Chapter 18 Chapter 18: Interpersonal Communication is a Critical Skill for Managers

No animal in the world can truly live alone.They rely on various ways to communicate with their peers in order to survive.The bees use "dancing" as a signal to tell their companions all kinds of honey information, and after the communication, they go to collect honey together.Austrian biologist Fritz discovered the secret of the bee's "dance" after careful research.The dance of bees mainly has two forms: "round dance" and "sickle dance".After the worker bees come back, they often do a regular flight. If the worker bees dance the round dance, they tell their companions that the honey source is not far from the hive, about 100 meters away.If the worker bees dance the sickle dance, it is to inform their companions that the nectar source is far away from the hive.The farther the distance, the more laps the worker bees hop, and the faster the frequency.If you dance a figure-of-eight dance and shake its abdomen, the angle between the central axis of the dance and the top of the nest just represents the angle between the direction of the honey source and the direction of the sun.When the bee dances head up or down, it is related to the direction of telling the location of the nectar source: when the head is up when dancing, it indicates that the location of the nectar source must be in the direction of the sun...

This was later interpreted as the famous "law of the bee dance" in management psychology. The truth revealed by the "law of the bee dance" is: information is the source of initiative, and only by strengthening communication can the management effect be improved. Enterprise managers should absorb the characteristics of various communication methods like bees gather honey, and knead the "bee dance" into their own management art.Famous management scientist Barnard believes: "Communication is a means to connect members of an organization to achieve common goals." Relevant research shows that 70% of errors in management are caused by poor communication.

This shows that communication skills are very important. People living in this world are related to people; no matter who they are, everyone communicates with people repeatedly every day, especially leaders.Specifically, the important role of communication in leadership is reflected in the following aspects. With the development of society, people began to change their roles from "economic man" to "social man" and "cultural man". People no longer blindly pursue material treatment such as high salary and high benefits, but require to actively participate in the creative practice of enterprises to meet the needs of self-realization.Good communication enables employees to freely talk about their views and opinions with others, especially managers, so that their sense of participation is satisfied, thereby stimulating their work enthusiasm and creativity.

The expert discussion method is the most obvious example.Hewlett-Packard requires engineers to display their work on a desktop for critique.So that everyone can make suggestions and solve problems together. Employees have a deep understanding of the company, and they are often the first to discover problems and crux of the problem. An effective communication mechanism enables all levels of the enterprise to share their ideas and consider the possibility of implementation.This is one of the important sources of corporate innovation.Panasonic's suggestion box system fully illustrates this point.

Customer demand information, manufacturing process information, financial information... all need to be accurately and effectively communicated to relevant departments and personnel.All departments and personnel must communicate effectively to obtain the information they need.It is hard to imagine the consequences if the manufacturing department cannot obtain timely information from the R&D department and the marketing department.Any decision made by an enterprise needs to be conveyed to the appropriate target by means of written, oral, formal or informal communication methods and channels.

Any organization can become an open system interacting with its external environment only through information communication.Especially in an increasingly complex and ever-changing environment, maintaining good communication with the outside world, capturing business opportunities in a timely manner, and avoiding crises is a key function of enterprise managers, and it is also an important job related to the rise and fall of the enterprise. Through the previous method, it is not difficult for us to understand that the so-called communication is actually the process in which people pass certain information from the sender to the receiver through a certain way or method during the interaction process, and obtain understanding.

Communication is the process of transferring information between people.Sometimes people also use terms such as communication, communication, communication of meaning, and communication of information.It is a way for a person to obtain other people's thoughts, feelings, opinions, and values, and it is a bridge for communication between people.Through this bridge, people can share each other's feelings and knowledge, and can also eliminate misunderstandings and enhance understanding. And the information communicated is all-encompassing.In communication, we not only pass on information, but also express appreciation, displeasure, or offer our own opinion.In this way, the communication information can be divided into: facts, feelings, values, opinions and opinions.

If the recipient of the information does not have the same understanding of the type of information as the sender, it may lead to communication barriers and information distortion.At the heart of many problems with misunderstandings is the recipient's confusion about whether information is a statement of opinion or fact.For example, "Xiao Wang often speaks at work meetings" and "Xiao Wang likes to show off" are different descriptions of the same phenomenon.A good communicator must be careful to distinguish between inference-based and fact-based information.Maybe Xiao Wang really likes to show off, or it may be that he cares about the company's business, speaks freely, and actively puts forward reasonable suggestions to the leaders.In addition, the communicator must fully understand the information transmitted, not only obtain the facts, but also analyze the sender's values ​​and personal attitudes.Only in this way can effective communication be achieved.

