Communication – A Healthy Obsession

I have a tendency to be a little OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). My wife would probably tell you it’s more than a little, and I have friends who would probably say that I’m just anal.

Whatever you want to call it, I admit that I have some idiosyncrasies – and sometimes they even bother me. I’ll see something “out of place” or think about something that needs to be done and I can’t concentrate on the next thing until I go fix whatever it was that was “out of place” or that needs to be done.

Why does that insignificant little thing matter to me? It’s not that important, so why can’t I stop thinking about it until I set it straight (at least “straight” to my way of thinking – which my wife will also tell you isn’t the way others think)? It really can be disconcerting sometimes.

I’m not like that about everything. Is there such a thing as Selective OCD? And it’s really not the kind of thing that you’d notice about me if you don’t know me well and spend significant time with me. It doesn’t alter my activities of daily living – it’s not debilitating. It’s just kind of a hassle sometimes.

O.K, so why have I bared my soul? Because there’s something out of place, something that needs to be done and my OCD nature won’t let it go.

Corporate communications, specifically internal communications can be very frustrating because the messages are designed to promote a culture of collaboration and dialog, but getting participation in a traditional workplace can be like pulling teeth. Turning the words into action requires participation from others.

Turning words into action requires partnership with others – you can’t do it alone.

One of the main barriers to open communication in organizations is trust. People don’t trust that you can really speak your mind and not get smacked around (figuratively, of course) for it. I’m not talking about bitching; nobody wants to hear that all the time. And complaining is different than expressing yourself about real problems – we all know how to tell one from the other.

I’m talking about honest, constructive communication – real dialog.

In the open-communication workplace, offering opinions, disagreeing with a point of view, or standing up for your opinions when someone higher in the pecking order seemingly shoots you down are not only the norm, they’re expected.

Another trust factor is related to job security. It seems people may be unwilling to share what they know for fear that if others know it’ll make them expendable. That’s a huge problem because the only way to improve is to share knowledge –that’s how products and processes improve.

Front line employees like sales and customer service have regular contact with those using the products and oftentimes get feedback about what’s good or bad, and what works and what doesn’t. They have to be willing to share what they learn so that those producing the products aren’t spinning their wheels on unnecessary things.

And those working on the products need to be willing to listen to the feedback so that they’re hitting that sweet spot for the customers. In fact, everyone should not only be willing, they should be eager.

The only way an organization can move forward to open communication is if there is a willingness on everyone’s part to take that leap of faith. Mutual respect and, wait for it, treating others the way you want to be treated are absolutely essential. (Hmm, I may have used that line before.)

Real communication isn’t pushed from the top down, it’s shared top down, bottom up, and side to side. Make information sharing and collaboration your obsession – you’ll be better for it, and so will your co-workers.

Silos Kill This Big 3!

Silos are great if you’re a farmer protecting grain. Silos are horrible if you’re an organization trying to adapt and grow.

In agriculture, silos are those big cylindrical vertical tubes that are used to keep the good stuff, like grain and corn, in and the bad stuff, like rain and critters, out. In business, silos keep information apportioned so that one part of an organization doesn’t know what’s going on in the other parts – even when they’re interdependent!

In business, silos are what prevent organizations from doing their best and being their most productive. In fact, according to the Harvard Business Review, CEOs site silos as the number one killer of innovation. And the worst part is that oftentimes people can feel protective of information. As if others won’t know what to do if they are trusted with the same knowledge – this is the kind of environment where trust struggles to survive.

Tearing down silos fosters trust, communication and teamwork.

1. Trust is built because we know what’s going on. We can see that our coworkers aren’t out to get us, and they can handle the knowledge sharing.
2. Communication is enhanced when we do a better job of sharing information. Again this has to be horizontally and vertically, flowing back and forth – top to bottom, bottom to top, side to side.
3. Teamwork happens seamlessly when we employ trust and communication because we’re able to develop better working relationships – across departments and across locations. We do better work – and work together better – when we know people have our best interest at heart.

In any organization – even in our own homes – silos create dysfunction. People need to know what’s going on so they can make good, informed decisions. What happens when the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing? It’s not uncommon for them to not only head off in different, but conflicting directions working against each other.

In a company where one of the stated strategies for employee growth is innovation, tearing down silos is absolutely critical. When you consider that no individual or department can function without the functioning from another department, it only makes sense that they should share information as freely and openly as they possibly can.

