Today I had an interesting thought about communication. I have known that a big communication issue is when someone’s voice is not being heard. However, after graduating from my designer role and stepping closer and closer to the management side of the business, I have noticed that often when voices feel like they are not being heard, they actually are. Not only are they heard, but sometimes (a lot of times), the concerns are being worked on. Change just usually takes a lot longer than we would believe it should.
The problem is, if someone communicating concerns feels like nothing has been done with their last concern, they are less likely to share again. For someone that tries very hard to get people to express their ideas and frustrations, it is challenging. I am not going to go to each person and give them a status update on everything that is going on behind the scenes, so I have to rely on them to trust in me. That can only go so far.
However, today I implemented a tool through Microsoft Teams as a method to create a request that I will personally take and assign or own. The nice thing about this tool is it has ultimate transparency. Anyone that creates the request can look back on what has become of their task (and even get notified of when it is completed).
I think the goal for good communication is to inspire the transparency that helps people recognize that their voice is heard. It can even make the amount of time it takes to solve an issue less of a concern. So long as they can see their task, with a name added to it, and action dates, it will promote more suggestions.
It is still way too soon to call this a win but transparency feels right. I’ll need to keep in mind ways to promote transparency and maybe communication will follow.