Verbal communication is built on the basis of language and writing, and can be subdivided into two forms of oral communication and written communication. The most common form of communication between people is conversation, which is verbal communication.Common oral communications include speeches, formal one-on-one or small group discussions, informal discussions, and hearsay or gossip.Written communication includes memos, letters, periodicals distributed within the organization, bulletin boards, and any other means of conveying written words or symbols. Among them, oral information communication is very flexible and diverse.It can be a deep conversation between two people or an eloquent battle in a group; it can be a formal consultation or an informal chat; it can be prepared or improvised.Oral communication of information is the most direct of all forms of communication.Its advantages are fast delivery and immediate feedback.In this way, the information can be sent in the shortest time, and the other party can get a reply in the shortest time.If the recipient has doubts about the information, the prompt feedback allows the sender to check for ambiguities and make corrections in a timely manner.In addition, meetings between superiors and subordinates can make subordinates feel respected and valued.

However, verbal communication also has its drawbacks.There is a huge possibility of distortion during the relay transmission of information by the sender.Everyone adds and deletes information according to their own preferences, and interprets information in their own way, and when the information travels a long way to the end, its content often deviates significantly from its original meaning.If important decisions in an organization are passed verbally up and down the hierarchy of power, there is considerable potential for distorted information. Also, this type of communication doesn't always save time.Bureaucracy often produces many worthless marathon meetings.As executives who have participated in meetings that yield nothing or even need results know, these meetings can be costly in terms of time and expense.

Written communication has a number of advantages. First of all, written records have the advantages of tangible display, long-term preservation, and legal protection basis.In general, both the sender and the receiver have communication records.The information communicated can be preserved for a long time, which is convenient for subsequent inquiries. A marketing plan for a new product may require a lot of work for several months, and it can be recorded in written form so that the planner can have a basis for the entire plan's implementation. Second, written communication appears to be more thoughtful, logical, and well-organized.Written language can be revised repeatedly to the author's satisfaction before formal publication.The information that the author wants to express can be fully and completely expressed, reducing the influence of emotions, other people's opinions and other factors on information transmission. Third, the content of written communication is easy to copy and disseminate, which is very conducive to large-scale dissemination. Of course, written communication has its own pitfalls.First, written communication takes longer than oral communication.In communication at the same time, much more information is conveyed orally than in writing. In addition, written communication lacks an internal feedback mechanism and cannot provide timely information feedback. As a result, it is impossible to ensure that the information sent can be received.Even when received, there is no guarantee that the recipient's interpretation of the message is exactly what the sender intended.It often takes a long time for the sender to know whether the message has been received and understood accurately. Nonverbal communication refers to the transmission of information through some medium other than speech or writing. When an authoritarian executive slaps the table and declares that participatory management will be implemented from now on, the audience will feel that the words are not what the executive meant.In a courtesy call, if the host keeps looking at his watch while saying "Warm welcome", the guest should know that it is time to get up and say goodbye.In fact, nonverbal messages can often be very powerful in conveying "true essence" when words are just a smokescreen.A raised eyebrow, a forceful shrug, and a sudden departure can communicate a lot of valuable information.Provoking meeting minutes (even word-for-word official documents) can be boring to read because they abstract away non-verbal cues. American psychologist Albert Mehrabian concluded through research that only 7% of all the information sent by people in communication is expressed by words, while 93% of the information is expressed by non-verbal. Non-verbal communication is very rich in content, and the well-known areas are body language communication, paralinguistic communication, manipulation of objects, etc. Body language communication is achieved through dynamic and silent gaze, facial expressions, gesture language and other body movements, or static and silent body posture, spatial distance and clothing.As