Communication or Lack Thereof in The Workplace (Full Version)

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humbleinspirit -> Communication or Lack Thereof in The Workplace (6/21/2008 4:17:46 PM)

Just about every job that I have worked at, there has always been this issue of lack of communication. When people do not communicate, it sometimes causes you to replicate things that you otherwise wouldn't have to do. Other times it causes mistakes and also makes you look foolish in front of the client as well.

Why is it that so many places do not communicate? Is it because we gotten so busy that we do not have time to take the necessary time to let other people know about things at all?



IonMoon -> RE: Communication or Lack Thereof in The Workplace (6/22/2008 7:21:20 AM)

It just isn't seen as a priority for a lot of people, I think. It takes time and effort.

Where I work there is almost TOO much communicating. Seriously. We record EVERY contact we make with our participants and if anything unusual comes up, we have to email everyone. We only contact our participants yearly, so every year someone reviews last years file to note anything we would need to know for this year. And then before their interview we check their call record and previous years of files. It is all computerized now, but when I first started there 2.5 yrs ago, it was mostly on paper!

Then for projects and such, we are in constant communication with our direct supervisor, we chat here and there with each other, and we do monthly updates at staff meetings.

BUT... it does make a huge difference. No one is ever out-of-the-loop, we look professional, avoid major foul-ups, etc. It also pretty much keeps us all content. Not a lot of office politics, etc. here.

Tara P



creationtalk -> RE: Communication or Lack Thereof in The Workplace (6/22/2008 8:38:55 PM)

In my workplace it is not necessarily lack of communication, but lack of effective communication. We are working on improving this, but still things happen. For example...a few months ago, we all (2 of us, sometimes a third) did things how we were most comfortable. Since we usually worked a single project alone from start to finish, communicating was not a big issue...but then 3 new people started and before we could get them all fully trained...things got really busy. All sorts of things were not happening or having to be fixed because we might TELL the other person what we thought they needed to know, but when they tried to do the work, either couldn't figure out the instructions or something important was left out. We've been working hard at standardizing things and setting up effective means of communicating what has been done and what needs to be done. There are still difficulties, but we are getting better.

An example is how we set up files...we had a meeting a month ago to discuss it, came up with a directory structure and file naming convention. We assumed that everyone who would be involved understood what was involved. However, just last week someone who doesn't work the job on a regular basis processed some data...and didn't follow the naming convention or directory structure. This caused problems with others who came after to use the data because they couldn't find it. Turns out, this person missed the meeting where we discussed everything so didn't know. Another person who had been there missed a vital piece of information and consequently the data he processed was not usable because he left out something.



humbleinspirit -> RE: Communication or Lack Thereof in The Workplace (6/28/2008 5:12:08 PM)

Yeah, now that sounds fairly typical, and those are probably when everyone is friendly with one another. My immediate supervisor has problems with me so he doesn't always communicate what needs to be taken care of or relay information that will not duplicate work either.



bzirk -> RE: Communication or Lack Thereof in The Workplace (6/28/2008 6:00:35 PM)

I've got an article from Harvard Business Review that was published in the 60s, and the chief complaint both of managers and employees was poor communications. Twenty years later a similar article was written complaining about it again. I guess some things just don't change.

It's my opinion that a lot of managers just don't have good management skills, and good management skills require being able to communicate well, which includes facilitating efficient communications among the employees.



humbleinspirit -> RE: Communication or Lack Thereof in The Workplace (6/28/2008 6:03:45 PM)

The big boss sometimes gets mad at me because I do not know the answer to a question that he asked about. Nevermind the fact that I am the low man on the totem poll and completely out of the loop![sm=icon_smile_boggled.gif]



Starbucks880 -> RE: Communication or Lack Thereof in The Workplace (7/1/2008 12:17:30 PM)

In the ER, it can get hectic, but we can do much better at communication. I think one of the biggest headaches are lab reports that get MIA. The lab, in turn, gets very angry when I ask them to please send me the results again. I do believe them when they've sent it, because it is people who get their mitts on my work and just grab them off the machine without telling anyone. I have also seen lab reports on the counter. It's like--people, if it doesn't have to do with you, don't just toss things like lab reports aside--either put them back on the printer or if there is enough time, put it on the patient chart.



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