In his eight-step model to bring about transformations in organisations, John Kotter from Harvard Business School says that a leader can never underestimate the importance of communication. According to him, communication is the common platform upon which a leader builds his change process. He relies on communication to establish a sense of urgency, form a powerful guiding coalition, create a vision and empower others to act on the vision. A good example is Jack Welch, former chairman of GE, who transformed the stodgy $13-billion company into a $525-billion giant. By emphasising on communication skills, Welch began his revolution of building a new GE, very different in attitude and functioning from the GE of the past. He facilitated more than 250 sessions in GE’s Management Development Institute in Crotonville, New York — sessions often lasting more than four hours. Welch’s communication skills instilled tremendous motivation in the management and staff at GE.
However, at the same time we cannot ignore the fact that communication that is not carefully planned can have exactly the opposite effect. Faulty communication can cause many problems. It can lead to confusion and can cause a good plan to fail. Probably the best example of wrong communication ruining a company is that of Gerald Ratner, once head of Britain’s biggest high street jeweller. He was one of the country’s most successful businessmen, building the Ratners Group into a jewellery business with sales of $2.5 billion. Ratner, whose company produced profits of $220 million in 1991, while addressing the Institute of Directors, described a silver decanter as ‘total crap’. Ratner was reported by Financial Times as saying: “We also do cut-glass sherry decanters complete with six glasses on a silver-plated tray that your butler can serve you drinks on, all for £4.95. People say ‘How can you sell this for such a low price?’ I say, because it’s total crap.” Ratner paid a terrible price for his comments: customer s boycotted the chain, about a billion dollars were wiped off the value. The company’s profits soon turned into a loss and investors forced him to leave the board. If only he had chosen his words more carefully, the entrepreneurial community would have probably bracketed him with the likes of Philip Green of British Home Stores and Richard Branson of Virgin. So, how can leaders avoid the perils of faulty communication?
Listen actively: Leaders sometimes decide that they are too smart to listen to the rest of the team. As Paul Theroux says, “After making a lot of money and having a lot of influence, a man usually becomes a bad listener.” The cure for this is active listening, which involves listening with a purpose. It may be to gain information, obtain directions, understand others, solve problems, share interest, see how another person feels, show support, etc. It takes the same amount or more energy than speaking. It requires the receiver to hear the various messages, understand the meaning and then verify the meaning by offering feedback.
Pay attention to the content and the context: During the transmission of the message, two processes will be received by the receiver: content and context. Content is the actual words or symbols of the message, which is known as language. We all use and interpret the meanings of words differently, so even simple messages can be misunderstood. And many words have different meanings to confuse the issue even more. Context is the way the message is delivered — it includes the tone of voice as well as the gestures.
Be ready to apologise: Perhaps, Gerald Ratner might be the best person to offer advice on how to handle the dangers of faulty communication. According to him, the best way to handle this is by being ready to apologise. He says: “The only way to deal with a situation like that is to hold your hands up and admit you were wrong. There is no point in trying to fight the situation.”
Source: BW
However, at the same time we cannot ignore the fact that communication that is not carefully planned can have exactly the opposite effect. Faulty communication can cause many problems. It can lead to confusion and can cause a good plan to fail. Probably the best example of wrong communication ruining a company is that of Gerald Ratner, once head of Britain’s biggest high street jeweller. He was one of the country’s most successful businessmen, building the Ratners Group into a jewellery business with sales of $2.5 billion. Ratner, whose company produced profits of $220 million in 1991, while addressing the Institute of Directors, described a silver decanter as ‘total crap’. Ratner was reported by Financial Times as saying: “We also do cut-glass sherry decanters complete with six glasses on a silver-plated tray that your butler can serve you drinks on, all for £4.95. People say ‘How can you sell this for such a low price?’ I say, because it’s total crap.” Ratner paid a terrible price for his comments: customer s boycotted the chain, about a billion dollars were wiped off the value. The company’s profits soon turned into a loss and investors forced him to leave the board. If only he had chosen his words more carefully, the entrepreneurial community would have probably bracketed him with the likes of Philip Green of British Home Stores and Richard Branson of Virgin. So, how can leaders avoid the perils of faulty communication?
Listen actively: Leaders sometimes decide that they are too smart to listen to the rest of the team. As Paul Theroux says, “After making a lot of money and having a lot of influence, a man usually becomes a bad listener.” The cure for this is active listening, which involves listening with a purpose. It may be to gain information, obtain directions, understand others, solve problems, share interest, see how another person feels, show support, etc. It takes the same amount or more energy than speaking. It requires the receiver to hear the various messages, understand the meaning and then verify the meaning by offering feedback.
Pay attention to the content and the context: During the transmission of the message, two processes will be received by the receiver: content and context. Content is the actual words or symbols of the message, which is known as language. We all use and interpret the meanings of words differently, so even simple messages can be misunderstood. And many words have different meanings to confuse the issue even more. Context is the way the message is delivered — it includes the tone of voice as well as the gestures.
Be ready to apologise: Perhaps, Gerald Ratner might be the best person to offer advice on how to handle the dangers of faulty communication. According to him, the best way to handle this is by being ready to apologise. He says: “The only way to deal with a situation like that is to hold your hands up and admit you were wrong. There is no point in trying to fight the situation.”
Source: BW