Were any of these emails very important?  Not a single one.

As I was responding to these emails I started to think what If I got the same number of phone calls as emails?  I wouldn’t get anything else done but answer the phone.  Then I laughed because I am probably spending about the same amount of time reading and answering emails.  My laughter quickly turned to sorrow when I consider that if I had actually talked to someone on the phone I would have gotten a lot more accomplished. We could have resolved all of the issues right then instead of sending emails back and forth.

I wonder if the new communication technology is helping us or hurting us? There was an interesting study done by the Harvard Business School about why people like to tweet.  The study said that telling people about ourselves makes us feel good.  Basically, if people are listening to us it makes us feel significant.  I believe that emails have somewhat the same effect.  I can email anyone, at anytime, and copy as many people as I want.  Whether someone reads my email or not is somewhat irrelevant because I sent it out to anyone who might have the slightest interest.  I probably even sent it out to people who had no interest.   I believe they all read my email and I have now created a built in audience.  How many people before the age of email and Twitter could get such an audience?
In his book “The Power to Shape Your Destiny,” Tony Robbins says that being significant is one of the four key emotional areas that everyone needs to fulfill to some degree in order to survive.  The advent of email and Twitter has dramatically increased people’s perception of their significance, which is probably one of the reasons it has exploded.

The reality is, while the new communication channels may be hurting us in many ways, they are definitely helping us in other ways.  How do we start eliminating all of the extraneous information that is killing productivity and keep the information that dramatically improves productivity?

You can’t cut off the constant bombardment but you can manage it by applying the same things that worked before the information boom.

Don’t Multi-Task

In our Better Managers’ blog on multi-tasking, Debra Koenig masterfully spelled out why multi-tasking doesn’t work.  We know that if you eliminate interruptions you are ten times more effective than when you stop and start a project. Your conscious mind is not very powerful.  It only processes 2,000 bits per second while you are being hit with over 400,000,000,000 bits of information per second.   According to Tony Robbins, your conscious mind can only focus on a couple of things at one time.  An example Tony gives is you rarely feel the clothes you are wearing.  You only feel it now because I got your mind to focus on it just by drawing your attention to it.  However, very quickly your mind will turn to something else and you won’t think about your clothes again.  Therefore, if you can turn your focus to the task at hand and eliminate all interruptions, you will not only be more productive better able to shape your life.

Think about doing the following to help stay focused and take back your life:

•    Realize that all those emails probably are not very important. If the email is important, the person who sent it would probably call you if they needed an immediate response.
•    Only answer and read emails that are important to what you want to get done.
•    Only answer emails a couple of times a day in scheduled windows. Give yourself the time to focus on the tasks that are meaningful to your life.
•    Turn off the notification setting on your email.  (note to self on this one)
•    Only focus on those things that you want to get done.  Create a time value ratio.  For everything you think you think you should do, rate the value of the task and compare to the time it will take to do it.  If the ratio of value to time is low, don’t do it. If it is high make it a high priority, or throw your to-do list into a priority matrix and see what you get. There are lots of tools out there to get you on task.

The information boom creates a new management challenge that compounds as we sit here contemplating its effects. If we don’t proactively attack it we will be like the guys in the Direct TV commercials who end up in a bad place because all we did was answer meaningless emails.

By Greg Thiesen, President and CEO, Red Book Solutions and B2A – Over 30 years of experience in various areas – President and CEO of  Red Book Solutions and B2A, Turnaround Specialist with Doering and Eastwood, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Information Officer for a major division of Conagra, Inc. and Senior Manager and a Certified Public Accountant with Ernst and Young.

In my 25 years in the hospitality industry as a manager and coach I have come across the following types of managers and still do. Do you recognize any of the following managers? This list does stereotype certain personality types and styles, so it is designed to be a tool for debate, to help managers identify possible pitfalls when dealing with staff. The names are tongue-in-cheek, subjective but can still nevertheless be helpful. See if you recognize any of these management styles in yourself. If you can, identify ways to correct the behaviors to make yourself an even better manager!

