News < Back To NEWS

Hi Team,

Today I need to have a little rant about communication.

In our hyper-connected world, if you are not a good communicator you may as well be dead.

I find it hard to come up with any reasonable excuse for poor communication.

Poor communication shows disinterest and disrespect. 

It is very hard to find someone that is a poor communicator but is good at what they do.

Good communication is vital to almost every type of work or social interaction and is a basic expectation for interacting with someone. So why are so many people crap at communication?

Are they so time poor that they can't reply to your email?
Are they just lazy or unengaged in their job?
Are they just unaware?
Or all of the above?

Let me break it down by starting with what actually is effective communication?

I love this definitional from Wikipedia "Communication is an apparent answer to the painful division between self and other, private and public, inner thought and the outer world."

For me good communication must have four things; It must be,

1. Prompt & timely, preferably replying that day or overnight.
2. Concise, to the point with minimal waffle.
3. Accurate, on topic and must answer all questions.
4. Well written, correct structure, grammar, spelling & punctuation.

Reading and listening are the key to good communication. It is impossible to properly answer someone's questions or concerns without fully understanding exactly what the other person is asking. 

"The biggest communication problem is we don't listen to understand. We listen to reply." Pinterest

Taking the time to proofread every written message is vital. Good communication is often as simple as not pressing send too quickly. Once it's sent there is no going back to edit or change your tone! If it's an important email or a delicate subject I recommend writing a draft one day but not sending it until the next day after rereading and editing it a few times.

Good communication is not that hard, but it's amazing how rare it is out there in the wild.

I communicate with a diverse range of people and professions every day (clients, architects, engineers, supply companies, tradesmen, employees etc) and it baffles me how very few are effective communicators.

"Bad communication ends a lot of good things.
Good communication ends a lot of bad things." Unknown

To succeed as a builder you must be good at managing the flow of information. How well the people I work with communicate, either makes my job much easier or much harder and vice versa. I personally work hard at being a good communicator every day and I have become very aware of how well or how poorly those around me communicate.

If I come across a good communicator, I now make a point of thanking them for "promptly returning my call or for their detailed text message" and I find this reinforces a respectful and positive communication relationship.

The proliferation of written communication is largely to blame for a lot of substandard correspondence. It is just too easy to type out a quick message and press send and to hide behind a screen without ever actually conversing with someone. Verbal communication is often still the best way to discuss, persuade, request, educate etc... I find myself thinking or saying, "just pick up the phone and talk to them", and when you do this, it is amazing how easily things are sorted out and you achieve the outcome for which you were hoping.

"Communication is a learnt skill. If you are willing to work at it, you can rapidly improve the quality of every part of your life." Brian Tracey

I have personally learnt some hard lessons about the perils of poor communication. A protracted legal battle I am in the middle of with a previous client, could have been greatly mitigated with good communication right from the start.

Thanks for reading,
Stay safe and step up your communication.
David