early as two thousand years ago, the great ancient Greek philosopher Socrates observed the phenomenon of body language communication."Nobility and dignity, inferiority and strength, shrewdness and tact, arrogance and vulgarity are all reflected in facial expressions and body postures, whether still or in motion," he noted. First of all, people can convey emotions or intentions such as aggression, fear, shyness, arrogance, happiness, anger, etc. through facial expressions, hand movements, and other physical gestures.For example, during the busiest part of your day, a staff member comes by to discuss a problem.After you and him resolved the issue, the employee stood still and turned the conversation to current social affairs.In your heart, you would like to end this discussion immediately and get on with your work, but on the surface, you listened politely and attentively, and then you moved your chair forward, sat up straight and straightened up. Papers on your desk. Whether the move is subconscious or deliberate, it paints a picture of how you feel and suggests to the employee that "it's time to go."Unless the employee is not feeling or is too focused on his topic, the conversation is likely to end because of mutual understanding. The spatial position relationship between people will also directly affect the communication process.This point is not only illustrated by a large number of facts in life, but also proved by rigorous social psychology experiments.Relevant studies abroad have confirmed that students' participation in classroom discussions is directly affected by their seats.In terms of tendency, the teacher's podium is the center, and the more central the seat is, the greater the proportion of students' participation in classroom discussions.The different spatial positions in communication also directly lead to different communication influences of communicators.Some positions have a greater influence on communication, and some positions have less influence.For example, the same kind of speech has different effects when speaking on the podium and freely speaking off the stage. There is a certain authority in the high podium itself. The attire of the communicator often also plays the role of the source of the message.For example, former US President Clinton paid great attention to wearing different clothes on different occasions.On diplomatic occasions, Clinton wears a crisp dark suit and tie; when meeting with voters, he wears light-colored casual clothes to show his friendly colors. Paralinguistic communication is achieved through non-verbal sounds such as stress, inflection, crying, laughing, or pauses. Psychologists call the sound signals of non-verbal words paralanguage.The latest psychological research results reveal that paralanguage plays a very important role in the communication process.The meaning of a sentence often depends not only on its literal meaning, but also on its implication.Variations in speech expression, especially intonation, can make literally identical sentences have completely different meanings.For example, a simple colloquial sentence, "Awesome", when the tone is low and the tone is positive, "Awesome" expresses sincere appreciation; Bitter sarcasm and schadenfreude. Manipulation of objects is the non-verbal communication that people carry out through the use of objects and the arrangement of the environment.For example, the Chinese emperors of all dynasties showed themselves to be "true dragon emperors" through majestic and sacred palace buildings and daily utensils characterized by "dragon culture"; Drinking tea is a hint that it's time to see off guests.In today's enterprises, the following scene is also often seen: a workshop supervisor seems to absent-mindedly pick up a small piece of broken brick while talking to the foreman. As soon as he left, the foreman ordered all the employees to work overtime for half an hour to clean up the workshop.In fact, the workshop director didn't say a single word about cleaning.But he communicated with his subordinates through his actions. Detney is a large company with more than 12,000 employees.It recognized the importance of employee communication as early as more than 30 years ago, and has continued to practice it.Now, the company's employee opinion communication system is quite mature and perfect.Especially in the 1980s, when facing the global economic downturn, this system played a huge role in improving the company's labor productivity. The company's "Employee Opinion Communication" system is based on such a basic principle: Once any individual or organization purchases the stock of Detney, he has the right to know the company's complete financial information and receive regular updates on the relevant information. Report.All employees of the company also have the right to know and obtain these financial information and some more detailed management information.Detney's employee opinion communication system is mainly divided into two parts: one is the monthly staff coordination meeting; the other is the annual executive report and staff meeting. The Detney Company began experimenting with employee coordination meetings more than three decades ago.Staff coordination meetings are monthly open