1)    Race horse rider: This manager walks among the tables with blinders on just doing the rounds. Just like a race horse running a race on an oval track, physically there, but not mentally. Walking around because he has been told to; when he approaches a table he simply asks ‘Is everything alright?’ It amazes me how many managers use this line. Managers need to work and ‘touch’ the tables. Customers enjoy it when a manager engages in conversation and really demonstrates that he or she is interested in them.

2)    ‘Just do it, because I told you to’: Gone are the days when autocratic-styled managers are king (or at least they think they are). They throw their authority around recklessly and make work a living hell. Times have changed. Yes, salary is important; however staff also want to work in an environment where they are developed, recognized and empowered.

3)    The traffic cop: The restaurant is humming and there is the traffic cop manager standing in the middle of the restaurant directing the staff as if they don’t know where they are going. As a manager you add value to your staff and business by rolling up your sleeves and working, not by directing traffic.

4)    The mosquito: This manager is always buzzing irritatingly behind staff. He or she is annoying and always getting in the way, micromanaging staff and not allowing them to think for themselves or to make any decisions. To thrive, staff requires an environment where they are empowered and, in certain instances, allowed to make decisions.

CLICK HERE to read the full list of manager styles.

We can be many different types of managers under different circumstances, stresses and personal issues. There are a myriad of studies in management; the above constitute some of my personal experiences in hiring and working with managers. If you are brave enough, why don’t you give this list to your staff and see if they can identify you as one of or an amalgamation of the above types of managers? And what types of managers do they plan on being one day?

As I have written previously, management is the key to the success of your business. If you hire the wrong shift or support manager, no matter how good your line staff is, the restaurant will not succeed. In most restaurants there is no one person that impacts the success and profitability of a business as a manager does.

The Restaurant Code is a one-stop professional hospitality management and restaurant consultancy providing consulting services to the hospitality industry nationally and internationally. Key services include strategy, operations, franchising, training and marketing.

The Restaurant Code’s key focus is based around the customer experience, translating to increasing a business’s top and bottom line. Larry Hodes is a partner in The Restaurant Code. For further information go to www.therestaurantcode.com.

By, Guest Blogger Larry Hodes

Larry Hodes has over 25 years of experience in hospitality, which includes consulting to the hospitality industry, owning and operating 2 restaurants, working as an Organizational Development Manager for a global food service company, heading up HR and training for a large restaurant chain, Restaurant Operations Manager for a 5 star hotel, as well as management for other independent and chain restaurants. Currently he is a partner in The Restaurant Code (www.therestaurantcode.com); a hospitality consulting company. Email: larry@therestaurantcode.com

How do we ever manage to filter the barrage of information that comes at us each day from every direction—blinking computers, vibrating phones and conversations speaking over conversations? Becoming a master at identifying the stuff that’s important enough to require our attention versus allowing everything to get our equal attention is more important now than ever before. Now, not only is it a “must” that we do this well, but as managers, getting our employees to do the same is what becomes the defining mix of success and sanity.

Information overload is a term first used in the early 1960s to describe an excess of information – and we’ve come a long way since with the variety of information piled on via emerging tools, technologies, applications and social media today.  Even back in the 60s, information overload was credited with a loss of ability to filter everything appropriately, process the right information the right way and make good decisions.  More recent research shows that constant communication rarely helps, but  instead just makes it more difficult to concentrate.

I’m probably the least “connected” of my friends and family – I still get along without a smart phone, I read the morning newspaper in paper form, and while I occasionally log-in to check email or do other online activities at home, I am not attached to a web-enabled device outside of work hours like most everyone else I know.  That may be my small way of combating the overload of information I experience at work where I am challenged with picking out the items that need my attention and taking the appropriate action in the appropriate time frame.  Keeping track of it all takes a high level of diligence and some sort of system.

