CRM Films
To:
Subject: Verbal Communication, The Power of Words
This is a management training film to improve communication. It is
reviewed here and analysed in the SDS record for 971229.
The introduction shows a series of phrases:
Contribution
People learn early that words have power, illustrated by a baby asking for a
cookie, and the mother getting a cookie.
Thus,
The close of the film says everyone wants to be...
The film says...
...contributes to accuracy of hearing what was said, but the film fails
to point out that feedback is also a "metric" of understanding, and the film
does not explain the process by which the human mind gives "meaning" to
information in order to create "understanding."
Without this baseline of meaning, discussion of "understanding" is not helpful.
How do we know when we have...
...or that our understanding has been adequatelly conveyed, which is the
typical objective of communication?
The film says at the end of the scenarios to...
These prescriptions are okay for a baby, but do not work for adults.
People say what they believe and hope will get results, and recognize
that often restraint is required. "Community," which is the purpose of
"communication," requires common understanding for common action. It cannot be
achieved by expressing personal feelings, which by definition are self-centered
rather than "community-centered."
Culture, tradition, manners, hierarchy (power). background and many other
factors make it appropriate not to say what we feel and think on every
occassion. Rather people strive to understand the listener's perspective and
shape a message that will be receptive.
There is no explanation in the film that understanding flows from simple
communication that directly connects near term action with objectives of
speaker.
"Understanding" can be usefully applied in management science to mean...
...new information.
What "supports" it?
How is it linked to the past that establishes cause and effect, correctness and
gives meaning by alignment with "referents"?
Thus, a key ingredient of "understanding" is...
...in other words sequence or more simply -- time!
If we know when something occurred in relation to other events, we begin to
"understand why something happened, and can better predict future results and
determine adjustments to correct past mistakes. In order to know when things
happened, we need a record. Someone has to write it down. If we have a lot of
records showing a continuous pattern of similar events, we can conclude we have
a good understanding of cause and effect based on experience.
Thus, experience yields understanding that imparts...
A diary is a process of creating records showing the chronology of when
things happened, and so is a critical part of achieving understanding, which is
essential for effective communication, by providing a resource to align
feedback from new information.
The CRM training film, however, fails to explain that more and more and more
communication decreases understanding because a constant flow of information
increases exponentially the array of relationships that require analysis for
alignment. The potential for mis-alignment, mistakes, extra cost and delay,
therefore increase exponentially.
Misunderstanding of complex communication by adults results in failed
objectives and frustrations.
The film focuses on failed communication that cause hurt feelings.
The film fails to show the cost in money and time of rework to correct the
results of misunderstanding, which causes far greater hurt feelings than
momentary emotional outbursts.
The film does not explain the difference between a...
speaker is NOT receptive to feedback.
The film fails to cite the common ingredient between the baby's communication
and that of a boss at work: both want action.
Thus, it seems helpful to use "actions" as a "metric" of understanding. In
other words, we can measure communication by what action is taken. In business
it is often too late to wait for action to take place. We need a way to
discover action that is going to occur, so efforts can be made to avoid wrong
actions from mis-communication.
Time management relates in business to scheduling action. Therefore, one
measure of "understanding" information can be the action scheduled as a result
of communication.
Thus, "scheduled" action is a form of measuring understanding.
It then scrolls onto the screen what are described as "Positive Statements"
You'll never make it
How do you feel?
How do your think it made me feel?
Have you ever been misunderstood?
Love
Life
You shouldn't be in this business
I don't love you any more
You're irreplaceable
Let's work together
Life
Love
Understanding
Listening
Environment
Awareness
Diplomacy
Education
Tolerance
Cooperation
Responsibility
Work
Communication
Opening scene
Communication and results are often disconnected in time and distance, so that
cause and effect are not readily apparent, as it is in a baby asking for a 9
cookie. Disconnecting cause and effect leads to errors and extra cost due to
limited span of attention, and to frustrations and failure.
Schedule Diary System
integrates time and information management
Scene 2 in the office scenario is a boss complaining that an assignment to make a video tape was not completed on time for an important marketing event. The background of the meeting where the assignment was made indicates that the boss did not say when the film was needed, and the reporter did not ask for a completion date. The focus of their communication was on the quality of the work product, in this case a film.
