This past week I was asked to:
So, I'm left with a quandary. Do I set up "shadow systems" so that I can keep track of my work and reports, do I continue to communicate with the next in line to ask them if they did what they were supposed to do?
All this could be easily done or remedied depending upon how you see this if we would remember that communication is a loop - a circle.
If only we had a simple policy that when someone gives you a report, request, task, to respond to them in the manner in which they communicated, to share with them that the task was satisfactorily completed. We could have assurance that we have finished the task.
It's important that we respond in the same method of communication. Let me give you an example: I receive emailed calendar "invites" that I can accept or decline and it populates my calendar. However, the originator cancels or postpones these same events by just sending an ordinary email. What happens? I have to take additional steps to amend or cancel the request on my calendar. Many times I am not at my computer... I may be traveling or out on a call and have to stop and change all the details via iPhone. No, it isn't terribly inconvenient, but it leaves the door wide open for miscommunication.
Last week, I saw 4 people come to a meeting that had been canceled. Why? Because of the disjointed communication mentioned above. If you send a calendar invite and have to change the time or date, just update the invite. Then the person can accept and voila, the calendars are all updated.
In closing, sometimes, after you email, send an electronic invite or message, pick up the phone and give that person a call. It's amazing what happens in 1:1 communication where we actually talk.
Effective communication is a loop... be sure to close it.
- write year end appeal letters
- record my major gift moves in our donor management software
- account for all proposals for the week
- get permission to be PM (principal manager in our system) for a few new potential donors
- make a vacation request
- cancel and/or reschedule some meetings on my calendar
- and so on....
So, I'm left with a quandary. Do I set up "shadow systems" so that I can keep track of my work and reports, do I continue to communicate with the next in line to ask them if they did what they were supposed to do?
All this could be easily done or remedied depending upon how you see this if we would remember that communication is a loop - a circle.
If only we had a simple policy that when someone gives you a report, request, task, to respond to them in the manner in which they communicated, to share with them that the task was satisfactorily completed. We could have assurance that we have finished the task.
It's important that we respond in the same method of communication. Let me give you an example: I receive emailed calendar "invites" that I can accept or decline and it populates my calendar. However, the originator cancels or postpones these same events by just sending an ordinary email. What happens? I have to take additional steps to amend or cancel the request on my calendar. Many times I am not at my computer... I may be traveling or out on a call and have to stop and change all the details via iPhone. No, it isn't terribly inconvenient, but it leaves the door wide open for miscommunication.
Last week, I saw 4 people come to a meeting that had been canceled. Why? Because of the disjointed communication mentioned above. If you send a calendar invite and have to change the time or date, just update the invite. Then the person can accept and voila, the calendars are all updated.
In closing, sometimes, after you email, send an electronic invite or message, pick up the phone and give that person a call. It's amazing what happens in 1:1 communication where we actually talk.
Effective communication is a loop... be sure to close it.
