CM Access

I learned from a friend, peer and mentor the term “over-communicator” and embraced it as a great way to describe myself. I would much rather be accused of saying way too much, to too many people, too many times, than always leave people saying “I wish I knew why/when/where/who/how…”

So when I saw this Note From Boss to Employees (I regret that I don’t remember where it was passed to me from…), I thought “brilliant!”

And while the excerpts below are a piece of what Michael Wade shows can help alleviate a lot of intra-office politics simply because they inform coworkers and subordinates, the thread that follows the post is also a very interesting read. Especially the “note to boss from employees”.

1. I am sometimes under enormous pressure from upper management; pressure that you seldom see. Anything that you can do to make my job easier will be greatly appreciated.”
…
4. If you are a former co-worker of mine, please recognize that supervising former peers is one of the toughest jobs any supervisor faces. The support that you give me is crucial.

5. I will make mistakes. Please give me the same understanding that you’d like me to give you when you blunder.

There’s more on the list, but I whole-heartedly believe it worth reading for anyone who’s had a supervisor. (Just like you have a whole new understanding of the job search process when you’ve been in the hiring seat yourself!)

Here’s a bit from the rebuttal:

“I was wrong.” “I’m sorry.” If you can say these two things when necessary, and mean them, you’ll gain more respect than you can imagine.

My review should not be filled with surprises and new information. If you want to know something, ask. If you want me to do something that I have not done before, ask. If you want me to stop doing something I have always done, ask.

We will occasionally have differences of opinion. In the end you make the decision and we own the outcome together. Please don’t take authority for the decision and disown responsibility for the outcome.

Just thought this was information worth passing on. I try to give my candidates and clients as much feedback and information about the process and status as possible, to avoid mis- or lack-of-communication.

Technorati Tags: leadership, Execupundit, Michael Wade, communication, over-communicators

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007 at 2:42 pm and is filed under CM Access, FYI. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.