Better Decisions: Communicate, communicate, communicate - the key to good management

Sunday, August 10, 2008

by GARY MAWHINEY

Managing people in today's hectic world of farming can sometimes be a frustrating experience.

On more than one occasion, I have had producers ask me how they should deal with employees who don't listen and continually fail to follow instructions.

One of the first approaches I take in dealing with their questions is to ask whether or not they have explained themselves so that their workers understand exactly what they are being asked to perform.

In real estate, the axiom is location, location, location. In human resources management, the buzz words are communicate, communicate and communicate some more.
During the past year, I have written several articles for Better Farming on various human resource topics, ranging from regulatory compliance issues to becoming an employer of choice.

In each instance, it is safe to say that the central theme is communication. Without the ability to talk to your staff in a clear and concise manner, you will inevitably encounter problems. These problems can run from work not getting done the way that you thought you instructed it to be done all of the way to serious injury or death from not understanding what is needed.

In any human resource management course, there is always a section about communicating effectively. I learned very early in my working life about effective communication. My first job was as a reporter for a local daily newspaper. I eagerly awaited my first assignment and byline.

After a short training period, I was asked to write a feature article on a dog which had taken over raising a family of kittens after the mother had been accidentally killed by a car. I spared no research on this unusual story, even going as far as to contact the vet school at the University of Guelph to see if this had ever happened before. I went into great detail in my article about the physical and psychological implications of a dog mothering kittens.

Duly checked and rechecked, I submitted my article to the editor and, much to my disbelief, found that he did not like it one bit. Here I had worked very hard to produce this Pulitzer Prize winning article and he said rewrite it. To say I was shocked would be putting it mildly, but I thought I had better ask him how he wanted it before repeating the exercise. He summed it in up in a few words that I have always tried to follow throughout my career.

He said that whenever you are writing for publication, assume that your reader has a grade seven education. Make sure that it is readable and could be understood by a child. Obviously, he was not talking abouttechnical or professional writing but rather general news articles. In the bigger picture, the lesson that I learned is that your communication must be in terms that are easily understood and followed.

Conflict resolution in the workplace not only takes patience but also requires effective communication by all parties involved in the conflict. If one looks at conflicts closely, they arise most frequently because someone failed to understand the other's point of view or needs. Human nature dictates that our needs, both personal and work-related, have to be met in order for us to work effectively.

People learn and understand in different ways.

Some people are auditory learners, capable of listening to instructions and following them quite easily. The opposite is true of visual learners. These types of people tend to understand and grasp situations by actually seeing them performed or written out. So, you can see the conflict that would arise if you are just giving instructions on how to operate a piece of machinery by talking and you have a visual learner receiving the instructions.

Many workers are afraid to ask questions for fear of looking foolish in the eyes of their employer. It is absolutely paramount that you as a manager or employer understand what type of employee you have and make them comfortable in the learning environment. That is to say, communicate to them that there is no such thing as a stupid question and the only bad question is the one that is not asked.

We are not born with good communication skills, but we are born with the ability to develop them. Experience in managing staff, along with a willingness to understand the different ways in which people communicate, will give you the skill necessary to be an effective supervisor.

Great orators from the early Greeks to the present day have all had one thing in common. They were able to understand their audience and talk in such a manner that everyone understood the point they were making.

I have stressed that, in order to be an effective human resource manager, you must develop the skill of communicating. Another part of communication is listening. Really listening to what your staff is telling you will go a long way in breaking down any communication problems that may exist on your farm. BF

Gary Mawhiney is Human Resources Management Program Lead with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Email: gary.mawhiney@ontario.ca