I supervise a team providing support services for our project managers.  My team is a hardworking, dedicated group who takes pride in doing an excellent job.  Lately, however, costly mistakes are being made.  Our troubles began shortly after starting a huge, complex project with new requirements and tight deadlines.  Everyone is so busy that there is little time for direct communication.  Whenever a mistake is found, the project managers blame the support staff for not following directions and the support staff complains that the project managers say one thing and expect something else.  This finger pointing is creating a lot of stress, as well as divisions between the groups – and causing more mistakes.

You clearly have a communication problem.  When time gets tight, people cut corners in order to get the job done on time.  Good communication practices are often the first to go resulting in less time for meetings and people catching each other on the fly in the hallway, the car, and other places with multiple distractions.  But cutting communication corners doesn’t save time in the long run.  In fact, it generally takes three times longer to fix a mistake than it would have to do it right the first time.  Here are some tips to get back on track.

Accurately name the problem.  The problem isn’t the project managers or the support staff, the problem is ineffective communication between the project managers and the support staff.  When the problem is framed accurately, it’s easier to address.

Use various communication methods.  Be careful to match the method with the need.  For example, email is often convenient and provides a written record, but is not as effective as direct conversation when quick decisions or immediate feedback is necessary.  And having a cell phone doesn’t automatically mean that a person can deal with complex issues while driving or being otherwise distracted.

Listen carefully.  When time is short, good listening skills are essential.  Regardless of where or how information is exchanged, everyone needs to make a conscious effort to focus on the speaker and the message, eliminate distractions, restate to clarify, ask questions, and summarize.

Follow up.  When stakes are high and communication is getting short-changed, you need to follow up to ensure accuracy.  Summarizing key points or sharing your understanding of the outcome of a conversation in an email, phone message, memo, etc. will provide an opportunity to correct misunderstandings before they become mistakes.

Make no mistake – good communication saves time, money - and even more importantly - good working relationships.