Communication at its Best/Worst

Posted by jak on January 24, 2006 at 04:17 PM

We’ve all played the old game of “telephone‎ in school. You remember, you sit in a circle and someone starts by whispering something into another person’s ear. By the time the message gets back around to the originator, “big fluffy bunny‎ has become “Bobby floats barges.‎ This not only happens on the colorful mats of room 101, it occurs every day in the business setting thanks to email messages and automated voicemail.

In today’s high-tech, “send me that on my Blackberry‎ world, you would think that business would readily embrace some of the tools now available to cut through the phone tag, and Fwd: Fwd: Fwd along game. But as the bits and bytes seem to disappear with each Fwd and misinformation runs rampant, people continue to resist the new information management tools available to them.

There are a few products out there that could help companies better manage the information they receive. Microsoft SharePoint Team Services and Wiki web pages are web-based solutions designed to increase and simplify communications. These sites should be used to post messages, store documents, and add contact information. By moving to a web-based system, information can be viewed by all persons concerned with a particular project without interference. If documents are revised there is an historic, “version record‎ of those revisions. Web-based systems such as these allow you to post changes on a project simply by adding them to the SharePoint or Wiki site. All concerned persons are afforded access; they will know the status of the project quickly and easily.

With the implementation of these systems, miscommunications between office personnel will improve markedly. Important details should no longer be left out. There will be less frustration. And “Bobby floats barges‎ can return to the days of recess.

Category
Best Practices

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