Are Your Words Failing to Help You Accomplish 20 Times More Improvements

Are Your Words Failing to Help You Accomplish 20 Times More Improvements?
According to Hollywood legends, Mr. Cecil B. DeMille spared
no expense to part the Red Sea for his epic production of
The Ten Commandments. Actors, engineers, horses, and
assorted other animals were everywhere. The dust, heat, and
noise were ferocious. Finally, everyone was ready to go and
DeMille called out, "Roll the cameras" and "Action." After
he finished shooting the scene, DeMille called to a
cameraman on a high cliff to check on how that part of the
filming had gone. The cameraman reportedly yelled back,
"Ready when you are, C.B.!"

If the story were true, DeMille should have checked to see
if the camera was rolling before shouting "Action."

You should do the same. Check first to see if your message
is received and correctly understood before going into
action. Ask people what they heard and what they plan to
do, and keep repeating the message in different ways to
reinforce your point.

Seeing and Doing Is Believing

In the 1980s a top U.S. producer of roofing materials
decided to improve its operations. Since it was
prohibitively expensive to ship such materials to the
United States from Asia, the division president often
visited noncompeting plants there to get ideas.

On one trip to Japan, the president discovered something
unexpected. While using the same equipment that his company
employed, the Japanese manufacturer was able to operate a
production line with 8 employees rather than the 30 that
the U.S. manufacturer used. The president returned elated
by the opportunity to reduce his costs. But when he told
his manufacturing chief what he planned to do, the man
said, "Baloney!"

So the president took the manufacturing chief to Japan. The
man immediately grasped the point, turned to his boss and
said, "You're right!" The two came back and told the
company's plant managers to make the change. The plant
managers said, "No, no, you don't understand what you saw.
What you describe is impossible."

Back to Japan again went the president and the
manufacturing chief, along with the plant managers. Soon,
the plant managers were floored. They said, "You know, you
are right! But the guys at the plants won't believe it.
Let's make a videotape to show the shift supervisors."

The documentary was made, and the shift supervisors watched
it. "Nonsense," they said. "It cannot possibly be true. You
missed something when you made the video."

The division president said, "We'll go to Japan one more
time. But on this trip, I'm going to ask the Japanese to
let us operate one of their factory lines for two weeks.
We'll man the operating line jobs and see what happens."
Back to Japan they went. Everyone, including the
supervisors, worked on the line for two weeks. Then, and
only then, was the division president able to make the
change to eight-person lines. In this case, seeing and
doing created belief. No amount of talk could make the
message credible.

No News Is Not Good News

Some managers are ingenious at conveying a message. Others
make no attempt to pass on important ideas and information.
While employees do not react well to poorly conveyed
messages, they are usually angered by feeling that
management doesn't care enough to even try. Lack of
communication is viewed as disrespect.

Other executives try to take the high road and end up at a
dead end. These jovial people are so eager to be liked that
they try to build relationships by avoiding conflict.
Critical problems go unaddressed and organizational results
suffer. Employees learn not to trust these glad-handers who
put jobs at risk by keeping problems from being discussed.

STALL ERASERS

Overcoming Hostility and Establishing Relationships

Sometimes hostility and competitiveness induce a
communications stall, such as during a negotiation
involving people who don't know and trust each other.
Changing the ground rules can help. Focus first on getting
acquainted, and everyone soon has a sense of what
perspective each person brings to the situation. Each
person then listens with respect, and progress follows.
With a positive atmosphere for communications,
organizations work better.

STALLBUSTERS

The most successful managers describe how they cannot
communicate too much, too often, or in too many ways. Focus
on ways to communicate easily, effectively, and
efficiently, and you'll soon discover 2,000 percent
solutions (ways to accomplish 20 times more with the same
time, effort, and resources) bursting out all over.

Build on Success

Using sources such as employee surveys and individual
feedback you have received, select a few examples where
communications have worked better than usual. Then ask
these questions:

• Why were these particular communications more effective?

• How can these lessons be applied to other communications?

• How can the same results be achieved more easily and
effectively?

• What was missing from the problematic communications?

Focus on Effectiveness: Results Are Where the Rubber Meets
the Road

Look more broadly for successful communication models by
asking questions such as the following:

• Who is or was the most effective communicator you have
ever heard?

• Why was she or he effective?

• What aspects of that effectiveness can you capture for
your organization's communications?

Communications Tips

Here is a list of items to consider as key elements for
effective communications:

• Reduce how many different messages you try to get across.

• Simplify the messages.

• Provide powerful experiences along with the messages
(like the trip to Japan described in this chapter).

• Establish many more regular channels and patterns of
communications.

• Get more feedback on how well the message is being
understood.

• Increase the frequency of repeating communications.

• Compress the frequency into shorter periods of time.

• Vary the delivery by using different formats.

• Add indications of the message's significance to
underscore your point (yelling "Fire" in a crowded theater
in the presence of fire and smoke will quickly empty the
room).

• Change the leaders' behavior so that their deeds match
their words.

• Adjust rewards and feedback to emphasize the message.

• Have more people spread the message (ideally everyone in
the organization spends some time communicating - both
talking and listening - to everyone else to reinforce
the message).

• Arrange for those who are most credible and influential
to repeat the messages in their own words to those who
respect them the most.

Copyright 2007 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved


About the Author:

Donald Mitchell is chairman of Mitchell and Company, a
strategy and financial consulting firm in Weston, MA. He is
coauthor of six books including The 2,000 Percent Squared
Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution, and The 2,000 Percent
Solution Workbook. You can find free tips for accomplishing
20 times more by registering at:
=========> http://www.2000percentsolution.com .