by asking nonthreatening questions. As a speaker, help listeners by connecting your subject to their needs, using language that is clear and vivid, and relating your subject to familiar ideas. The greater part of this book focuses on how to control your message and the communication process.

The Internet is just one part of the technological advance in electronic communication. Together with voice mail, teleconferencing, e-mail, and wireless technology, the Internet has revolutionized both oral and written communication. Electronic communication has become a vital element in achieving organizational goals; however, each form of communication has its limitations. Protocols must be followed, and individuals must learn when it is appropriate to use each form.³⁰ You have to think not only about what you are going to say and how you are going to say it but also about which technological tools you'll use to do so. Throughout this book we present numerous examples of the types of technological tools you'll encounter on the job and how to use those tools effectively and wisely.

Ethics are the principles of conduct that govern a person or a group. Unethical people are essentially selfish and unscrupulous, saying or doing whatever it takes to achieve an end. Ethical people are generally trustworthy, fair, and impartial, respecting the rights of others and concerned about the effects of their actions on society. Former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart defined ethics as "knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is the right thing to do."³¹

Ethical communication includes all relevant information, is true in every sense, and is not deceptive in any way. When sending an ethical message, you are accurate and sincere. You avoid language that manipulates, discriminates, or exaggerates. You do not hide negative information behind an optimistic attitude, you don't state opinions as facts, and you portray graphic data fairly. You are honest with employers, co-workers, and clients, never seeking personal gain by making others look better or worse than they are. You don't allow personal preferences to influence your perception or the perception of others, and you act in good faith. On the surface, such ethical practices appear fairly easy to recognize. But deciding what is ethical can be quite complex.

Every company has responsibilities to various groups: customers, employees, shareholders, suppliers, neighbors, the community, and the nation. Unfortunately, what's right for one group may be wrong for another.³² Moreover, as you attempt to satisfy the needs of one group, you may be presented with an option that seems right on the surface but somehow feels wrong. When people must choose between conflicting loyalties and weigh difficult trade-offs, they are facing a dilemma.

An ethical dilemma involves choosing among alternatives that aren't clear-cut (perhaps two conflicting alternatives are both ethical and valid, or perhaps the alternatives lie somewhere in the vast gray area between right and wrong). Suppose you are president of a company that's losing money. You have a duty to your shareholders to try to cut your losses and to your employees to be fair and honest. After looking at various options, you conclude that you'll have to lay off 500 people immediately. You suspect you may have to lay off another 100 people later on, but right now you need those 100 workers to finish a project. What do you tell them? If you confess that their jobs are shaky, many of them may quit just when you need them most. However, if you tell them that the future is rosy, you'll be stretching the truth.

Unlike a dilemma, an ethical lapse is making a clearly unethical or illegal choice. Suppose you have decided to change jobs and have discreetly landed an interview with your boss's largest competitor. You get along great with the interviewer, who is impressed enough with you to offer you a position on the spot. The new position is a step up from your current job, and the pay is double what you're getting now. You accept the job and agree to start next month. Then, as you're shaking hands with the interviewer, she asks you to bring along profiles of your current company's 10 largest customers when you report for work. Do you comply with her request? How do you decide between what's ethical and what is not?

One place to look for guidance is the law. If saying or writing something is clearly illegal, you have no dilemma: You obey the law. However, even though legal considerations will resolve some ethical questions, you'll often have to rely on your own judgment and principles. If your intent is honest, the statement is ethical, even though it may be factually incorrect; if your intent is to mislead or manipulate the audience, the message is unethical, regardless of whether it is true. You might look at the consequences of your message and opt for the solution that provides the greatest good to the greatest number of people, and one that you can live with.³³ You might ask yourself a set of questions³⁴:

•	Is this message legal? Does it violate civil law or company policy?

•	Is this message balanced? Does it do the most good and the least harm? Is it fair to all concerned in the short term as well as the long term? Does it promote positive win-win relationships?

•	Is it a message you can live with? Does it make you feel good about yourself? Does it make you proud? Would you feel good about your decision if a newspaper published it? If your family knew about it?

•	Is this message feasible? Can it work in the real world? Have you considered your position in the company? Your company's competition? Its financial and political strength? The likely costs or risks of your decision? The time available?

Some companies lay out an explicit ethical policy by using a written code of ethics to help employees determine what is acceptable. In addition, many managers use ethics audits to monitor ethical progress and to point up any weaknesses that need to be addressed. They know that being ethical is simply the right thing to do. Plus, it's contagious. Others will follow your example when they observe you being ethical and see the success you experience both in your interpersonal relationships and in your career.³⁵