The Information Age ... Or Is It?
We've been told for twenty five or thus years that we live in "The Info Age". A wise man once disputed this with me. "We have a tendency to live in The Knowledge Age", he said. "Info is knowledge you'll be able to use". Someone else place it this method, "Smart information you cannot use is useless". As you're busily text messaging and emailing, ask yourself; "Am I communicating ... or simply using words?"
A One Way Street
Maybe the therefore known as "Information Age" has seduced us into believing that just as a result of we leave a message in one form or another, we will induce performance improvement. However I've never seen a memo, a fax - bear in mind them? - or a letter create improved on job performance during a traditional workplace either.
Work: A Social Event
The workplace is social. It contains people. And irrespective of how technologically sophisticated it is, those people need to talk. Think of all the reasons you wish to talk at work: feedback, discussion, clarification, objection, agreement and disagreement, conflict resolution, grievance airing and reassurance are however a few. It's true that every one these items could be lined by email or text messaging. However how clumsy, cumbersome and slow compared with one person saying to another "Let's get together and sort this out" or a phone call that asks "Is it OK with you if ...?"
Performance Improvement: A 2 Way Street
Assume of all the easy questions and comments used constantly in the performance improvement process. "Is that clear?" "Do you understand?" "Show me." "Can you be OK currently?" "Let me show you." "What do you're thinking that?" "Any comments?" "You've got got it right now." "That is perfect." I might last and therefore might you.
Systems and Performance Standards
Of course we still want sound support systems, measurable performance standards and every one that goes with them. But we have a tendency to still want to ask "Is that an improvement?" "How will we have a tendency to measure it?" "Is the system working?" "Is that the result we have a tendency to wanted?" Have you ever ever sat with the phone to your ear whereas the musak ground tonelessly on or the recorded voice repeated how "important your call is to us". Did these totally inept, impersonal and largely irritating episodes evolve because the individuals who designed them forgot that technology is our servant not our master? Clearly no one ever asked the query "But what if we tend to upset the purchasers?"
The Day To Day Reality
You can send all the memos, emails, text messages and hitech one method communications you like. But if you wish to boost employee performance, sooner or later you want to speak to the employee. You must encourage feedback, negotiate resolution and agree on a course of action.
Conclusion
Trendy technology in communications has several benefits. However bear in mind its limitations. If you wish to encourage better employees performance, hone your in person communication skills. Remember both the virtue and therefore the price of expressions like "Got a minute?" and "Can we tend to speak regarding this?" Next time you reach for the keyboard to fireside off another email, decide up the phone and talk. If you don't, you're doubtless to be locked in the info age. The information age may pass you by.
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Author Resource:
Riley Jones has been writing articles online for nearly 2 years now. Not only does this author specialize in Workplace Communication, you can also check out his latest website about:
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