Hello ... Anybody There?

Communication; in a person driven industry, it is a key career and management tool to successful operations, one that the next generation of professional managers should take note of now

A much used phrase in the world of management states that ‘people leave people, not company’, reflecting the vital importance of maintaining positive relationships in the workplace. And for mangers wanting to get the best out of their staff, striking a balance between authority and approachability can be a major headache.

Statistics show that UK labour turnover toady is at a record level, and this is particularly evident in the hospitality industry, where recruitment and retention problems are becoming increasingly widespread. According to Tim Browne is director of training and coaching at learnpurple - UK’s first people retention company, “Communication is the number one reason people are happy or otherwise at work. There is a whole range of issues involved and a number of companies say poor communication is the cause of major problems for them.”

One of the key areas to look at is accountability and responsibility - managers often complain about the inflexibility of staff, but chances are it is the manager who is being inflexible but blaming someone else. So what makes a good communicator? According to Browne, it is someone who can listen, is accountable, appreciative, encourage face to face interaction, can give and receive feedback and can communicate in many ways.

Most communication is carried out in either a visual, hands one or auditory way. A good visual tool is to have a picture or diagram outlining exactly what you want. For example, if you want a waiter to set a table in a certain way, rather than just telling him, you should provide a picture of the desired end result. This can also help in encouraging staff to be properly dressed. There was a manager of a US hotel who had stuck up a cartoon picture of a waiter to show correct and incorrect ways of wearing the uniform. It was a very effective tool and also added some humour instead of just telling people how to dress.

Subtlety, it seems is key. Browne says, “I find that if you tell someone what to do they may not listen, but if you suggest it to them, they will tend to take it on board.” When delivering information verbally, it is important to make sure the information is being heard and understood. “Are you just telling people what to do or are you letting them speak it back? Are you doing it with them, or just giving instructions? Often people say they do not have the time to go through things thoroughly, but ask yourself, are you sure you have the time not to do it? As if mistakes are made, it can be much more time consuming in the long run. And according to Angela Baron of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, different circumstances require different methods of commuinication. She says, “Do not always resort to one form of communication. For example, emails are convenient but not always appropriate, particularly when communicating sensitive information. Make time available for people to talk to you, either one to one or in groups, and learn to listen both to what people do, say and what they do not. Ask open questions of people such as ones that do not just require a yes or no answer.”

She also advises that if a manager is not going to act on information communicated upwards, make sure he explains the reasons why and when communicating downwards, makes sure he explains how and why certain things are happening, not just what is happening.” She adds, “Do not rely on others to pass on important information. Get in before the company rumour mill take over.”The capacity for information to be misinterpreted should not be underestimated and Browne recommends being ultra specific when giving instructions. He says, “According to the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who came up with the ‘Flow Theory’, our brains receive around two million bytes of information a day, but can only handle about 134. According to his theory, we often manage this excess by either making generalisations, or translating or deleting information.

Managers need to make sure that when they give instructions, they are being very specific, as otherwise a member of staff may generalise and assume that what they are being asked to do is the same as they have been asked to do the day or week before. “They may also say I thought you meant this, retranslating the information you need to make sure the instructions are repeated back to you.”

Perhaps the most dangerous of all, however, is deleting information. The reason people do this is because what you are saying is not important. For example, are you aware of the texture of your right shoe? You are now that it has been mentioned, but previously you would not have been thinking about it at all.

In order to make sure the information becomes interesting and important to the person concerned, employ the ‘carrot-stick’ approach. Either give them some kind of reward for completing the task correctly, or threaten some form a punishment if they do not. The idea is to make sure it is in the person’s best interest to fully take on board what they are being asked to do.

And how you say something is as important as what you say, according to Browne. He believes there are a number of words that should be avoided at all cost. “Some companies want to ban swearing. But I think there are other words that should be banned. One is ‘don’t’, the unconscious mind does not process negatives. For example, if one says, “Do not think of blue trees,” what happens? And have you ever tried saying do not run to a child? People need to know what they have to do, rather than what they do not have to do.

Nor is Browne a fan of the word ‘try’. “Try does not necessarily mean fail, but it can do. How many people say they will try to give up smoking or try to come in early? Will you or will you you? If you ask someone to come in at seven rather than eight and they say they will try, it is not much good. Better to know they will be in at eight than expect them an hour earlier than they actually arrive.”

And finally, the big ‘but’. ‘But’ can delete everything that has come before it says. For example, if a manager said ‘this is a very interesting conversation but..’, it is turning a negative into a positive saying ‘and’ instead adds value.

Keeping morale high is the key to achieving good staff retention levels and this kind of attention to detail can be all important. Browne concludes, “In this business, we seem to be very happy to be critical, but the key to decent communication is rapport and banning these words can make a difference.”

(Courtesy: Hospitality)