discussions.In meetings, managers and employees come together to discuss issues of mutual concern.Coordination meetings are held no matter in the company's headquarters, departments, or grassroots organizations.This looks a bit like a court structure, from the local to the central, reflected layer by layer, with the chief representative coordination meeting at the company headquarters as the highest institution.Employee coordination meetings are a standard two-way communication system.Before the meeting, employees can report their suggestions or grievances to the employee representatives participating in the meeting.Delegates will convey their comments to management at the coordination meeting.Management can also use this opportunity to simultaneously explain company policies and plans to delegates and engage in extensive discussions among themselves. To fully communicate the views of more than 12,000 employees of Detney, it is necessary to divide the coordination meeting into several levels. In fact, there are more than ninety such organizations in the company.If there is a problem that cannot be resolved at the grass-roots coordination meeting, it will be reported up step by step until a satisfactory answer is obtained.It is related to the general policy of the company, and it must be decided at the chief representative meeting.If the senior management of the headquarters thinks that the opinion is feasible, they will take action immediately; if they think that the opinion is not feasible, they should also explain the reasons why it is not feasible.There is no hard and fast rule on the meeting time of the staff coordination meeting, and it is usually notified on the bulletin board a week in advance.In order to ensure that the opinions of employees can be quickly reflected step by step, a grassroots employee coordination meeting should be held first. At the same time, Detney also encourages employees to participate in another form of communication.The company has installed many suggestion boxes around, and employees can put their own questions or opinions in the suggestion boxes at any time.In order to cooperate with the implementation of this plan, the company has also specially formulated a reward regulation.The company will give generous rewards to those who have achieved remarkable results after the employees' opinions have been adopted.It is encouraging that the company has received many valuable suggestions from these suggestion boxes. If employees are dissatisfied with this indirect way of communicating opinions, they can also exchange opinions with managers face to face in a more direct way. For employees, the nature of Detney's director's report and staff meeting are similar to the annual shareholders' financial report and shareholders' meeting respectively.Each employee of the company can receive a detailed company year-end report.The director's report has more than 20 pages, including analysis of the company's development and financial statements, improvement of employee benefits, challenges faced by the company, and answers to the main questions raised in the coordination meeting.After the various departments of the company received the report from the supervisor, they began to hold a staff meeting. Staff meetings are held during working hours.The number of people does not exceed 250 each time, and the time is about three hours. Most of them are held in relatively large departments. The head office appoints a representative to preside over the meeting, and the heads of various departments participate.At the meeting, the chairman reported on the company's financial situation and employees' salaries, benefits, dividends and other issues that are closely related to employees, and then began a question-and-answer discussion.Personal questions are forbidden here.The staff meeting is different from the staff coordination meeting, and the questions raised must be general and objective.As long as it is not a personal question, the representative of the head office will answer it as quickly as possible.The staff meeting welcomes the way of asking questions in advance, because it can be fully prepared in advance, but the meeting also accepts temporary proposals. Every year, Detney holds more than ten staff meetings at the headquarters, and more than one hundred staff meetings in various departments.So, what is the effect of Detney's employee opinion communication system? During the global economic recession in the 1980s, Detney's productivity increased at an average annual rate of more than 10%.The absenteeism rate of the company's employees is less than 3%, and the turnover rate is less than 12%, which is the lowest in the industry.Many companies often ask Detney for some information about the opinion communication system for reference.Some people may ask: Since the effect is so remarkable, why are there not many companies adopting it so far? The answer is simple: this plan is a very strenuous job for managers, and it is not effective in the short term.Some short-sighted managers prefer to maintain the operation of the company with low productivity, high employee absenteeism and turnover, rather than drastic reforms to solve the company's fundamental problems. Leadership work