Confessions of a Business Communication Coach

Business communication has never been as easy. Or as problematic.

It was different just twenty years ago.

The industrial age was about technique and process: it focused on what we needed to do, or to know, to finish our task.

Managers could motivate employees by walking around, occasionally asking a question and making personal comments:

“You did that job well, Joe.” “How can we do that better?” “Let me see that widget again, Mary.”

Employees identified completely with their jobs, and cared more about what managers thought.

But change was in the air.

In 1996, Richard Farson’s very readable little book Management of the Absurd noticed that “The More We Communicate, The Less We Communicate.”

“Increasingly, we seem to believe that everybody should be in on everything,” he wrote.

“Many supposed communication problems are actually balance-of-power problems. That is why it probably is unwise to introduce completely open communication into a situation in which there is a large disparity in power.”

And since then, completely open communication has become the norm. Disparity in workplace power, fed–not reduced–by open communication, grows and cripples many businesses.

“Organizations that believe all their troubles can be solved through increased communicatons may be in for a surprise,” he added.

There’s a time and place for communication. But it needs a strategy, and overcommunicating leads to unpredictable and often counterproductive results.

Maybe it’s time to get up and walk around.