The Cranky Middle Manager Show #312 The Future of the MBA Ken Starkey
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #222 Communication is a Process Nannette Rundle Carroll
Posted on 05. Jan, 2010 by Wayne in General, Podcast
Today Wayne Turmel welcomes someone he’s worked with in the past, Nannette Rundle Carroll, whose book The Communication Problem Solver looks at the messy business of management communication.We also look at a guy who looked at the pieces of rhetoric and a quote from the inventor of Soda Water. The word you’re looking for is eclectic.
Nannette Rundle Carroll is today’s lucky guest.
Don’t forget our monthly training webinar programme: How to Create and Manage Remote Teams. January’s class is scheduled for the 18th. Click here to learn more. Tell your training people about it! Drop me a line for the Cranky Middle Manager Show discount.
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to the show. We are the mystery but yummy white stuff in the Oreo Cookie of management. Can you tell I fell off my diet over Christmas? Today’s show is dedicated to Empedocles who broke rhetoric into component parts so we could systemetize it. And he did it in rhyme which is not an easy thing to do.
4:41 The quote of the week is from Joseph Priestley who invented Soda Water and knew a thing or two about communication and making it simple. Not an easy thing to do when your coworkers are on the other side of the planet.
5:39 Welcome Nannette Carroll to the show. We have talked this subject to death (Communication, not Nannette) so why are we as a group so lousy at it and why does it matter? It’s a business problem, not just an interpersonal one.
7:26 Real communication is more than just accurate data transfer. Just because the plan is out there for everyone to see doesn’t mean they “get it” or it will happen. She gives an example from a project that didn’t go so well. Both parties have to want to communicate for it to work though.
10:17 Questions are the best process tool you possess. Also, don’t forget to check in because if you wait til the milestones are due you’re going to be in trouble. Looking at it as a process sometimes makes it less “touchy-feely”
13:38 you can break almost any communication situation into a process. Nannette takes us through things like judging unfairly. It’s all about describing the behavior without ascribing attitude to it. It’s like root cause analysis.
18:50 The speed of communication works against us. If you think you don’t have time to talk about it, think about how much time you spend on rework and missed deadlines. With project teams in particular, scheduled meetings are critical. The priority is face to face, then webcam, then voice to voice……. do the best you can. Sadly, emoticons are not real communication
24:50 How do you heal the wounds on a virtual team? It means getting down to individual communication and helping the team communicate with each other. Understanding their silos and how their boss works is an important key.
Nannette’s Resources