is more of a hands-on art than general work. "Going deep into the grassroots and walking around" is the agglomeration of practice and art.A leader with effective communication has many things to do in "going deep into the grassroots and walking around", but the most important thing is to do three major things well: "listen, educate, and promote." "Listening" is the basic element of contact, the purpose is to obtain first-hand undistorted truth from suppliers, customers, and enterprise employees.It is best to go to the other side to listen to opinions. Leaders go deep into the grassroots to listen.However, even at the grassroots level, there is still a lot to pay attention to how to listen to opinions.The better ways are as follows: 1. Call the employees together, ask them to raise questions or opinions in the form of a formal meeting, and let you answer them. Ryan McPherson, head of American Dana Corporation, often does this.He often convenes more than 1,500 employees to hold meetings in one hall, and the attendees are free to ask questions. Everyone can personally measure the attitude of the "boss": Is he trying to deceive us?Is it telling the truth to us? 2. Ad hoc small meetings That is, one minute before the meeting, it is decided who will attend the meeting.Because a well-organized and pre-selected group of employee representatives may cause you to only hear what their immediate supervisor thinks you like to hear. 3. Sit at the same table with employees The presidents and managers of many large foreign companies have formed the habit of eating lunch or dinner in the staff canteen.The leader eats with the staff in the staff canteen, and the conversation is conducted in a chatting manner without restraint.What are they talking about?Maybe talk about everything without bounds, or talk about nothing.But sitting in the staff restaurant itself shows that the leader wants to listen to the voices of the masses and keep in touch with them.He wants every employee to understand that he is a member of the whole.With the dining table as a place for daily exchanges of ideas, the atmosphere is lively, frank and matter-of-fact. 4. Go deep into various grassroots units and try to visit customers with sales and maintenance staff Such visits are very effective. On the one hand, front-line employees will feel the management's concern and respect for the front-line work, and they will be willing to communicate with the management about their views and suggestions on work.On the other hand, it will also let customers feel that the company attaches great importance to sales and maintenance work, thereby establishing trust in the company's products and services. Education is the second goal of "going deep into the grassroots and going everywhere", which is equally important as "listening".When you go down to the grassroots, there is no question that the way you ask questions and every bit of change in it will be noticed, analyzed, and interpreted.Everything you do—your attire, the order in which you meet with your subordinates, what you emphasize and what you don't in your questions—is subject to endless speculation and debate.You have only two options in this position: either let things happen and ignore them, or consciously look for opportunities to make the most of them.The latter attitude is desirable. In this way, you can teach people what you want to teach and promote your values.Because education does not mean telling people what to do and what not to do in a straightforward and serious manner.In the process of "going deep into the grassroots and walking around", your information can often be conveyed to everyone through various informal ways, so you must be fully responsible for your words and deeds, and you must not play games and jokes. The third major function of "go down and go around" is to make leaders into servants and facilitators, protecting people from bureaucracy.When you ask everyone what problems you encounter below with concern, you will find that these problems are rarely major difficulties, usually just some small troubles.For example, a development team needs a computer, but it must pass all infrastructure investment budget approval procedures before it can be purchased, and you can make them get it within 48 hours. As for a development team that needs 250 square meters of work space to manufacture prototypes, or a sales department that needs to allocate an additional 1,000 yuan for transportation, etc., you can make a decision on the spot.This is undoubtedly beneficial to the smooth development of the work of various departments at the grassroots level. "Go deep into the grassroots and walk around", the three aspects of listening, education and promotion are often played at the same time, even if you just drop by a group, a department or other places for 20 minutes, you can still achieve this goal . "Go deep into the grassroots and walk around" is not an easy task, because there are at least a thousand factors at work. Going "down to the grassroots" reveals yourself, your ability to listen, your vision and aspirations, your honesty or integrity, and your consistency.You are fully exposed to the scrutiny of the strictest and most critical observers—the employees.It's