Why don’t my employees do what I want? (hint: miscommunication)
“My employees don’t do what I want. Why can’t they just do what I want?”
The stories clients bring about their employees and how they are not meeting their expectations can be elaborate. One client was actually considering firing an employee until we discovered that the thoughts of incompetence were all tied to a lack of communication. Often if we zoom out from the emotions of the situation, we find that our perceptions and opinions are based upon a small set of facts combined with a lot of thoughts about those facts. Now it is important to remember that we all do this mostly subconsciously; after all, we are simply humans with brains that were built to keep us safe and alive. So we reflexively “fill in the blanks” with details we think are facts. Many times, if an employee is not meeting expectations, it can be traced back to miscommunication. And unfortunately, there can be very real, serious consequences to this.
Our natural, collective struggle to effectively communicate makes complete sense when we realize how complex the layers are…
The words we say
What we mean by those words
The words the other person hears
What the other person makes those words mean to them
The risk of miscommunication becomes even higher when it is done by instant message, text, and/or email. Virtual work has dramatically amplified the need for overcommunication. At the same time teams are needing overcommunication, there also comes a heightened level of stress. When emotion is high, intelligence can run low. When overwhelmed managers send rushed communications, the risk of miscommunication is increased.
So what can you do?
Have the awareness to know when you need to manage yourself before you send a rushed message.
Say what you want as specific as possible. People can’t read your mind.
Verify the other person heard what you meant. Many times when you ask someone to repeat what they heard, it is not what you meant and you can clear that up right away.
Reducing miscommunication reduces frustration for everyone, the leader and the employees. Assume that your employees want to do a good job. They want to do what you want. Before you react in frustration or anger, check that they have a clear understanding of your expectations.
