I've had the great pleasure of getting to know Steve Gavatorta, the author of a new book entitled The Reach Out Approach: A Communication Process for Initiating, Developing & Leveraging Mutually Rewarding Relationships. Steve, who has worked with such Fortune 500 Companies as GlaxoSmithKline, Warner-Lambert and Eastman Kodak, was gracious enough to give me an interview.
Donna: How has communication in the workplace changed since the advent of the internet? Has this had a positive effect, a negative one or both?
Steve: This is a great question and there are several subtopics that can manifest from it. The internet has greatly sped up our ability to communicate, interact and really opened new doors and methods to conduct business – with that said, I believe the effects have been both positive and negative. I will not touch on all of them at this point but will focus on the one I am most passionate about and to be honest, I think most important.
I think the question regarding what type of effect the internet has had depends on your definition of communication – I would focus more on “effective communication.” Meaning has the communication served its purpose, reaching a goal or objective – has it been effective?
Regarding “effective” communication, my focus is on the base element of effective human interaction and that is the “human being.” Are we effectively interacting with another human being for effective communication? Are we connecting with them? Do we understanding them and their needs? Are we listening to them? Do we have a two-way dialogue or a one way monologue? Simply said, we cannot secure positive results if we don’t understand others with whom we are attempting to communicate. I think this is often lost when we rely too much on technology to communicate.
With that said, I think with the advent of the internet we have lost a lot of the personal side of human interaction which I believe greatly affects communication. Yes, we may be communicating more via email, text messaging and Social Media sites. But is it really valuable communication that touches emotional chords? Can a sales rep be more effective with a client in person or via email? Can a manager be more effective with a subordinate in person or via email. I think “not” in both cases. In addition, I think our increased communication via “technology” is whittling down our skills at human interaction and hence effective communication. Sure there are many times when it is sufficient to send an email. I just think the lines are becoming way too blurred. In fact I have plenty of hard facts to validate that point.
Donna: How do these changes affect employee engagement?
Steve: Personally I think many organizations are putting the “art of effective communication” on the back burner in lieu of other methods of communicating. I believe that email is being used way too much and not enough face time and one on one interaction is occurring. And I believe that is the case not just internally in organizations but also when people interface with customers. This, in my view waters down any interaction, or as you say engagement – and that is both from an employee perspective as well as customer interaction as well.
To verify my point and the one in the previous question, I recently saw the results of a survey in T+D Magazine that asked the following question (and had the following results):
“Why does senior management have a hard time connecting with employees? The results are as follows:
- They rely too much on email……………….35%
- They assume a single message is enough…..30%
- They have no feedback look in place……....28%
- Their message lacks clarity…………………24%
- The communicate too much, too often………3%
So there you have it…too much email and too little communication. Technology like email is good and has its purposes, but can be overused as well.
In addition to emailing too much I want you to also think how those messages can get misconstrued as well – this leads to a disconnect in effective communication. I mention this point often in workshops and speaking engagements and I just see the heads nodding in agreement on how messages get misconstrued as nearly everyone has experienced it. So for the folks who have teams, or a staff it is imperative to realize these points when communicating with them.
Donna: Give me three strategies for better communication in today’s workplace?
Steve: In my book The Reach Out Approach: A Communication Process for Initiating, Developing & Leveraging Mutually Rewarding Relationships, I list a 3 step process for effective communication. These 3 steps apply to anyone who wants to become an effective communicator.
Step #1 Initiate: This means making a sincere approach in understanding the needs and wants of each person you communicate with – your team, manager, customer, anyone you interact with on a daily basis. This also includes how you communicate with them, motivate and manage them. To be able to take a unique approach with people with whom you interact with, you must first take the initiative to first and foremost understand them. As Stephen Covey says in his wonderful book the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, “seek first to understand then be understood.”
Step #2 Develop: Once you’ve taken the initiative to understand the needs of each person you communicate with, you should develop a plan of action on how best to communicate, motivate and manage them. The way you approach each person should be tailored to their respective needs, wants and style. Thus it is imperative that you develop a solid action plan for each one of them. The best way to communicate is to appeal to their styles and you do that first and foremost by understanding them, and developing a plan of action to connect.
Step #3 Leverage: Lastly, using the plan you’ve developed, you then use it to leverage your relationship to ensure success. With the knowledge you gleaned in Step 1 and the plan you developed in Step 2, you can now leverage those relationships and people to maximize workplace performance, employee and customer satisfaction – Leveraging effective communication can and will be a differentiating point for people and organizations since so many are poor at it. Those who can leverage to their benefits will reap great rewards.
Donna: Do people have different styles of communicating? How can knowing about these styles help us build better teams?
Steve: Absolutely! This point is the fundamental element of everything I train on and speak about, it is my passion.
If you think of it don’t we all have unique DNA, fingerprints? Of course we do, so why wouldn’t that also apply to how we communicate as well? We all differ in how we communicate, how we are motivated, how we deal with change, risk taking and conflict. So leaders, managers anyone for that matter who can realize their own styles as well as those of their employees, customers and adapt are going to be most successful.
I have quote after quote from great leaders who subscribe to this philosophy and believe it is a significant contributor to their success – as individuals and with their teams.
As an example, the great football coach Vince Lombard said, “he needed to know how to motivate and communicate with 40 men, 40 different ways.” Vince Lombardi knew that each of his players was different and it was incumbent of him as leader and coach to understand this and tailor his approach accordingly.
When I conduct workshops I use an assessment to help identify the styles of the participants. The assessment provides a score that identifies four base communication styles. I then teach participants to understand the four styles and their specific style as well. Then I help them learn to read the styles of others with whom they interact with so they can adapt their style for effective communication.
The whole point is this: by understanding each others styles and adapting to each other is a great tool for opening communication lines. By understanding the communication dynamics of teams, you can better learn how to communicate, manage and motivate them. Again, the same approach as noted by Vince Lombardi.
As I said in the first question, you need to realize the base element of effective communication is the human being. The realization that we are interacting with someone else who may be different than us…sees things different than us, communicates different…is motivated by different things…once you understand this base element, you can then take the next step to become an effective communicator. If you disregard it, you are destined to be ineffective.
Thanks Steve! You can learn more about Steve Gavatorta at his website.
Until next time,
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