Take a look at your work environment – including your staff’s immediate environment.  Do your responsibilities require you to spend most of your time “on the floor” or behind a counter?  If there are offices involved, are you a follower of the “open office” trend where companies are replacing personal space with unassigned desks or communal tables for workers? Any of these scenarios require you to actively figure out how to focus and get your job done without the risk of distractions. Consider this for your employees as well… are they set up for success in their own space to meet performance expectations around their job or role? Literally, put yourself in their place and change it to optimize their efforts to do their jobs to the best of their abilities.

Learn to distinguish between routine and non-routine tasks.  Routine tasks, like our daily responsibilities or the things we do regularly, don’t require much of our active attention (they become an automatic, a habit). Anything that’s new, urgent or not part of our usual routine demands more focus.  Your brain assigns focus to routine and non-routine items automatically. You can probably run a compliance checklist and answer an employee question all at the same time without sacrificing too much efficiency – however when you throw in a customer crisis demanding your immediate and full attention everything else gets thrown out the window. Save your energy for the tasks that need your focus, and let your passive attention deal with the routine items supported by some kind of reminder system, such as a task planner, to make sure nothing gets missed.

Rank your activities.  Learn to ignore the low value tasks and focus on the high value items.  A message from your boss is likely to be more important than the one from your sister-in-law who likes to send out pictures of cute kittens.  An item that’s due today is of higher value today than it might have been yesterday, and certainly is of higher value today than something that’s not due until next week. It’s OK to ignore items or save them for a time you have set aside for low-value tasks.

“Never confuse motion with action,”  Benjamin Franklin said (or something very similar) over 200 years ago.  When you are ready to deal with something, take the steps to get it done and not just move it around.  With all the recent focus on the anniversary, it’s a rather obvious cliche, but try to avoid “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic” – those folks were doing something, but they weren’t accomplishing anything.  Dealing with every item we are presented with is unrealistic and inefficient.

You can help your staff combat information overload by being mindful of these tips.  Don’t be part of the problem. Model the right behaviors. Your team will be sure to follow.  Then navigating the challenging waters of information overload will seem like a breeze.

By Nancy Lane, Human Resources Manager at Red Book Solutions

Preparation is the essence of workflow. In general, workflow consists of a thoughtful sequence of connected steps. Workflows are viewed as the building block of organizations. When executed correctly, workflow systems break down complex processes into doable chunks and turn what used to be a bumpy ride into a slip n’ slide for your workers – easy, free-flowing and fun!

As a teenage employee of a Midwestern call center I used to go in circles around the call flow they wanted us to use. It felt jumbled, choppy and awkward. They insisted that addressing people in this particular order would really boost sales. One day I wrote my own script using their workflow but integrated my language and style. My manager was astounded that I made 10 sales in 3 hours! That script was the workflow tool that helped me slip n’ slide my way to long-distance sales perfection.

Workflow Consists of 4 Parts:

• Systematic Process of Activities

• Planning and Scheduling of Supporting Actions

• Speed and Volume Control of the Work

• Progress Visibility

You can start creating workflow by defining the value of each daily task. Then map the tasks by that value to create a workflow customized to your day that simplifies tasks and improves how long it takes to complete. Once you have a workflow outline in place, you can move to step two which involves creating and scheduling supporting tasks that will aid your workflow on its journey. Step three can be tricky but the goal is to maintain a perfect balance between completing tasks in a timely manner and not doing things too quickly or overwhelming yourself and your employees with too much volume on the schedule. This can increase the likelihood of mistakes. Improve your workflow and visibility throughout all of your daily processes using the following key tools.Keys to Workflow Simplification | Easy as 1-2-3
1.    Mistake-Proofing: Use a mistake prevention approach (checklists, shift hand-off cards, recipe cards, etc.)
2.    Visual Workplace: Use visual controls and displays to help employees maintain control of their work areas and assess performance at a glance. (Color coding, arrows and marked baskets or containers achieve this)
3.    Kaizen: Japanese for continuous improvement on top of continuous improvement. (There’s always room to get better. Instill this belief in your employees and watch the innovation grow!)

