Son, this is a great bidness, but you're gonna find the world's worst communication is in the communications bidness.
That's what a president of an Texas-based advertising agency told me at my first job in the 'bidness'.
Ever since, I've kind of had a chip on my shoulder about clear communication. Though it is one of the requirements of any manager, I've also discovered that I don't like to fire people, so I attempt to provide great clarity on any job performance issues. Oddly enough, job performance clarity is one of the great challenges that any manager faces.
When a great failure or tragedy occurs--like an airliner crash--linguists study transcripts from the black boxes to see what errors may have occured. Malcom Gladwell in his book Outliers, describes the critical communication between an airliner Captain and the First Officer. When the First Officer is too deferential in tone (a practice called mitigation), the Captain may not distinguish an urgent change required. The linguists Fisher and Orasanu see there are six ways to try to persuade the pilot to change course in bad weather:
- Command: "Turn thirty degrees right." That's the most direct and explicit way of making a point imaginable. It's zero mitigaion.
- Crew Obligation Statement: "I think we need to deviate right about now." Notice the use of "we" and the fact that the request is now much less specific. That's a little softer.
- Crew Suggestion: "Let's go around the weather." Implicit in that statement is "we're in this together."
- Query: "Which direction would you like to deviate?" That's even softer than a crew suggestion, because the speaker is condeding that he's not in charge.
- Preference: "I think it would be wise to turn left or right."
- Hint: "That return at twenty-five miles looks mean." This is the most mitigated statement of all.
In the study of plane crashes, researchers find that Captains felt comfortable giving commands, but the First Officer is the one charged with monitoring environment and plane conditions. And the First Officer is likely to mitigate his statements, giving confusion in the cockpit.
The bottom line: Planes are safer when the least experienced pilot is flying because it means the second pilot isn't going to be afraid to speak up.
At our offices, what are the environmental aspects that require clear communication:
Good leaders get accurate, quick information by helping lower the bar on mitigation with too-respectful staff. I've heard great leaders remind staff often, "Look, I can't see what you see so speak really clearly when something needs attention." What environment aspects that need the Captain's touch?
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