Poor Communication... Are You the Cause?

Advisers who help clients prepare SWOT analyses (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, & Threats) report that "communication" is typically one of the top three weaknesses of nearly all firms.  Do you find that to be true in your business?

Sheer size has a lot to do with communication challenges in larger businesses.  But in small business you would think that the low numbers of employees would help the owner to have close and strong rapport with every employee.  Likewise, since employees would know each other quite well, you would think that communication between employees would be open, candid, and productive.  Unfortunately, that is not the norm.

Perhaps the cause is directly related to your role as a small business owner.  You are likely directly involved in your business.  Perhaps you are the primary rainmaker, the one who knows most customers personally, and generates most of your new business.  Perhaps the operations part of your business depends on you as the lead technician, leading the production process, or providing the service you are known for.  You also probably work long hours working on quotes, or paying the bills and updating your financial records.  As a consequence, you don’t have much time to talk to employees, confirming their understanding of their roles, guiding them to improved performance, or seeking their input and ideas on better ways of doing things.  Aside from lack of time for communication, I’ll bet you often feel like you are talking to the wall, don’t you?  You feel as though you’ve told employees what they need to know, and yet they don’t seem to get it, nor perform in a way you expect.  Does that sound like you?

If you’ve ever read “The E-Myth Revisited” by Michael Gerber, you might recognize that what I’ve just described is the challenge between your Technician role in your business, and your Manager role.  The time you spend doing the technical work of your business doesn’t allow you quite enough time to do the management work of your business.  And as primary Manager, you are the one who needs to guide, train, motivate, or in short... communicate!  Performing well as the Manager of your team sets a different tone throughout your team.  It becomes a part of your culture that cascades through your team such that they begin to communicate better, too.  Your leadership is done by your words backed up by your example, and it leads to a stronger performing team.  A team that takes over some of the technical work you feel you need to perform, and allows you to focus on the higher value work your business needs you to do.

So the next time you find yourself bemoaning the poor communication traits of your business, take a look in the mirror.  Both the problem, and the solution, start with that person staring back at you.  Ask a coach to share some thoughts on how to help you become a stronger Manager… and a great communicator.