Managerial Communications
January 18th, 2006This week we recur to a theme we started a while ago, management communications. If you don’t remember, we won’t be surprised - it was September, and we barely scratched the surface of presenting with PowerPoint.
There are so many topics to cover, we’re just now getting back to management communications. One of the reasons was our just concluded FOUR part series on performance reviews. We hope that the timing of that helped you be HIGHLY effective this month.
While we ARE going to talk about communications this week, we’re going to discuss a topic that most of you give almost no thought to: communication plans.
What do we mean by communications plans? What we mean is, how do you, as a manager, intend to have your organization understand your team’s plans, strategies and operations? If you immediately jump to “email and a meeting”, you’re not thinking effectively. Have you ever even THOUGHT about having a PLAN or PROCESS for thinking about HOW to communicate with your team?
Here’s what we bet. We bet that you communicate on autopilot. You don’t think AT ALL about HOW to communicate… you think about WHAT you’re going to communicate, and then use the most basic defaults to get your message across.
In fact, we would argue that you NEVER think about communicating other than presentations with PowerPoint. You don’t THINK about communicating… you just DO communicating. The problem with that is, if you don’t ever think about it, you WILL NEVER GET BETTER.
How do you know if you’re on autopilot? Let’s say you want everyone on your team to know something. If you think pretty quickly, email! You’re on autopilot. If you say, well, wait. If I have a meeting coming up, I might put it on the agenda, you’re STILL on autopilot. If, on the other hand, you have something to tell an individual, whether it comes from your boss or not, you think, one on one or poke your head into their cube, you’re on autopilot.
By the way, “telling everybody something” is called, in the communications planning world, “broadcasting”… and telling just one person something is “narrowcasting.”
Now look, we’re not saying these defaults don’t work pretty well most of the time. They do. But there are two dangers with them. First, if something unique or special requires communicating, and you’re operating on autopilot without even a hint of being most effective in your communications, you run the risk of the WAY you’re communicating affecting the quality of your message. Putting it in systems language, your poor PROCESS is affecting your CONTENT. What today’s cast about is the PROCESS of communicating, versus the content.
The second danger is that if you don’t think about communicating as a PROCESS, your ability to communicate as you gain managerial responsibilities will break down. If you just take communicating for granted, when you become a director or junior Vice President, and now have to rely on managers and others to carry your messages to your entire organization, you WILL NOT BE ABLE TO DO IT. You’ve got to have more tricks in your bag as you climb the org structure.
This inability to communicate is one of the biggest frustrations of senior executives we know. They often describe their jobs as “swimming” or “running in oatmeal”, because it takes so long to get the word out, and then “people still don’t get it”.
During the podcast, we make reference to a Sample Communications Plan to assist you in planning your communications more effectively. Use this tool to immediately increase the effectiveness of your managerial communications. You may download it here.
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January 18th, 2006 at 6:55 am
Hi Mike and Mark,
first of all - great content!
January 20th, 2006 at 12:15 am
Thomas-
Many thanks! We’re glad you enjoyed this cast.
It’s a privilege to serve you.
Mark
January 21st, 2006 at 2:13 am
I am new listner today. Great stuff! I am an employee of GM looking for oppertunities after I retire in 15 months!
January 21st, 2006 at 8:20 pm
Keith-
Thanks for the feedback! Glad you’re joining us. We’re sure there is some content here that will help in your transition.
It’s a privilege to serve you.
Mark
January 22nd, 2006 at 11:40 pm
Just wanted to let you know that something is up with iTunes (or my machine). I have been subscribed for a while and I haven’t seen anything new since the beginning of the year. I checked my podcast list in iTunes and Manager Tools was missing. I tried to resubscribe through the iTunes music store and it starts the process, adding to the list, but it aborts shortly after it starts and Manager Tools disappears from the list. I have downloaded the missing podcasts from your website, but you may want to look into the iTunes thing.
I really like the podcast. It contains a wealth of useful, practical nformation. I wish my boss would listen. I have gotten a number of my collegues to listen and they are all fans.
