Hi Wes and Stijloor
Nice to see you
This is true, the most of the time, to check that the message was communicated is done just by to receive the read confirmation in outlook
or signature in the intendance sheet
It can be one possibility when we aren't sure about our topic and abuse of our position to try to hide it. But most of the time, it won't be possible because, the receivers of the message aren't enough blind to lose that and the abuser would get, as feedback, a lost of some of its authority and reliablility. aren't you agree ?
I've saw before in the same entity 2 kind of messages received: a part of staff feel free to communicate any message or request to the top management and the other part of staff are just as you are describe it!
Here i would be tempted to say that it is the responsability of the second staff to feel embarrassed.
and As Stijloor has said, how it can be fixed
Thanks in advance and have nice week
Selena
As I see it, communication (whether oral or written) has about ten simple steps for the
communicator (the one initiating the communication) to consider each time he/she begins. With practice and repetition, the steps become second nature.
Ten Tips for Success in Communicating
By Wes Bucey
Everyone seems to have a list – ten best this; ten worst that. My own favorites are the ones I catch on David Letterman from time to time.
Most of the lists I see and hear for better speaking tips seem to be written by guys with an H. Ross Perot mentality: “It’s just this simple!” who then go on to list stuff I can never remember without looking at the list plus –I usually forget where I left the list.
So what do I do? When I was in high school, I worked on the school paper and we lived by the five W’s of reporting. Even after 40 years, they don’t seem to be obsolete, so I use them for my first 5 “better speaking tips.”
1.Who is the audience?
- without an audience to target, why bother?
2.What [do they want , need, or expect to hear?]
- do I have sufficient data to meet the need
3.When [is the speech?]
- do I have conflicts? What will the audience be coming from or going to?
4.Where [is it?]
can I find my way? Is the room too big, too small, too hot, too cold, too loud too quiet?
5.Why [this topic? This audience? This speaker? This time? This place?]
- why am I willing to do this (love, greed, glory, fear)?
Then we often added “how?”
6.How should I present this to fit the audience and budget for time and money?
- am I willing to make a credible presentation within the budget of time and money?
The final FOUR (the four R’s):
7.Remember [what it’s like to be an audience]
- craft and shape the presentation to appeal to the target audience
8.Relax
- Nobody expects or wants to see a speaker collapse from stage fright.
9.Rehearse
- be sure the timing is right
10.Review
-pretty obvious idea – “review everything”
I wrote the above for a college class I teach in public speaking. The tips are equally applicable for written communication. Oral face-to-face communication seems to me to be easier because the speaker can scan the faces and postures of his audience for clues to whether they are "getting the message" or "zoning out."
As a professor, I tell my classes often,
"My task is to help you learn; your task is to learn. Any time you think one or the other of us is not doing his task, say so! Then we can decide to get back on task or go home."
If a boss is trying to communicate to a subordinate, failure to do so on part of boss or employee can damage the organization, sometimes irrevocably. If that happens, everybody loses. Bosses have to be clear they have a responsibility to tailor communication so it is understood and assimilated (used by) by the employee. Sometimes this means using cartoons in work instructions instead of college-level English.
If communication is important between boss and employee, it is even more important between supplier and customer.
The common concept we often preach in the quality profession is "Contract Review." At its most basic, Contract Review is assuring the communication between customer and supplier is understood at every pertinent level of each organization. In my own "vast experience," I have seen a lot of expensive delays simply because a customer "forgot" to pass on official revisions to incoming inspectors, who subsequently rejected incoming goods because "they don't match my version" even though they do match the version on the contract held by the supplier.
If you are receiving the communication (often one way direction) from a boss or customer, you have a responsibility to assure you REALLY understand it. This means having the courage to speak up to the communicator when you aren't sure, saying simply,
"I'm not sure I really understand what you want me to know here. I understand you to mean [whatever] - is that correct?"
Rarely a month goes by here in the Cove that we fail to get a post which starts off,
"My customer's drawing says [whatever], what does he mean?" What such a query means to me is that Deming's admonition to
"Remove Fear!" hasn't gotten to that person's organization because that person is afraid to ask the question directly of the one who miscommunicated in the first place.
One other thing:
just because a communication is written or visual instead of verbal doesn't guarantee it may be understood any better by the intended audience. When we talk about training, one of the most often omitted steps in training is for instructors to evaluate whether the trainee really comprehended the training to the point where he can perform the task correctly without assistance or close supervision. The mere fact a trainee signs a piece of paper attesting to receiving training proves nothing more than the trainee can make his mark in the appropriate box. I went into the doctors' break room to watch TV the last time I was in the hospital for a stress test because I had to wait an hour or so for my turn at the CAT scan. I came across a DVD for performing a stent insertion and watched it. Would you really trust ME to put a stent in one of your coronary arteries just because I had "received the training?"