closing the distance reflectionson real-life, real-time communication by les landes landes &...

Closing the Closing the DistanceDistance

ReflectionsReflectionsOnOn

Real-Life, Real-Time Real-Life, Real-Time CommunicationCommunication

By Les LandesLandes & Associates

Communication is not a spectator sport …

If it’s not interactive, it’s not communication –

It’s message distribution.

One-way communication is like one-handed clapping …

It may move the air around, but it rarely moves people.

“Employees are not an audience.

They are a community of people who come together for a common purpose.”

(Glynn Young)

You cannot communicate something to someone … You can only

communicate with someone about something.

The path to engagement in an organization is not through conversion …

It takes conversation.

“Propaganda ends where dialogue begins.”

(Marshall McLuhan)

“The only terminal communication breakdown is disengagement.”

(David Berlo)

“An individual without information cannot take responsibility. An individual with information cannot help but take responsibility.”

(Jan Carlzon)

Meanings are in people … not in words and symbols.

Shared meanings come from shared experiences …

common commitments …

and the conversations that bring them together.

“Truth is a matter of CON-tent. Lying is a matter of IN-tent.”

(David Berlo)

To make sure you’re telling the truth – check your facts.

To make sure you’re not lying – check your heart.

“Nearly all the tension and all the fear in the world originates from the sense of separation we have from one another.” (Richard Barrett)

The main job of a communicator should be to

close the distance and deepen relationships among

all of an organization’s stakeholders.

"In a word, authenticity will be the coin of the realm for successful corporations and for those who lead them."

(The Authentic Enterprise by Arthur W. Page Society)

Communication is too important to be left in the hands of professional communicators.

It’s everyone’s responsibility to do it …

It’s the professional communicator’s job to

help everyone do it well.

Productive communication cannot occur when people feel defensive.

So always approach people as the source of the solution …

Not the cause of the problem.

“The use of buzzwords anesthetizes you to the truth.”

(Warren Bennis)

Communicators need to shift their focus from …

measuring the value of communications

to …communicating about

measures that people value.

Following the principles of effective communication will not guarantee that all workplace relationships work well …

But ignoring those principles will ensure that they don’t.

“I used to see people talking and ask why they weren’t working. Now I see people talking and say thank God they’re communicating.

I’ve come to believe that communication is everything.”

(Don Wainwright)