The Journey to Perfection
While the ultimate goal of any workflow system is to create complete order and harmony in your daily routine and that of your staff, managers can simply add perspective and predictability to routines with workflow to quickly and easily improve efficiency. Finding tools that guide and drive your ability to achieve organization is key to creating the lean, simple workflow you need to be highly productive each and every day. Give it a try and let us know the results at the Better Managers Group page on Facebook or Twitter/bettermanagers hash tag #slipnslide.

By Danielle Lafontaine, Marketing Communications Manager, Red Book Solutions | 5 Years – Digital & Traditional Marketing Copywriter with Ad Agency and Corporate Marketing Experience | Social Media Guru & Community Builder with B2B and B2C Chops

My neighbor of over a decade and fellow manager runs the top, most profitable business region in his company. His success has run over many years. Recently, because other divisions were struggling, the company reassigned some of his top clients to them. Odd way to reward his success. Sadly this move was made right before bonuses and this profit movement lessened his bonus-ability.

What was even more bothersome was that a file he was sent to review, with hidden column locks accidentally not in place, opened on his screen with the entire management salaries displayed. And you guessed it, his salary was close to the bottom, while the manager who was running the unit he just had to bail out was toward the very top.

Being the moral top performer he is, he immediately notified the sender so they could lock down the columns. But the damage to his own psyche was done. Sure enough, within 10 minutes he received a call that the CEO would be coming out for a visit. Ah, justice was on the horizon, you would think. Nope, the leader actually wanted to use his abilities further by bailing them out of another situation.

How long are we going to sanction whiping workhorses while at the same time forcing them the burden of carrying on their backs the lower producers? This practice significantly drains their energy and abilities, not to mention, adds insult to injury by not giving the right return on the value they bring from their efforts. What is sure to happen is your top performers will exhaust and frustrate to a level that they will leave to find a place where they are valued. Guess what you’ll be left with—those that only know how to be carried and your business will stagnate.

Whether you are a victim of this or the unwitting creator, awareness combined with a conscious effort to drive your actions differently is our only saving grace to continue to build the successful businesses from which we all flourish. This is a discipline that must become a habit.

“…Courage is the practical form of being true to existence, of being true to truth, and confidence is the practical form of being true to one’s own consciousness.”— John Galt

Ask yourself some hard questions to check and balance your own management around your team and its players:

• Is there a particular employee you rely on most to get done what you need done, when you want it done at the level you need it done?
• Does that same employee tend to consistently go the extra mile to deliver beyond expectation?
• Have you ever asked that employee to support the work of a consistently lower performer because you know the quality will be higher and the deadline will be met?
• When a top performer has a glitch where they do not meet their normal heights, do you let them know immediately that they let you down?
• Are they a positive, glowing individual who adds to your culture?

Now think of your questionable performers:

• Do you give them praise when they do something somewhat right so they will continue to strive to do better?
• Do you tip toe around them or attempt to build them up, hoping they’ll get where you need them to be?
• Can you think of the number of times you gave them a “gimme” or did their work for them?
• Did you create a different reward structure for them in an attempt to get them to a higher level of performance?
• Are they a talker or finger pointer who breaks down those around them so they can stand taller?

As a manager, it is important to open doors for your employees in hopes that they step through them. The ultimate outcome you seek for them is to bang down those doors themselves and in ways that blow your mind. At the same time, you may begin by drawing them a line to the goal, but at some point they should take up the flag on their own and hold the line—the sooner the better.

Remember: Your emotions are an empty motor and your own values, dictated by your ability to do good work,and your drive to do it better than others is your FUEL. Let us know what fuels you as a performer on Facebook or Twitter hash tag #performbetter.

