What can you do when there was a miscommunication? You said “blue” and they heard “red”.
I recently was asked to be a mentor to an ex-colleague. When he asked, I felt privileged and honored. During my career I have assisted and provided advice to many employees on a daily basis, yet this was the first time I had officially been asked to be a mentor.
We decided that we should set up a standard call each week, whereby we would have a semi-structured conversation. I would send him an article which I thought would be beneficial. We would then discuss (formal part). The second part would be a chance for him to discuss what is currently happening at work, and how I could hopefully be a good sounding board and guide.
He recently moved onto a new company, and has come up against some barriers which have been affecting his morale and stress levels at work.
When joining a new team/institution you may come up against many barriers to change, which may frustrate you as it has my friend. When staff and management have worked at the same institution for 20 + years a specific philosophy may set in, which may be difficult to deviate from.
What was conveyed to him, which I am sure many of you have heard before is, “It’s our ethos/ culture. This is the way we been doing it for 20+ years. If you do not like it, why did you leave xyz?” When you hear this statement, there has generally been a miscommunication. You may even be labelled a complainer or non-team player which may be difficult to come back from
The above was the topic of our most recent call. When my friend provided feedback he was not looking to be disparaging to his current employee, on the contrary he was trying to improve upon it as this is where he worked and saw his future. I have yet to meet someone who enjoys changing institutions on a continuous basis, thus why would you withhold feedback on where you believe improvements could be made to make your new institution is better?
The knowledge of a new employee is often a missed opportunity for management, as new employees are a wealth of information. New employees are able to provide a glimpse into what worked or did not work at their former employer. By hiring a new qualified employee often the knowledge they have about their previous employee strengths and weaknesses are overlooked.
The obstacle which presented itself to my friend recently was a miscommunication with one member of his staff and management (which created a lot of additional stress for him). My friend has a lot of experience in management and has worked for different institutions in the same field for many years, thus bringing a wealth of knowledge and expertise. He has seen what works and does not work at his previous employer and is always willing to share this expertise and implement his ideas in the branches he runs.
This is what unfortunately got him ‘burnt’ by his staff and management recently. The question I asked him was, “how did you convey your message, and why when you said “blue” all they heard was “red”.
He was unsure on why his comments had caused him these additional heachaches. He had initially sat down with the staff member to go over what required improvement, what they were doing well etc.”, your typical manager employee meeting. He had done hundreds of these in his former job.
My follow-up question to his answer was, “how can you provide feedback to your staff and management, which worked well at your previous employee, without them hearing “red” when you are saying “blue?”
As a manager he is required to continuously provide feedback, guidance, and direction to his staff. How was he going to do it without ruffling feathers at his new company? There are many articles written on this subject, however I reminded him of an acronym that one of my sporting heroes had engraved and wore around his neck, KISS – KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID.
When providing feedback to staff, always make sure you have their ‘buy in’. Ask them for their feedback on what was discussed. As in a business meeting at the end always summarize to make sure everyone is on the same page. The goal is for everyone at the meeting to hear “blue”. Also, when joining a new team speak to your manager about their protocols.
“Understanding your employee's perspective can go a long way towards increasing productivity and happiness.”
Kathryn Minshew
In regards to providing information to management and upper management about what worked extremely well and did not work well at your previous employee was a bit more difficult. As mentioned above speaking about previous companies you worked for can be misinterpreted that they are better, and you do not want to be working at your new employer. This is generally untrue, as per my friend he was looking to share his knowledge. He would not have left his previous employer if he was happy.
Currently he had been trying to implement some of the changes in his branch without much backing from his staff and management. He had provided feedback to his management and upper management without success and in the process sullied his name.
During our discussion we decided that he would use the Helicopter route (hovering from above to see full picture). By still paying attention on what he believed could be improved upon, and where there were opportunities to compete against his former employers however he would present it in a different manner.
He was going to try and make everyone hear the message of “BLUE” and not “RED”. We decided on two options.
Option 1:
For right or wrong he was going to take a step back, and wait for management to ask the questions on what can be improved, how can we get better market share etc. When asked he will provide his knowledge, KISS, and make sure at the end of the meeting everyone heard “BLUE”.
Option 2:
During his weekly meetings with his branch employees, he is going to get their feedback on what they feel is working and not working, what is holding them back in achieving their goals and gaining more market share. During his monthly 1 on 1 meeting with his manager, he will have an agenda for the meeting with one of the topics being improving branch output, and customer satisfaction. During the discussion he can put forward the branches ideas which they have been discussing. We decided by presenting it this way it will come from a united front and may not seem to be ‘pushing’ his previous employers ideas onto his new employers.
There are too many conversations happening where people are hearing “red” instead of your message of “blue”. It could be cultural differences, not articulating your message well, emotions, language barriers etc. but make sure at the end of the discussion everyone understood the message you were looking to deliver and what are next steps.
LET EVERYONE HEAR YOUR MESSAGE OF “BLUE”.
“When you really listen to another person from their point of view, and reflect back to them that understanding, it's like giving them emotional oxygen”.