The film says effective communication requires...
Effective communication requires
feedback to discover what was intended by the speaker and how it aligns with organizational objectives, requirements, prior communication and related sources (context) so that intentions can succeed.The film fails to cite inherent weaknesses of verbal communication:
Therefore, business metrics for communication must capture both what is said, and what is meant
Where follow up can be evaluated independently, then what is said may be more limited than if it is necessary to guage likely follow-up from a contiguous communication.
The CRM film says to shape the environment for communication to avoid distractions and noise.
Other environmental factors that impact communication but which were not mentioned in the film are:
Is the cost of failed communication worth the cost of ensuring success by adding a "metric"?
Scene 2 flashback showed the meeting that led to failed results.
The boss said to the marketing production manager...
Spend some time on it -- only not too much time.
The CRM training film shows that the boss said to herself...
However, she dos not say this to the production manager, and he does not ask when the work is needed. There was no
feedback on the completion date for the project.The film scenario does not make clear nor suggest reasons why the "completion date" subject was not discussed. It could have been...
The training film does not calculate the cost of miscommunication so that the cost/benefit of a remedy can be assessed.
Should more time have been invested in the beginning in order to avoid later expenditure of time, money and emotion? How can we tell without a calculation of the cost of error?
The film implies that miscommunication can be solved by the boss being more clear in making assignments and/or by staff requesting clarification of the completion date.
This solution would cost essentially nothing, and so implies incorrectly that miscommunication is a matter of free-will that can be accomplished without any investment of time and expertise. This impresssion causes organizations to strive for "communication on-the-cheap" and overlooks the long established rule that...
talk is cheap
.,.the correlary of which is that...
effective communication requires time and hard work
...directed at...
investing intellectual capital
...which is a constant process of...
adding intelligence to information to produce knowledge
Another name for this process is...
continual learning
...which is called out by ISO criteria, and increases earnings because...
time is money, and knowledge is power
Feedback Is Complex, Time Consuming and Risky
The CRM training film uses dialog between an airplane pilot and an air traffic controller to illustrate the role of feedback to ensure accurate understandings in communication.
The film, however, fails to point out that this type of communication is very limited on a narrow subject.
The film does not show how to apply this feedback process in...
Inquiry is inhibited by desire to...
At the conclusion of the communication scenarios, a group of about 15 managers ranging in age from about 40+ - presumably mid-to-senior people, were led by a management expert to analyse the training film, as in a management training class.
The moderator focused analysis by the class on how employees feel when they are criticised in a group/public setting.
Hateley describes feeling bad as "damage" but does not explain how much poor communication costs.
Hateley offers a suggestion on how to express personal disappointment with the performance of an employee without causing hurt feelings. She suggests not using "you did ..." which accuses a subordinate of failure, but to use "I feel..." to engage the subordinate in a constructive consideration of how to improve future performance.
Hatelely, however, does not suggest how to avoid misunderstanding that leads to failed performance which causes hurt feelings.
Telephone Game - "Grapevine" - "Gossip" Cause MisunderstandingThe post-film moderator, Hateley, conducted a "telephone game" to illustrate how verbal communication causes misunderstanding.
She wispered a statement to one member of the seminar class, and each person wispered it to their neighbor. The last person said out loud to the class their understanding of what was wispered. Of course it was much different from the initial statement.
The moderator, Hateley, explained this phenonmena illustrates the danger of "gossip" in an organization when official announcements are incorrectly repeated by word-of-mouth.
Hateley failed to explain that "guess and gossip" causes a constant stream of errors by executives and managers all day long as they go from meeting to meeting, from call to call and from email to email, spreading misunderstanding like a contagion infecting a human body, a body politic, or an entire region. Reliance on verbal communication is the foundation of "feel good" management that is inherently error prone due to the vagaries of meaning, limited time and limited span of attention.
Listening Can Significantly Improve EarningsThe moderator, B.J. Hateley, says that people typically listen to only about 25% of of what is said. Another way of saying this is that people listen effectively only 25% of the time.
Listening is explained as a process of...
Hateley said most people spend most of their time...
...and, she characterized this "planning" as misplaced time and energy.