By Shiloh Kelly, Vice President of Marketing, Red Book Solutions | 20 years Cross Industry Experience | Corporate Marketing and National Sustainability Lead, BlueLinx |Chief Strategic and Creative Officer, Limelight Advertising | Strategic Marketing Manager, Vail Resorts

The goal is three-fold. The more efficient you can make everyone…

• the fewer of them you need
• the more you can pay the ones who are left
• hopefully you get to keep a little for yourself

Typically, when people look for these efficiencies they focus on the activities being performed.  According to Lean Manufacturing which was developed by Toyota, less than 10% of most processes relates to the actual duties performed, while over 90% relates to the time it takes to start the next task once the previous task was completed.

They have a really cool name for this – Non-Value Added Time.  

Many times the real opportunity is in the 90% compared to the 10%.

So how do you determine the amount of actual time and the amount of non-value added time? 

1. Lay out the actual workflow required to complete a process.  Plot the actual work on a flowchart to document the process.  Complexity is not the goal, but it does need to highlight the major components of the process and indicate where the hand-offs are. 
2. Measure the actions through observation and tracking. See the amount of time it takes to complete the activity and how long it takes for the next step to be started.  You are looking for the cues and how long it takes to go from one cue to the next.   Make sure you document the steps needed to correct any problems.  Now determine how often problems occur.  These steps are considered non-value added time.
3. The last step is a simple equation:

non-value added time ÷ SUM of total time  =  the percentage of non-value added time

Once you have this information, you can start looking at where the greatest amount of non-value added time is occurring and then you can start asking questions. Why does it take so long, what happens if we did it this way? Can we consolidate the functions so only one person is responsible? And so on.  My experience tells me you will be shocked at how much non-value added time there is and the reasons for it.  My favorite is, “We have always done it that way.”  I hate to say this but that is a cop out.

Unfortunately, in this situation, the gold is in the details.  Most of us really don’t want to do the work to truly flowchart all of the various disparate operations within the business.   I wish I could you give you another option to help determine the amount of non-value added time your processes are generating, but I am only aware of one.  Flowchart your business, start measuring, make course corrections, then do it all again.

Constant evolution is at the core of why great operations are great. So take the time to make yours better. You’ll gain more than just time.

By Greg Thiesen, CEO of Red Book Solutions

Recently I took part in an internal test where we evaluated a tool designed to help people establish a new habit or overcome a bad one.  The 21-Day Challenge was developed to change one small thing we, as managers, do. I wanted to work one single item at a time and not move on until it was completed.  Too often the item I’m working on is abandoned when I’m interrupted by a phone call, email or visit from someone who has an issue that I can resolve quickly.

As part of the Challenge, I followed the steps –

•  I committed to the item.
• I understood the benefits of making the change.
• I made it a focus at the start of each new day.
• I rated my daily performance toward my new goal.

And then I skipped a day.  Somehow that turned into another day.  Then another.

What happened?  I didn’t change my mind regarding the benefits of the new behavior or make an affirmative choice to abandon my participation in the test.  So why didn’t I follow through? How can you and other managers avoid the same fate?

All you have to do is run an internet search on “habit” or “discipline” to find more than enough information on the subject.  You can read a blog or buy a book or sign up for a service or even attend a seminar – all designed to teach you to create and sustain a new habit.

There is some agreement on how difficult it is to establish a new habit, but there are many different approaches.  Most approaches start with the foundation that individuals know what they should do, but they don’t do it (as was the case for me). 

• Tactics like setting aside the same time every day for the new activity or having a reminder system can certainly help incorporate a new habit into your daily routine. 

• Using a trigger or association can also help by building upon an existing habit to support the new behavior while you are establishing it.

• If you are more likely to do something when others expect it of you, creating a system of peer pressure can be a helpful support for you.

All those ideas can be helpful once you’ve gotten over the biggest hurdle – changing your thinking or leaving your comfort zone.  Most of the habits we wish to change don’t cause us to truly challenge our basic beliefs or reinvent how we approach life, but they may cause us to change our daily routine. 