Please keep up the good work,
Ward Stanke
January 24th, 2006 at 8:05 am
I too am having problems with the iTunes link, it disappears from mine as well. You may want to fix that as I found this podcast from Adam Curry’s promo show. I am sure others will be coming here looking for it as well.
January 24th, 2006 at 1:12 pm
I believe it was the TWIT podcast where they were talking about an issue with one of the versions of iTunes that was causing issues similar to what you’re experiencing. I don’t know what version you’re both using, but you may consider upgrading.
I’ll also look at what might be causing it on our end. We certainly have a LOT of iTunes users subscribing to our podcast successfully, so I’m not sure what the problem might be. I’m hesitant to say it’s NOT something I’m doing … as soon as I say that, it most CERTAINLY IS something I’m doing. I’ll keep researching!
thanks!
Mike
January 24th, 2006 at 9:34 pm
Mike and Mark:
You guys rock! I have been searching for “something” to help me grow as a leader and manager. And, I’ve found it! It is Manager-tools! I’ve grown tired of of books and speakers long ago because I never think I come away with something I can put right into practice and obtain results. Manager-tools is a great investment of my time. I get lots of usable content for the 45 minutes per week I invest. Keep up the great work!
Jeff
Lubbock, TX
January 26th, 2006 at 1:01 am
Jeff-
I am so sorry this took so long. THANK YOU for your kind words. Believe it or not, we really like hearing that we rock. My college age kids think it makes me seem normal.
Glad we’re helping you. let us know how we can do better, or that we continue to exceed your expectations.
It’s a privilege to serve you.
Mark
January 27th, 2006 at 1:40 am
Ward/Kevin,
Thanks! I got back from my travels this evening and set out to find out what’s happening … turns out that iTunes version 6.0.2 (which I suspect you both have) has a problem accepting what should be valid XML in the RSS feed. They promise a fix, but for now we’re stuck with modifying our feed. I’ll spare you the details, but I’ve removed the offending code from our feed and all should be well now.
Thank you VERY MUCH for bringing this to my attention … as I was using an older version of iTunes personally, I would have never discovered the problem myself.
best regards,
Mike
February 2nd, 2006 at 10:34 am
Hello - I just finished listening to the “theory” managerial podcast. Toward the end, you mention a PowerPoint deveopled by a colleague which illustrates his communications plan in his organization. I think I heard you say you’d post it - but I can’t find a link. Thanks for the excellent work.
February 4th, 2006 at 12:56 am
Hugh,
I just posted the sample communications plan in the “TOOLS” links (see top left of home page). Thanks for highlighting that we forgot to put it up! For your convenience, here’s a link to the Sample Communications Plan (PDF file).
regards,
Mike
February 9th, 2006 at 11:54 am
I just wanted to say thank you for your podcasts…they are useful tools in continuing to develope as a manager.
As a pastor, people skills are very important.
February 9th, 2006 at 10:19 pm
Paul-
Glad we’re helping you in your role. Please let us know how we can continue to help you grow.
It’s a privilege to serve you,
Mark
February 15th, 2006 at 1:57 pm
[…] Communication is a matter of: sender, content, media, receiver and frequency. Listen to this wonderful podcast to go in details. […]
October 15th, 2006 at 11:16 pm
[…] Managerial CommunicationsThis week we recur to a theme we started a while ago, management communications. If you don’t remember, we won’t be surprised - it was September, and we barely scratched the surface of presenting with PowerPoint. […]
October 29th, 2006 at 2:53 pm
I wonder why some organizations are not doing well….I hope every manager will broadcast this one. Very important podcast.
January 3rd, 2007 at 2:05 pm
Great podcast ! Thank you for the very practical suggestions.
January 3rd, 2007 at 4:38 pm
Our pleasure. It’s a privilege.
Mark
October 17th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
BTW, this is a great cast, one of the all time best I think.
Horstman’s 2nd law after all!!!
Anyways, M&M I think you should come up with a list of top podcasts a new manager HAS to listen to (besides all). I can help with the list if you want, even though I only manage myself.
I think this should make the list for sure!