Hateley points out that people interpret what they hear as similar to what they have heard perviously. Their evaluation results in a conclusion that the remainder of what will be said will be similar to patterns of prior statements. This evaluation results in anticipating what will be said and causes people to "tune out" to what is actually said.
Hateley notes that she has a lot of research at home showing poor listening costs organizations a lot of money.
However, Hateley fails to help the audience calculate the cost of miscommunication due to poor listening or any other cause.
Hateley says that "listening" is the most important (number one) skill that...
...people should have.
She fails to support this with an explanation of how earnings can be improved by investing in better "listening" and she fails to explain a practical method or process to improve listening.
She points out that "listening" entails more than simply hearing what is said.
Listening includes being sensitive to...
Hateley fails to point out that communication is a two-way process of speaking and listening which requires adding intelligence to convert inert information into knowledge and ideas by connecting up what is said with...
B.J. Hately encourages the class to provide feedback in conversation, but fails to point out that adequate feedback is almost never possible because of the reasons cited above.
Hateley says feedback is a form of "double checking" to ensure adequate listening. This constructive metaphor applies Peter Drucker's view that information systems need to apply the rigor of accounting. Accountants use "double-entry" methods to discover errors and fix them before they lead to disaster. Feedback in communication accomplishes the same thing when applied to the full range of human understanding, rather than to momentary listening.
She says that children growing up are not rewarded for being good listeners, but then contradicts herself by noting that children are rewarded for asking good questions. Since "questions" are a form of feedback, if questions are rewarded, then children are in fact rewarded for being good listeners. The painful conclusion is that merely being a good listener is not enough to improve communcation sufficiently to improve earnings and reduce frustrations of misunderstanding.
How then can feedback be accomplished to improve communication so that earnings can be increased?
Business Metrics for Communication Needs a "Pilot" to Keep the Team on Course>The CRM film could analyse the contribution of two elements of modern life:
...as the foundation for applying "business metrics" to daily communication,
Draw on the model of the alphabet for assembling small bits of data to create information. Explain the mental process of connecting information over time into patterns of cause and effect, called "knowledge." These patterns are discrete "stories" with a beginning, middle and end, that help people remember the "lessons," "rules" and paradigms of their lives. Adding meter and ryme makes stories easier to remember. So "stories" are the way the mind stores knowledge and ideas from a lifetime of human "experience." Humans invented the alphabet to preserve their "story" so it can be recalled accurately to apply the wisdom of "history" that avoid mistakes of the past and empowers civilization to move forward.
The engine of a vibrant community is communication that imparts a vision of goals and direction.
Today, technology makes information flow too fast for people to remember the connections that make a meaningful story. People are overwhelmed and frustrated, because they are disconnected from understanding the experience of their lives. We have lost sight of the lessons of history. This makes technology a significant risk to leadership.
+---- Vision (seeing the future by knowing the past) Communication | History (specialists write and form judgements) Metrics | Wisdom ("uncommon sense") does this --+ Knowledge | Experience | Understanding +---- Meaning Common Sense Information -----+ +--- Data +- IT is struggling to bridge Computers do | Words/Numbers -----+ this gap this stuff --+ Bytes | Bits +--- 0,1 (on off, yes no, right wrong, life death)
Draw on the mdel of the CEO to provide leadership with a broader vision.
Explain the CIA provides daily "intelligence" that analyses and organizes information flows from around the world each day for the President of the United States. Use the model of reporters in the broader community who summarize and provide stories so the public can comprehend the meaning of daily events. Explain the potential for Public Relations departments, who develop the "spin" on communications to protect the public image of organizations, to also provide business intelligence so that the people avoid mistakes that cause harm and losses that otherwise require a "spin" to divert attention from the truth. Make the record a benefit rather than burden. Make truth an ally rather than a foe.
Add to these ingredients a specialized technology that empowers people to "fly" through the tedious task of making the connections between new information and prior related events that show alignment with objectives, commitments and controlling forces of contract requirements, policy, regulations, codes and laws.
Add a new work role to "pilot" special technology for preparing an accurate, comprehensible story and identifies overlooked action items, and deliver this "intelligence" uniformly and instantly so that a lot of people can quickly grasp a common story and obtain details when, as and if needed.
As in the CRM film, this new kind of "pilot" can provide feedback essential to keep the team on course for a successful journey.
This would result in a system of...
Communication Metrics