In order to adopt a new behavior, we may need to abandon old ones or replace them with the desired behavior. There is comfort in doing things the same way even when we know they aren’t good for us and creating a new habit requires us to leave that comfort zone.  If we aren’t truly committed to the change, it’s too easy to fall back into our past ruts.

In my case, I had committed to participating in the test, but I hadn’t committed to really changing my behavior.  The cost of continuing the old behavior wasn’t high enough for me to sustain the effort required to change.  Having tools to help me establish my new habit didn’t work for me since I hadn’t completed the first step – determining that I needed to make the change.

 Before you invest in any of the multitude of tools, systems or courses designed to help you create or change a habit, be sure you have laid the foundation for the new behavior by understanding your own commitment, so you don’t end up in the situation I did. 

Now, armed with my new appreciation for the process, I’m ready to start over with the 21-Day Challenge.  I predict better results this time. I’ll let you know how successful I am.

 By Nancy Lane, Director of Human Resources, Red Book Solutions

Strength in Numbers

Reid is the Founder of LinkedIn, an early investor in Facebook and the author of the networking book best seller “Start Me Up.” I have always been a devotee of networking. Reid has taken the art and added science.

His networking guiding principles:

• Be genuine and put the interests of others ahead of your own
• Form ten alliances – people you would get up in the middle of the night for
• 3rd degree relationships are the best – someone in the mix who knows you personally
• Nurture your relationships

At the start, let’s agree that successful businesses and people stay in touch. They gain something from one another.

Here is a great example – publically traded Lululemon Athletica’s manifesto proclaims that “friends are more important than money” and since their IPO in 2007 their stock has climbed 263%. Top motivating speaker Tony Robbins states, “Proximity is power.” Combine the two and, voila, you have networking at its best.

Yes, networking is important. But how do I include it as an important aspect in my daily routine?

I see two problems for me:

• Reid famously carries 5 phones/laptops to stay connected. I don’t!
• And to stay that connected moves one into Information Overload – less productivity due to a never-ending barrage of distracting contacts and data.

So, let’s see what some of my network thinks. I randomly sent reconnecting emails to my allies and some 3rd degree connections. Responses were swift – perhaps because there was no ASK (“I need a favor”).

Here is a sampling:

“Sorry I haven’t been in touch lately. How are you?”

“I’ve been slammed. Glad you reached out.”

“No, I don’t do LinkedIn or Facebook. Too time consuming.”

One of my contacts responded with this actionable networking framework that she follows successfully:

• Create a formal alliance of folks who agree to help each other. Agree to talk once a month.
• Be disciplined in sharing leads and offering help and advice. Take this alliance seriously.
• Look for articles/information that would be interesting or useful to a contact. Send with a brief email. This shows you are thinking about them, limits your investment of time and keeps you connected.
• Make a personal decision to help someone in a big way. It will pay forward.
• Routinely make introductions and ASK for introductions.
• Send messages for key milestones (promotions, big business wins, awards).

More comes from networking than meets the eye. According to Harvard Business Review, being a good networker has other perks as well like moving from the non-promoted pool to being in the top 10% of getting promoted. By making a point to network up and down the ladder in your organization you keep yourself in the front of peoples’ minds and have allies in place who are ready to help you make that next move.

My conclusion – successful networking requires work and a personal approach. It is a snowball effect that gains momentum as you build and nurture it.

But designing your own framework of connectivity and working at it every day is absolutely doable.

By Debra Koenig, President of B2A Consulting

For further support around networking see Three Degrees of Separation: Building a Powerful Professional Network

A team must work together toward the same goal.

“The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.”  Babe Ruth

As a huge sports fan I am always amazed at teams that sign the highest priced athletes and then believe they will win championships. What teams seem to forget is how important team chemistry is.  Do some superstars really upset the team chemistry?  Do superstars believe they are more important than the team as a whole?  Those are great questions and the answers are probably yes and yes.