easy to fool a vice president with bullshit, but it's almost impossible to fool the workers on the loading dock. According to a study by Stephen Oskler of the University of Denver, the two main reasons why the forty-six companies he studied were slow to respond to the business opportunities brought about by the Internet were poor communication and administrative difficulties. confusion. How can you get employees to want to talk to you?How to turn your company into a lean, balanced and adaptable machine?If you discuss this issue with human resources experts and interpersonal communication experts, you can summarize the following three necessary conditions for improving communication standards: 1. Make communication a priority in your company and let every employee know that you value it. 2. Provide opportunities for employees to talk to management. 3. Create an atmosphere of trust.Without trust, employees are likely to be reluctant to share their thoughts and opinions with others.In today's era of downsizing, restructuring, and mergers and acquisitions, employees are often afraid to speak their mind. How can two-way communication be effectively encouraged in your organization?Simply, show them that you value their opinion. The most important message you need to convey to employees is that the solution to any problem will never be a one-way flow of information, but will always be interactive, involving everyone in the discussion.In other words, you have to make sure employees know that you want to listen to them. One of the keys to encouraging employee-to-supervisor communication is to clearly express that you want this communication and to encourage it.When this communication occurs, you value it and give it back.At Minnesota Mining, employees are clearly expected to communicate across organizational structures, and new perspectives are always encouraged.It's all part of an effort to maintain a spirit of innovation within the company. Emphasizing communication often requires collaborative and team action by managers from different departments.For example, departments responsible for human resources and internal communications need to be on the same page. The head of the human resources department at Unisys Computer Corporation was an active supporter of communication and made a real effort.Example: Work closely with those involved in the communication to improve internal communication.The camp composed of the person in charge of the human resources department, the general manager of the company and the employees who participated in the communication fully demonstrated to the employees that the company attaches great importance to employee communication. To effectively motivate employees to participate in communication activities, you need a variety of formal and informal communication channels.Formal channels may include processes for making suggestions, forums on the intranet, or feedback forms; informal channels may include some staff meetings and other types of face-to-face conversations.Employees must be aware of all communication channels, formal and informal. LD Dixiemann, chairman and chief executive officer of 3M, held a meeting regularly in St. Paul, Minnesota.This not only provides an opportunity to talk, but more importantly, a good opportunity to listen.He arranges most of the time in the meeting to listen to the opinions of the employees and understand the thoughts of the employees.At the beginning of each meeting, he always succinctly stated that the meeting is "to provide employees with an update on the business or topic that may be of interest to them."Subsequently, the meeting started, and the agenda was mainly composed of questions from employees and answers from management. The topic of discussion was not set in advance, and there were no regulations to limit the scope of questions. However, employees are often reluctant to speak their mind directly.Even in the most open of corporate cultures, there will always be employees who have great ideas but for some reason struggle to express them openly.In this case, these employees can consider using a feedback system that allows them to remain anonymous. Using a reliable suggestion box is another option, and modern technology (network and electronic means of communication) provides more opportunities for this. way of expression. The way the organization handles employees' opinions also directly affects what type of feedback information can be received in the future.When employees know that even the harshest comments can be responded to positively and honestly, without holding a grudge, it creates a sense of trust in their hearts.But if the opposite happens: if their feedback is ignored, or if the organization's response is only cosmetic, and employees face reprisals for speaking out, they will no longer feel comfortable giving honest feedback. Unisys CEO Weinbach is the driving force behind the company's culture of trust. Weinbach addressed the entire staff via television on his second day in office: "Hey, write to me and I'll answer. I want to know what you're thinking." And so began a plan to change the atmosphere. Once word spread that Weinbach had personally read and candidly responded to every email he