From the author: Good luck, Ladies and Gentlemen, in the difficult task of management! "Communication in a company: pitfalls and opportunities" Today I want to talk about communication in a company. The object is so everyday and familiar that it is lost from sight, like a hand brought close to the face. We talk, we write, we receive letters, orders, instructions, we listen...What is so tricky here that is worth talking about? Believe me, it is vitally important for a manager to talk and think about communication in his company! What makes company management effective? There are three centers of company management efficiency: · personal effectiveness of the manager (the ability to analyze, plan, influence others, self-organization, decision-making method, personal power, control and monitoring) · effectiveness of subordinate staff (motivation, mentoring, delegation, team building, discipline) · effective communication in the company (the ability to ask questions, listen, give and receive feedback, constructively conflict, carry out collective forms of creativity). Thus, a very important component of effective management is communication in the company! Let's start with a brief introduction. What is communication? This is the process of transferring information from a person, group, or organization to another person, group, or organization. In a company, there are flows of information “top down”, “bottom up”, “horizontally”. The most developed flow “from top to bottom” - instructions, orders, rules, standards from management. Exchange between departments and specialists is a horizontal flow. Less developed bottom-up flow. Although its importance has grown along with the literacy and education of ordinary personnel and increased competition. Communication can be formal (concerns production processes and business communication) and informal (not related to production duties performed by employees, rumors and gossip). Informal communication is illegal and has two properties: high speed of spread and high degree of distortion, which is dangerous for any company . Communication has many types. The most common and actively used is oral. In addition, there is written, video and audio communication. Advanced communicators are subject to the techniques of verbal (transmitting information using symbols of the human language) and non-verbal communication (transmitting information using movements of the human body - gestures, pantomime) What role does communication play in the success of a company? The company is both a whole (a team) and consists of parts (divisions, employees). It simultaneously has a desire for unification, recognition of “we” (we are both assemblers in the production department!) and autonomy, a desire for recognition of a unique “I” (I am the most qualified installer with unique experience in the production department). Good communication allows the manager to align the goals of each employee with the goals of the company. Then everyone achieves the intended results in a single impulse. If communication is poor, then we encounter a situation from Krylov’s fable “Swan, Cancer and Pike.” I would like to introduce you to the traps of communication The first trap of communication is called speculation. It gives rise to rumors and gossip in the company, which imperceptibly undermine its strength and cohesion. The limits of imagination are limitless: we can equally easily imagine a sour, fragrant, juicy lemon in droplets of juice, and imagine the landscapes of Mars. It is intolerable for a person to “not know” about the situation, it is simply dangerous! But what if you can’t “know”? How to calm down, how to start managing the situation? Of course, imagine the unknown! The second trap of communication is the lack of a common vocabulary and conceptual apparatus, or, more simply, a language! Everything here seems simple: you need to speak Chinese with a Chinese person so that he understands what you want. Have you tried asking your subordinates if they understand your language? Before saying “parallel”, “perpendicular” you need to know the signwhether a person with geometry. The third trap of communication is communication interference: 1. Loss and distortion due to the lack of words to accurately define thoughts 2. Loss and distortion due to lack of time to say what needs to be said 3. Loss and distortion due to the fact that the interlocutor does not remembers information, “brains are boiling,” “fog in the head” 4. Losses and distortions due to background interference (someone is distracted, phones are ringing, clients are waiting, headaches, natural needs are not satisfied, etc.)5. Losses and distortions due to the fact that the interlocutor does not consider everything necessary to say is hidden6. Losses and distortions due to the fact that the interlocutor does not listen, “has his head in the clouds” 7. Losses and distortions due to the fact that the interlocutor does not understand the information completely or partially understands 8. Losses and distortions due to different awareness of the problem , because of the attitude towards her and the interlocutor. The next trap of communication is the blurring and loss of information when passing through several “receivers” and “translators”. Remember the children's game "Broken Phone"! How we all laughed at the resulting gobbledygook! Will we laugh if business information becomes such gobbledygook? I doubt! The trap of waiting! When we expect information of a certain format and content, we have difficulty perceiving other, unexpected or inconsistent information. We automatically reject it, but it can be very important and valuable. We assume what we need, but God provides! These were communication traps that were generated by shortages, and there are traps from excess. Information is a tricky thing! Both its lack and its excess are dangerous for a leader. If you imagine an organization as an information pyramid in which the flow of information goes from the manager down, then it becomes clear that the manager alone will not “drown” the employees of the “lower floors” of the organizational structure with information. But if the manager agrees to receive all the information “from below,” then he will not be happy, because there are many employees who are sources of information. This is an inverted pyramid with a leader at the base. Hence the need to set filters, increase blocks of information at the rate of “7 plus or minus 2” and pack them into easy-to-remember forms. We've been introduced to some communication pitfalls. Some tips on how to avoid them: 1. By developing a strategy for the development of intra-organizational communication. Do not confuse Information Systems and Internal Communication! Communication is relationships between people. And IS is only a means of transmitting and processing data. When introducing information systems, take into account the opinions and characteristics of those who will use them. 2. Eliminate the phenomenon of “managerial arrogance.” Do not allow yourself and other managers to speak disparagingly about the intellectual and other abilities of all other employees. There are no bad employees, but there are employees whom managers could not select, organize, train, motivate, control! The opinion that delivery drivers, storekeepers, and sales consultants cannot become a source of useful information for the company is wrong! You simply failed to organize them! 3. “Pave the paths”: every company has informal communication channels that have been operating for a long time and are productive. If management ignores them, then this is an attempt to fight pedestrians with a sign “Do not walk on lawns.” Instead of fighting, informal channels should be formalized and used to promote information from above. Let information about innovations be spread instead of gossip. 4. Do not allow employees to fantasize about forms of collecting and transmitting information: develop documentary forms and regulations, test them in practice, discuss with internal users, carry out the Order and implement. 5. Implement a “Program for Eliminating Communication Barriers”: And to do this, find them in the company! Pay attention to those areas of work where employees more often complain about inconsistencies in actions, about untimeliness)