“Out of 5 people those speak, 4 of them say the wrong things and the other says it wrongly”. This is one of my favorite quotations. It speaks volumes on communication.
Back in my management classes, we were given the definitions of efficiency and effectiveness. Efficiency, apparently is doing things right, while effectiveness is doing the right things. If I were to borrow them here, communication effectiveness and communications efficiency are critical for any manager, nay for every one who is at tier+1 in their organization. Communication is saying right things and saying them right.
It might be very simple and intuitive – but it is frustrating to see the consistency with which miscommunication happens. Communication efficiency is suboptimal even in the case of experienced professionals perching on the top. It’s probably due to the fact that non-verbal and indirect communications are given relatively less importance. Reason, we see subordinates scrutinizing the discordance between the words and actions of managers, critically analyzing the differences between the “feel” that a manager generates and the “words” that he speaks.
To me, communication is more to do with conveying what you are than what you want to be perceived as. Communication is much more than talking well (in fact, the best of communications happen in silence).The reason for my belief is simple – façades are tough to put up and cracking them is not a rocket science! If you want to be a leader, you better not put up facades. They do you the best disservice possible than any other folly.
Sweet and thoughtful talk is fine. But, seldom do we realize that actions speak louder than words. Any inconsistency between these two is considered as a pretense. The world might pardon the bad but not the pretentious. Agreed, everyone cannot be 100% transparent types – but does that necessarily boil down putting up a veneer?
What do you vote for – Impression management or communication?