I got this from the HBR Blog Network:

"It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things. For the reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defender in all those who would profit by the new order, this lukewarm-ness arising partly from fear of their adversaries, who have the laws in their favor, and partly from the incredulity of mankind, who does not truly believe in anything new until they have had experience of it."

You know who said that? Niccolo Machiavelli, in 1533 – yeah, THAT Machiavelli. 500 years ago! He's describing the culture of a siloed organization - afraid of different, afraid of change.

Here’s how The Leadership Freak describes silos and what to do about them:

Organizational silos:

1. Grow inward like incestuous families.
2. Isolate talent.
3. Hoard resources.
4. Slow progress.
5. Dampen enthusiasm.
6. Create paranoia.
7. Act in self-protective ways that damage others.
8. Don’t network.
9. Focus on individual good rather than organizational good.
10. Win when others lose.

Bonus: Silos resist change.

Silo Breakers:

Silo-breaking is painful and slow but can be done.

1. Form a clear picture of your organization without silos.
2. Define specific behaviors that enhance collaboration and break silos.
3. Hold cross-department planning meetings. Let them see the “enemy.”
4. Embrace decision-making by participants not isolated bosses.
5. Tell stories that honor collaboration and illustrate silo-breaking.
6. Reward teams and teamwork.
7. Develop leadership skills and attitudes that enhance collaboration.
8. Measure performance in terms of teams.
9. Seek best solutions regardless of the source.
10. Establish inclusive rather than exclusive systems.

Bonus: Embrace maximum transparency and information sharing.


Silos are slow, cumbersome, and destructive. Organizations with silos may win battles but eventually they collapse inward and lose the war.

Here’s the organizational imperative: The key to breaking down silos and building trust is transparency and open communication. For organizations to thrive in the future, information must flow freely vertically and horizontally.

What's Your Recipe for Success?

Here’s a good story from Ian Harris of RockstarComms in London:

In 1952 Colonel Sanders ran his own restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky. It was doing well, but one day he heard about plans for a new highway that would bypass the town of Corbin.

Seeing that his business was about to evaporate, he sold the restaurant and began driving around the United States, trying to license his chicken recipe to restaurant owners.

The Colonel would walk into a restaurant, and issue a challenge to the owner: "I bet my chicken recipe is better than yours."

He'd propose a cook-off, and if the owner liked his chicken recipe, he'd franchise it to them at 5 cents per chicken.

The Colonel visited over 1,000 restaurants. Each one turned him down. He didn't have one successful deal.

Then one day, a bar owner tried his chicken and explained to him: "Look, I'm trying to sell beer, not chicken. You need to make this saltier so customers will get thirsty and buy beer!"

The bar owner grabbed some salt, and took another bite. "THAT'S more like it" he said. "Just add salt to this recipe, and I'll take it!"

The Colonel took a bite himself. It tasted terrible! But that was because he'd been on a salt-free diet for 30 years. His tastes were obviously different to everyone else's.

The Colonel wasn't stupid. Although he didn't like salt, it was better than starving - and so began the Colonel's enormously successful Kentucky Fried Chicken legacy.

At one time, if you bought a box of Kentucky Fried Chicken, it said on the side: "When Colonel Sanders added the 11^th spice, he instantly knew it was the best chicken he'd ever had."

Of course they didn't tell you what spice it was.

There are three lessons you can take from this:
1) Colonel Sanders could have visited 1,000 MORE restaurant owners, driven his car into the ground, and still had nothing to show for it, had he not been willing to change his recipe.
2) Although the recipe he so passionately believed in was the best recipe for his taste buds, it was NOT the recipe that his customers really wanted. Without a recipe that the customers wanted, no amount of effort or persistence would make it work.
3) The “magic ingredient” was ordinary table salt.

I’d say there are a few more good lessons:

1. We need to keep our minds open to change. Consider the possibility that sometimes change for the sake of change is a good thing, but change for the sake of improvement is always good.
2. For innovation and new product development to drive the company into the future, the company has to make sure new products are what the customer really wants – not just what we think they want. Our focus on customer feedback should drive our efforts.
3. Sometimes the answers are right in front of us. Let’s be willing to get feedback, provide feedback and engage in constructive conflict. Conflict isn’t a bad thing unless it’s threatening. We should be willing to disagree with one another – constructive conflict should be stimulating, not threatening.

Unlike KFC, where protecting the secret of the ingredients is part of the culture, transparency and a culture of open communication are key ingredients for growth and success.