In Paul Azinger’s great book Breaking the Code he details how he took 12 “superstars” who played golf solely for themselves and turned them into 3 small teams of 4 all working for the ultimate goal of winning.  What Azinger writes about is the importance of matching personalities so they can reach the ultimate goal.  I know that through my work career I have worked with people who on their own were brilliant top performers but once paired on projects they failed to achieve and settled for mediocrity.

We all have “superstars” on our team and everyone always wants to hire more of them, but at what cost?  I know the Miami Heat and the New York Mets probably ask themselves this question quite often.  Were the players just not really what they seemed or did they take a sudden turn for the worse when they transitioned from one team to another?   Probably not. They were more than likely just mixed in with personalities they didn’t mesh with.

In Breaking the Code, the author speaks at great lengths about ensuring that the correct personalities and work ethics were matched so that the small teams or “Pods” as he refers to them, would give the entire team maximum production. Guess what?  It works.

I am sure that as you look around at your current and future teams and think to yourself that “Susie” was such a great hire and had such a great background, why is she not reaching her full potential?  The question you really need to be asking is whether Susie is matched with like-minded individuals in order for her to fulfill her potential?  Here at Red Book Solutions we take many personality tests ranging from Kolbe to DISC to ensure we are pairing our talent in teams and jobs that suit them well. Of course this costs a little more, but in the end it is much cheaper than the alternative—a self-destructing team does no one any good.

Great teams don’t just happen, they are crafted and cultivated. Really take a look at yours to understand its various traits. Be active in managing it at every level. It is a good investment of your time that will bring back a positive return in more ways than one.

By David Pettit, Business Development Director, Red Book Solutions

What may be a funny misunderstanding in this situation would be more frustrating in business—where managers and frontline employees must absolutely rely on one another to deliver and receive details correctly. Workplace communication is crucial to a team.

“Without communication and the team effort it permits, the successful completion of any important project can be jeopardized.” Applied Statistics for Business and Economics, Allen Webster

The importance of good communication is a core fundamental of better management. Everything a manager does involves a level of communication because they receive higher level direction and must be able to translate it to day-to-day actions.  Communication is the bridge between team members creating synergy within the team. When done correctly this is how we achieve organizational goals more rapidly and on target.

What are not always talked about are the ramifications of poor communication. Well, in a nutshell it directly affects task implementation in the following 3 ways:

1. Lowers Morale – If you don’t “understand the task” it can be a main point of on-the-job frustration.
2. Promotes Mistakes – When communication is poor it is harder to “perform the task” effectively.
3. Jeopardizes Productivity – Employees cannot “accomplish the task” to expectation when the above two issues exist.

Knowing the issues may be half the battle but in this case there is more to it. Think about all the noise that can interfere with any of your communication efforts such as, differences in learning, listening/hearing, culture, and general audience diversity—not to mention—information overload, multi-tasking, and working memory. All of these distort the information received in some way. Let’s take a closer look at the learn piece to make a clearer point.

How We Learn William Glasser

10% of what we READ

20% of what we HEAR

30% of what we SEE

50% of what we SEE and HEAR

70% of what is DISCUSSED with OTHERS

80% of what is EXPERIENCED PERSONALLY

95% of what we TEACH TO SOMEONE ELSE

So what do we do about communication now? Here’s a start. Your workplace communication needs to meet the following four criteria to be deemed “100% successful” with anyone.

• Simple
• Visual
• Action-Oriented
• Quick and Easy to Remember

By following these communication criteria your message will cut through the clutter, become memorable, and even more so, become actionable. Now to refine these efforts further, communicate using both verbal and non-verbal behaviors. Hold a pre-shift huddle, do one-on-ones for harder tasks, and have it written down so everyone can refer back.

Now we’re talking good communication. You and your team will find yourselves motivated by the growing accomplishments bringing your morale and productivity to all time highs. Sounds like a great place to be.

By Shiloh Kelly, Vice President of Marketing, Red Book Solutions