received, he continued to receive exponential growth in the number of feedback messages, receiving more than 4,000 emails within a few months. The only way to get employees involved or to encourage employee feedback is to create an atmosphere of trust.This way people know they can express their opinions freely without fear of reprisal from the organization. If a company has people spread across different geographies, and often different time zones, their working hours can vary widely.In this case, how should we ensure the communication and connection within the enterprise?This problem can be solved by many high-tech means.But McNelis, chief executive of the McNelis Group, has a seemingly mundane approach.In this way he effectively managed eleven branch offices scattered around the world. About a decade ago, McNelis adopted a work procedure called "5-15 reporting."This method was pioneered by Schwinner, the general manager of Patagonia.The method is: each employee must submit a report every week.Reports must be able to be written within 15 minutes and read within 5 minutes.The report is divided into three parts: (1) Briefly describe my work situation in the past week; (2) Candidly describe my mental outlook and the morale of colleagues around me; (3) One improvement suggestion for my work, department or company. After using this working procedure for a while, McNelis found that the third part of the report contained very little helpful advice and was often filled with empty red tape.Therefore, he deleted this part, but retained this basic procedure as the main means of communication within the enterprise."In a distributed organization like ours, this way of working has been very beneficial," McNelis said.From the feedback I've received, many of our field personnel feel more at one with the company after implementing the 5-15 reporting process.For full-time staff, reports are weekly; for part-time staff and consultants, monthly reports are required.Reports are generally due by noon on Monday.Because we have a small staff, everyone gets a full set of hard copies of all reports.We also copy them to our company's major business units, joint ventures, and key customers as a way of strengthening ties. The "5-15 Report" mainly reports on the situation in the client, the proposal being drafted, the meeting worth mentioning, the problems and new plans, etc.This work procedure provides employees with a forum where people can share successes, express condolences to colleagues, ask for help, make suggestions, vent anger or pass on information of common interest. This reporting system is an important channel for maintaining personal relationships among employees.Under normal circumstances, employees will always have some information exchange in the coffee shop or in front of the water fountain.However, when colleagues do not meet frequently, this opportunity for communication disappears.In a dispersed enterprise, the loss of this communication opportunity will lead to a loss of collective belonging among employees. There is also a very important content in the internal report of the McNelis Group, which is the personal life of employees, such as the birth of children, the death of relatives, the marriage of colleagues, and so on.Since this content is available on a weekly basis and everyone can read it, this method effectively strengthens the connection between employees within the enterprise."There's only one time over the years that we've been able to bring the entire company together because it required adjusting each employee's schedule, which was almost impossible," McNelis said.In this way, our reporting procedure plays an extremely important role in communication and division of labor.For us, getting together is not only expensive, but also takes up a lot of precious time.Therefore, it is very important to be able to communicate and connect efficiently without meeting. The reporting system was designed to communicate situations of mutual interest, but McNelis noticed that such reports often prompted employees to engage in deeply personal communications.He added: "I read the reports very carefully, especially the part about the mental outlook.I often comment on certain elements of the report and send it back to the author of the report, which creates a fast and efficient feedback loop. One of the benefits of consistent use of this type of reporting is information sharing.Every member of the enterprise has access to all reports, so everyone has equal access to information. Business members share information that affects countless decisions and jobs.In this flow of information, no one will feel excluded from society and business.Everyone has a chance to talk about what they're doing, whether they're taking on a big client or developing a new documentation system.Everyone's value will be recognized in this way. Maybe large corporations can't afford to keep a set of copies of reports.But there is no doubt that this approach ensures a close connection between employees.而且，任何难以召集全体人员到场的企业，都可以采纳此种方法，以保证有关企业和员工信息的沟通畅通无阻。 “沟通”的特点和用途在优秀公司中的表现明显与其在一般同业中的表现不同。 优秀公司是信息和开放式沟通联络的一张庞大网络。其模式和密度，使员工彼此间沟通和联络的特权得以发展。系统内混乱的财产之所以能得到很好的管理，正是沟通的规律性和特性的反映。 优秀公司非常注重无拘束的非正式沟通。例如，迪斯尼公司的每名员工都佩戴一个写着自己名字的标签。