Stephen Covey
I recently was asked to be a mentor to an ex-colleague. When he asked, I felt privileged and honored. During my career I have assisted and provided advice to many employees on a daily basis, yet this was the first time I had officially been asked to be a mentor.
We decided that we should set up a standard call each week, whereby we would have a semi-structured conversation. I would send him an article which I thought would be beneficial. We would then discuss (formal part). The second part would be a chance for him to discuss what is currently happening at work, and how I could hopefully be a good sounding board and guide.
He recently moved onto a new company, and has come up against some barriers which have been affecting his morale and stress levels at work.
When joining a new team/institution you may come up against many barriers to change, which may frustrate you as it has my friend. When staff and management have worked at the same institution for 20 + years a specific philosophy may set in, which may be difficult to deviate from.
What was conveyed to him, which I am sure many of you have heard before is, “It’s our ethos/ culture. This is the way we been doing it for 20+ years. If you do not like it, why did you leave xyz?” When you hear this statement, there has generally been a miscommunication. You may even be labelled a complainer or non-team player which may be difficult to come back from
The above was the topic of our most recent call. When my friend provided feedback he was not looking to be disparaging to his current employee, on the contrary he was trying to improve upon it as this is where he worked and saw his future. I have yet to meet someone who enjoys changing institutions on a continuous basis, thus why would you withhold feedback on where you believe improvements could be made to make your new institution is better?
The knowledge of a new employee is often a missed opportunity for management, as new employees are a wealth of information. New employees are able to provide a glimpse into what worked or did not work at their former employer. By hiring a new qualified employee often the knowledge they have about their previous employee strengths and weaknesses are overlooked.
The obstacle which presented itself to my friend recently was a miscommunication with one member of his staff and management (which created a lot of additional stress for him). My friend has a lot of experience in management and has worked for different institutions in the same field for many years, thus bringing a wealth of knowledge and expertise. He has seen what works and does not work at his previous employer and is always willing to share this expertise and implement his ideas in the branches he runs.
This is what unfortunately got him ‘burnt’ by his staff and management recently. The question I asked him was, “how did you convey your message, and why when you said “blue” all they heard was “red”.
He was unsure on why his comments had caused him these additional heachaches. He had initially sat down with the staff member to go over what required improvement, what they were doing well etc.”, your typical manager employee meeting. He had done hundreds of these in his former job.
My follow-up question to his answer was, “how can you provide feedback to your staff and management, which worked well at your previous employee, without them hearing “red” when you are saying “blue?”
As a manager he is required to continuously provide feedback, guidance, and direction to his staff. How was he going to do it without ruffling feathers at his new company? There are many articles written on this subject, however I reminded him of an acronym that one of my sporting heroes had engraved and wore around his neck, KISS – KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID.
When providing feedback to staff, always make sure you have their ‘buy in’. Ask them for their feedback on what was discussed. As in a business meeting at the end always summarize to make sure everyone is on the same page. The goal is for everyone at the meeting to hear “blue”. Also, when joining a new team speak to your manager about their protocols.
“Understanding your employee's perspective can go a long way towards increasing productivity and happiness.”
Kathryn Minshew
In regards to providing information to management and upper management about what worked extremely well and did not work well at your previous employee was a bit more difficult. As mentioned above speaking about previous companies you worked for can be misinterpreted that they are better, and you do not want to be working at your new employer. This is generally untrue, as per my friend he was looking to share his knowledge. He would not have left his previous employer if he was happy.
Currently he had been trying to implement some of the changes in his branch without much backing from his staff and management. He had provided feedback to his management and upper management without success and in the process sullied his name.
During our discussion we decided that he would use the Helicopter route (hovering from above to see full picture). By still paying attention on what he believed could be improved upon, and where there were opportunities to compete against his former employers however he would present it in a different manner.
He was going to try and make everyone hear the message of “BLUE” and not “RED”. We decided on two options.
Option 1:
For right or wrong he was going to take a step back, and wait for management to ask the questions on what can be improved, how can we get better market share etc. When asked he will provide his knowledge, KISS, and make sure at the end of the meeting everyone heard “BLUE”.
Option 2:
During his weekly meetings with his branch employees, he is going to get their feedback on what they feel is working and not working, what is holding them back in achieving their goals and gaining more market share. During his monthly 1 on 1 meeting with his manager, he will have an agenda for the meeting with one of the topics being improving branch output, and customer satisfaction. During the discussion he can put forward the branches ideas which they have been discussing. We decided by presenting it this way it will come from a united front and may not seem to be ‘pushing’ his previous employers ideas onto his new employers.
There are too many conversations happening where people are hearing “red” instead of your message of “blue”. It could be cultural differences, not articulating your message well, emotions, language barriers etc. but make sure at the end of the discussion everyone understood the message you were looking to deliver and what are next steps.
LET EVERYONE HEAR YOUR MESSAGE OF “BLUE”.
“When you really listen to another person from their point of view, and reflect back to them that understanding, it's like giving them emotional oxygen”.
Stephen Covey
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