Tom Lemanski's

Your Bridge to Discovery

Tom Lemanski's

Effective Leadership Communication: How Accountable are You?

A Seemingly Simple Process

First the key concept, courtesy of acclaimed author, businessman, marketer, and public speaker, Seth Goden.

“Communication is a process, not an event.”
– Seth Goden

Do you treat communication as a process? Or an event? What’s the difference? Understanding how to develop a communication process approach to your communication is a potential game changer. .

That said, while the process illustrated by this flow chart may be simple, implementation is where most people struggle and fail.

Communication Process Flowchart

Applicable to all communication methods and media.

Where is your Emphasis?

For communication to achieve its purpose you need to be aware that you play two different critical roles:

The Sender (speaker or author)
The Receiver (listener or reader or viewer)

Most professional development focuses only on #1, The Sender role. That is the event approach. It operates on a false assumption:

All communication you SEND is fully RECEIVED and understood.

We don’t need an elaborate clinical study to invalidate the event approach assumption. We witness miscommunication countless times every day. Yet we somehow hang on to this false assumption, to the detriment of being effective with our communication.

What if you placed as much emphasis on your role as The Receiver of communication as you do with your Sender role?

An Atmosphere of Blame

When communication fails, how often do you blame the other person for their failure in one of these two roles?

Can you recognize any of these blaming remarks?

You didn’t explain it properly
I couldn’t decode your acronyms
You never read my email!
I didn’t receive your email
I mentioned that in our 90 minute meeting.
I assumed everyone understood.
No one asked any questions
It was clearly stated on bullet 7 of slide 33
My dog was barking. I couldn’t hear.

Feel free to imagine you own examples. If you’re paying attention, you’ll notice the prevalence of blame wherever the event approach to communication applies.. Notice blaming by both yourself and by your communication partners.

Is it possible that you’re viewing your communication partners as something other than partners in a process? Instead perhaps as some type of recording or assimilation device that magically captures all your words and intentions for permeant storage and retrieval? Isn’t that the event approach?

There must be a better way!

"Miscommunication is at the root of all dysfunction."

- Tom Lemanski

Imagine An Atmosphere of Responsibility

Imagine if you and everyone around you stopped playing The Blame Game and instead took full responsibility in each of their roles as sender and receiver? What if you established an environment where everyone in your circle was equally responsible? What would happen to the amount of dysfunction in your world?

Communication Role Awareness

In the Communication Process, be aware that you will always be switching between wearing you Senders Hat and your Receivers Hat. Wearing each of those hats requires responsibility and accountability. Failure to to be a responsible communicator will derail the process.

Whether you are wearing the Sender’s Hat or the Receivers Hat, be accountable for your role.

NEVER PLACE BLAME ON YOUR COMMUNICATION PARTNER!

Engage in the PROCESS of effective, blameless communication by being accountable in both of your roles. Here’s my suggestions.

Wearing The Receiver's Hat

Your Key Accountabilities

Avoid pretending to understand – when you don’t – a.k.a. Ignorance Phobia
Ask clarifying questions as needed
Make an effort to be an effective listener and/or reader of critical communications.
Understand the emotions of the Sender that relate to the topic.
Imagine the content could be on the Final Exam

Wearing The Sender's Hat

Your Key Accountabilities

Never ASSUME that your message is both received and understood
Develop empathy for your audiences’ obstacles to getting the message
Find ways to gain feedback to assure your message is understood

Stop The Blame and Change The Game

Be Accountable to the Simple Communication Process

Assuming you want to stop being part of the problem and become part of a solution, I recommend that you:

Choose to STOP approaching communication as an event.
Choose to START taking radical responsibility for your roles as Sender and Receiver
Lead by example to create an atmosphere of blameless, responsible communication among those you lead. It’s the only way to stop The Blame Game

2 Responses

Jerry Houston says:
August 5, 2022 at 7:58 am
Tom:
Great article presented in a great way! Effective Communication was our theme in July. It is such an important issue and so often the rules are overlooked. IF you like, you can feedback to me your understanding of my message to ensure that I gave it to you correctly!
Reply
1. Tom Lemanski says:
  August 5, 2022 at 8:31 am
  Thanks Jerry! Now that you have compelled me to reply, I acknowledge that I read a message with similar concepts from you last month. Apparently great minds think alike.
  Reply

Tom Lemanski's

Your Bridge to Discovery

Tom Lemanski's

Effective Leadership Communication: How Accountable are You?

A Seemingly Simple Process

“Communication is a process, not an event.”

Communication Process Flowchart

Where is your Emphasis?

An Atmosphere of Blame

Imagine An Atmosphere of Responsibility

Communication Role Awareness

NEVER PLACE BLAME ON YOUR COMMUNICATION PARTNER!

Wearing The Receiver's Hat

Your Key Accountabilities

Wearing The Sender's Hat

Your Key Accountabilities

Stop The Blame and Change The Game

Be Accountable to the Simple Communication Process

2 Responses

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