To: My Friends

Issue: Keeping Others Informed

"How come you didn't tell me about the Zyzex problem and how you solved it? What you did was commendable!"

"Hey, no big deal. I was just doing my job. I didn't want to seem as though I was `tooting my own horn'."

In organizational life people are interconnected. Much of the time the people with whom you work need to know what you do that may affect them and the team. And vice versa. The principal of an elementary school shielded her staff from all financial matters so they could focus on teaching. Instead, all she heard was constant carping about her allocation of resources. So she opened the books, shared the budget information with them and asked for their input. Once they understood the trade-offs their carping stopped. They pulled together to make recommendations for the betterment of the school as a whole.

Managers and employees ask the same question: How much information should I share concerning what I do? They deal with issues that affect each other. Some information is important and some other may be inconsequential. How does one keep others informed without it seeming like one is "tooting one's own horn" or providing a boring list of details? There is no magic formula. The basic principle is to share information that the people with whom you interact need to know and think is significant. How do you find out? Ask them:

1. What information do you need to perform your job?
2. What information do you need to feel connected and part of the team?
3. How do you want me to treat information that you probably should know if it doesn't fall into the above categories?
4. What is the best way for me to communicate with you about this?

Ask these questions of the people in the groups with which you interact (your boss, your team members, the people who report to you, etc.). Try for a consensus in each group to make communication easier. Create a matrix of the groups and their information needs. Code the preferred communication method into each cell.

Transmitting information is not communication until the receiver receives the message. Thus, ask for feedback periodically:

1. Is the information I am providing you useful and what you need?
2. Is it timely and easy to understand?
3. What should I add, delete or change?

Communication is more than having a matrix of people to whom one sends messages. It is a mindset that constantly asks about each decision or event:

• Who needs to know about this?
• Why and what do they need to know?
• What don't they need to know?
• What is the best way to communicate this considering the purpose?

While some people may be telepathic, thoughts are not enough for most. A memo, an e-mail, a phone call, a meeting, etc. is needed to transmit a message.

The process of asking these questions has value. It prompts one to think through one's needs and methods of communication. In most businesses, communications is an afterthought. This approach places communications as forethought.

Sincerely,

Ian Jacobsen CMC, FIMC
Coach to Leaders and Teams