Communication is the means to coordinate actions in human activity. In this contribution I focus on the organizational context starting from the family context. We have observed in public places, and even at home, where family members are focused on technological devices, oblivious to the conversation. I reflect on whether these circumstances have an impact on the effectiveness of organizational communication. If in the family context we lose opportunities to talk, to listen to family members, to create new possibilities together, affecting family coexistence, will this be reflected in the organizational sphere?
The family is the foundation of society and if the family loses the opportunity to talk, perhaps this lack of habit in conversation will be reflected in organizational communication.
As leaders, are we effective in generating conversations that allow the team to grow and create relevant possibilities for the area? Are we effective in listening to our teams?
If we think regarding it this way, some problematic situations in organizations have their roots in poor communication. For example, it was not clear what had to be done, or the delivery times were not agreed or we did not specify the deliverable according to our expectations. To avoid inappropriate communication, we can always design a conversation, what do we expect from that conversation? are we asking for something? are we offering something?
A central element in communication is listening. Listening implies hearing well, in addition to understanding what the other person communicates to us, hence the importance of giving ourselves the time to ensure that we listen properly, for this we can ask ourselves the following questions, what moves the person? what do you expect from me? what is behind their conversation? and to confirm what we hear with phrases like “what you are asking me is… did I hear correctly?”.
This would seem simple, although perhaps it is not so simple since we have, in various contexts, communication failures and perhaps at home we can train ourselves to have better communication.
Let’s be effective in communication with the family. Given the activities of its members, there are few hours in which they live at home, so it is worth avoiding distracting ourselves with technological devices when eating food, for example. If we manage to stay focused on family conversation, this can be reflected at work, in terms of avoiding checking electronic devices at a work meeting.
Let’s design conversations at home that are attractive to the various members of the family, what are we working on today? what will we do on the weekend? Let’s listen effectively to what each member brings to the table, do you ask us for a recommendation? Are you proposing any family activity? The practice of designing conversations and listening well can have a positive effect at work: we are designing a conversation regarding the challenges we face as an organization or we are designing conversations to carry out a particular project or perhaps we are listening to a proposal that can open good chances for the team.
I invite reflection to be effective in the work context, starting from the family context and taking advantage of technology for the good of the family and work. In this sense, family members who are physically distant can be close through communication technology and the same thing happens at work, we can coordinate actions with collaborators who are in other regions without having to physically move. Let’s take advantage of technological resources to communicate better and avoid technology making us overlook opportunities for collaboration at home or at work.
From home we can bring learning messages to the work context. Here I have shared reflections that can help to better coordinate actions at work, starting from coexistence at home. How effective are we communicating and listening at home? Being effective means that the objectives that started the conversation were achieved or, at least, the possibility of continuing to talk and listen was opened. This learning is transferable to the organization to have sessions where at the end of these the objectives of the same have been achieved or the context was generated to continue coordinating actions of benefit for the work team and the organization.
Let’s see at home, do we find an opportunity to improve communication and listening? Do these lessons apply to our work?
The author is the director of the Monterrey branch of EGADE Business School and a professor of Strategy and Leadership.
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