惠普公司也非常注重称呼员工的名字，此外还实行“门户开放政策”（如果员工遇到的问题很难与直属上司沟通，他们可以越级与更上一层的经理讨论有关问题）。拥有35万员工的IBM公司绞尽脑汁地推行“门户开放政策”，受到全体雇员的推崇。该公司的董事长通过其雇员来答复顾客向他提出的所有抱怨。 在李维·斯特劳斯公司，自由沟通甚至被称为“第五种自由”。使管理不再只是局限于办公室内，是不拘形式沟通意见的另一大创举。联合航空公司的爱德华，卡尔森称自由沟通为“有形的管理”和“走动管理”，而惠普公司则认为这是“惠普方式”的重要一环。 提供精简的环境设备有助于自由沟通的开展。康宁玻璃公司在新盖的工程大楼内安装升降扶梯，用以增加面对面沟通的机会。3M协助任何申请者组成俱乐部，以便增加午餐时间意外解决问题的机会。一名花旗银行的职员发现，把意见分歧的不同部门的职员安排在同一幢楼上班后，分歧意见便很自然地被解决了。 是什么导致了这样的结果呢？答案是：“全方位、多途径的沟通。”惠普公司所有的金玉良言均与加强沟通有关，即使是惠普的环境设备和精神信条也都更多地强调了沟通。在旧金山Palo Alto附近的公司里，你稍微走动一下，就会看到许多人聚在一起讨论问题。这种专案小组的会议可能会包括研究发展、制造、工程、市场与销售部门的员工。但是有许多大公司的经理从不与顾客或销售人员谈话，也从不瞧一眼或摸一下产品！一位惠普公司的员工在谈到该公司的核心组织经验时说：“我们也不清楚到底哪种组织结构最好。我们唯一明确的就是，先进行无拘无束的自由沟通，这是解决问题的关键所在。我们必须不惜任何代价来坚持！” 3M公司的信条同惠普公司的大同小异，该公司的一位主管说：“我们抛开繁文缛节，与每一位员工进行自由的交谈。”以上所有的例子都可以归纳为“无拘无束自由沟通的技巧”。 随着企业的发展壮大，企业中的雇员会大为增加，组织机构的设置也会越来越复杂。在这种情况下，经理人颇感头痛的问题就会增多，比如各职能部门之间的协调与沟通问题。随着企业规模的扩大，为了便于管理，需要设立彼此独立的各个部门。但是企业要成为一个有机的整体，部门之间的沟通就显得十分重要。而在实际管理实践中，各部门之间的沟通往往会遇到很多障碍。有一家公司找到了一种极为简便的方法来增进各部门之间的沟通，这就是“餐桌面谈法”。 这家公司是西诺普提克斯通讯公司，专门生产配套计算机系统。在四年的时间内，这家公司的雇员由11人增至425人。企业的规模不断扩大，五个职能部门之间的彼此沟通就显得越来越重要。在实际工作中，各部之间的沟通存在不少的障碍。 有一次，生产部门的主管实在是难以忍受其他部门的不配合，对组装一种新型电路耗费工时过多连连抱怨。这引起了公司总裁的注意。时任该公司总裁的是安德鲁·拉德威克，为解决这位主管的抱怨，专门请来这位主管和一位工程师，和他们一起用餐。在就餐时，让他们就如何加快组装的问题进行协商。二人的协商是很有效的。最终，他们找到了一个简单的加快组装的办法：只需更换一种更小、更便宜的部件，就能大大缩短工时。受这次用餐协商成果的启发，拉德威克想出了“餐桌面谈法”，并认为这是解决实际问题，增进部门间沟通的非常简便的方法。 每个季度，这家公司都会在总部所在地举行一次午餐会。总部位于加利福尼亚州的蒙顿维尔。在这里，每次摆上五张餐桌，请来两个相关部门的要员共享丰盛的午餐。 当然，用餐并不是目的，目的在于让他们找出解决问题的办法。席间，还要提出一些有待解决的特定问题。针对某一特定问题，每位用餐者都要想出自己的解决办法，向大家陈述之后，用餐者就进行评价，直到找出最佳的解决办法。 餐桌面谈法是富有成效的。这家公司已经用它解决了很多复杂的问题。 转悠管理，也称漫游管理或巡回管理，是一些成功企业常采用的管理方法之一。 所谓“转悠”，就是领导人员到基层去巡视，并在巡视中发现问题，解决问题。 企业界人士都十分重视转悠管理，坐在办公室听汇报、打电话、发布文件的企业领导人越来越少。他们把“走出办公室”作为自己的信条，不仅以身作则，常年在外巡视，而且严格要求手下的小头头们也“走出办公室”，到基层去办公。 阿尔科公司的总裁鲍勃·安德森“转悠”成瘾。他一边“转悠”，一边还要检查手下人是否也在“转悠”。当他“转悠”到某地，向某一个部门打电话时，恰好部门的头头接了电话，他马上就来了气，对这位不下去“转悠”的小头头感到失望。 普罗克特一甘布尔公司也十分推崇“转悠”管理。公司一个制造厂的领导人曾这样回忆说：“我受到的一次最严厉训斥，是我早期做管理工作的时候。有一天上午，来自辛辛那提总部的一位上司，转悠到了我那儿，发现我正在办公室里，当时我受到的就不仅仅是挨骂了。” 有的公司还对分部经理提出许多“转悠”的具体要求，比如“转悠”的次数、对手下人员了解的程度。达纳公司的负责人麦克弗森就曾干过这样一件事：有一名经理在某部门呆了六年还不能全部说出手下人的姓名，麦克弗森就解雇了他。 美国联合公司董事长埃德·卡尔赫初到任时，联合公司正萎靡不振。卡尔赫刚到任，就直奔现场，向现场工作人员直率地提出许多问题，请他们做详细回答。他没有笔记本，对于调查中发现的问题，他从来就是记在废纸片上，塞进口袋里。他从不命令第一线人员干这干那或搞个什么改革，除非是事关安全的问题。他也不当场纠正他不喜欢的东西。他要依靠正常的管理程序来解决问题。 从现场回到总部之后，他就立即采取行动。他有一种本事，让整个指挥链上的各个环节都很快知道他发现了问题，并且要立即解决。然后，他就同那些在巡视中和他谈过话的一线工作人员通信联系，让一线人员知道公司已经在采取什么措施了。他也与下面的有关职员联系，让他们认真检查，以保证新措施的执行。 惠普公司创造了一种独特的“周游式管理法”，鼓励领导人深入基层，直接接触广大职工。为此目的，惠普的办公室布局采用少见的“敞开式”大房间；即全体人员都在一间敝厅中办公。各部门之间只有矮屏分隔，除少量会议室、会客室外，无论哪级领导都不设单独的办公室。同时不称呼职衔，即使对董事长也直呼其名。这样有利于上下左右通气，创造无拘束和合作的气氛。 各式各样的“转悠管理”都使得高层管理人员切实了解实情，切实发现各种问题和听取意见，切实采取有效措施，并更加密切上下级关系，因而能够保证企业不偏离“航线”，保证企业目标的实现。 Effective communication does not happen overnight.以下技巧有助你提高沟通能力，解决沟通中碰到的难题，使你的每次沟通富有成效。 One way to bridge the gap between the two parties' expectations is to enter into a performance agreement.A performance agreement signed between an employee and a company allows both parties to clarify each other's expectations and requirements, helps design goals that are mutually achievable, and regularly evaluates the agreement to ensure that the goals and requirements of both parties can be achieved. Another way is to clearly state your expectations.In this way, the other party has the responsibility to explain to you whether it can meet your expectations.This practice allows you to make effective adjustments to your expectations as needed, pre-empting possible hurt and disappointment. Communication between people is full of variables (such as your own and others' talking and listening styles, etc.), so it can be complex and challenging.Putting yourself in your shoes is a key element of successful communication. Listen, but don't get caught up in other people's emotions.When others have difficulties, you should put yourself in their shoes and understand them, but you should not be swayed by such emotions.You have to save some energy for yourself to do your own thing.Remember, don't be a sponge and absorb everything. 一般来说，反馈是事实和情感因素的结合。沟通中的实质信息和关系信息很容易带来误解，招致不满。因此，在提供反馈意见时，应强调成长进步，不要妄做评判或横加指责。听取别人的反馈时，则要抓住其中对自己有价值的东西，不要计较对方的身份和沟通的方式，做到言者无罪，闻者足戒。 Sometimes, telling the truth does hurt.But honesty ultimately increases the chances of a strong, long-lasting relationship.Therefore, honesty is very important.If something is bothering you, try to speak up as directly as possible, before a small matter becomes bigger and more difficult to deal with. 对方怒气冲冲时，如何冷静处之，使对方平息下来？在此向你介绍几招： 让对方的火发泄出来； 表示体谅对方的感受； 询问是否需要帮助； 针对问题谈问题，也就是就事论事。 一般情况下，最正常的反应是，找惹人发怒的人谈谈，然后逐一解决问题。 When all else fails, confrontation is the only way.This is also an opportunity to balance all parties and straighten things out.If you don't want to confront it head-on, don't run away because of fear, but be confident.Of course, sometimes, it may be wise to avoid it with excuses. 如果你疲惫不堪、心中烦恼或忙得无法分身，坦然地说出来。另找一个时间，使自己处于最佳状态来处理局势和有关人员的事。 如果优柔寡断、迟疑不决，可采用以下步骤予以补救：回顾所有事实；反复过滤各种可行方案；选择最佳方式，哪怕这意味着你要多受点委屈；一旦决策，立即行动。 Mistakes in communication that disappoint or hurt you don't take it to heart.May wish to ask yourself, do you want to carry this burden?What can I get from it?Once you have done your best to clarify the mistakes in communication, you must be proud of your efforts and let it go.All the hard work was not in vain, and the huge stone in my heart fell to the ground, I should be happy!