Mistakes in communications

We all do it. There is no communicator out there that has not made a mistake. But everybody makes mistakes, and everybody must learn from them. Do remember: you need a plan. If you do not have a plan, please refer to this article to better understand its importance.

Here below is a list of the mistakes I encountered so far regarding internal/ external communications, and the interactions between employees:

•         Length

Sure, there are two issues when drafting a message. It’s either too long or too short. Thus, one must always consider the means. Should you post it on LinkedIn, make sure that the post is no longer than two-three sentences (short sentences, by the way). Otherwise, it will be ignored. And this applies to emails, press releases, and newsletters – always consider the length and adjust it according to the channels and audience.

•         The audience

One must always consider the public. I’ve seen tendencies to post on LinkedIn in the same manner as on Facebook. Just remember: for pictures of cats and dogs, cookies and flowers, there is always Instagram and Facebook. Professional must be kept professional.

•         Less is more.

Well, yes. If you think that sending three newsletters a week and another two every month is good for keeping an engaged communication with your employees, you are in a pickle. People have jobs, tasks, targets, agendas filled with meetings and conference calls, they do not have time to dedicate to easy-reading. Not whilst being at work, anyway. What you’ll succeed indeed by doing this is to make them filter your emails directly to the trash file. You don’t want to do that. Slow and steady wins the race, right?! It’s the same in communications. 

•         Hiring the right people

If a company used its resources (time, people) to find the right candidate to fill in an opening, the most sensitive thing about this should be that she/ he would be permitted to do the job. How many of you feel this is not the case?! I know it’s a question of control (letting go, that is). I keep receiving examples of this, when is clearly a case of not trusting the others. And yes, I agree, trust is something one gains during a period of time and when one sees results.

It is fairly frustrating for those who have been hired for the job and are hindered from doing it. And frustration leads to unsatisfied employees. Unsatisfied employees make unsatisfied clients.

•         Feedback

Since the day I first heard somebody mentioned this word, the organizational culture has not been the same. Don’t get me wrong, I value and encourage receiving feedback. But I am starting to feel that there only are two ways for it.

One – too much feedback.

Yes, you read this right. Some, not able to make decisions, have settled on solving issues with feedback. Thus, for every mere situation, feedback has to be collected from a considerate number of people. While, this could be seen as a democratic gesture, it is not. And more so, it’s a waste of time. For example, if we should let the people of a country vote for any proposal, the role of the main institutions would perish and so would the country. Sure, we need the people to give us direction, but there are certain institutions that have their proper roles and that should not be denied to them.

So it is with those that use feedback to mask their insecurities. Decisions must be promptly made (according to the situation, as well) and feedback must be considerately asked or given.

Two – ignoring the feedback.

Well, it’s no point in constantly asking feedback if one always chooses to ignore it. This is exactly as in the story with the boy that cried wolf. People will give you feedback, until one day when they will realize that it is in vain and they will decide to never do it again.

•         Kind reminder

Well, all the apps we’ve got constantly remind us that we are too busy. So much, that they even created an app to tell us it’s high time to move, to drink water and to take some steps.

The same for kind reminder emails. They are constantly used to remind a certain person the need of a reply still exists in the sender. While I don’t blame people who do not reply at the first ‘kind reminder’, I do do it when a fourth one is sent.

•         WACAMA

One of my husband’s former boss taught him this. And it strikes me as wonderful advice, too.

WACAMA stands for walk, call and email. Thus, in matters of emergency, we must firstly, walk and have a face-to-face discussion, and then call and send emails. One can’t always get to the office of the person one needs to clarify things with, but sending emails has grown upon us and, somehow, we fail to connect and keep a professional relationship with others. Just by sending emails, we think we have done our jobs and all we have to do now is to wait for the reply.

Keep in mind – when it is an emergency, don’t just send an email. You have two other steps before doing that.