>Let's use a "no bad news" model to frame the context of the Senior managers
>at the CMN who recently went through an Upward Feedback exercise, where
>employees used the exercise as a way to vent 5 years of pent up
>frustrations.
>Of the 7 managers who went through the Upward Feedback exercise, 3 were
>fired and four were deeply scarred.
Suzanne Sauve noted that the managers who survived find it difficult to
>resolve conflicts within their divisions.
When I read this message, I thought this message would strike a chord with
the learning group, but there hasn't been a lot of respnse to this message
to date.
As one replay mentioned, the details are relevant, but given the
information available, here are my thoughts.
Most organizations function with two communication structures - a formal
chain of command, and an informal network of communication. By way of
analogy, this is somewhat comparable to the rwo nervous systems in the
human body. The sympathetic nervous system controls the muscles and
organs; the parasympathetic nervous system provides a secondary feedback
mechanism (this system is largely used in acupuncture).
When work must be done, and commands given, the formal communication
system predominates. Yet when feedback is required - a policy doesn't
work, a technical problem defies solution, or personality conflicts
inhibit productive work, then the informal (parasympathetic) lines of
communication take over.
This is due in part, I believe, by an inherent weakness in the formal
communication system - it does not like bad news.
Upward negative communication, telling your boss that something a)
doesn't work or b) is about not to work is a skill that few line and
middile managers posess. It requires sensitivity to the nature of the bad
news; an ability to phrase the news in the context of the organization's
needs, so that it's not seen as a threat; and a finely developed
understanding of what the recipient of the bad news must do with it.
Quite often, bad news "dies on the vine." The recipient of bad news
chooses, either through a conscious decision or a pocket veto, not the
transmit the bad news to his or her superior.
And that lack of upward negative communcation sets the tone in the
organization. If you know that the problems and perhaps possible
soluiions you worked hard to identify, explore, and present will fall with
a thud like a tree in an empty forest, then you might not work so hard to
present problems the next time.
So problems tend to build up, and the very skills needed to resolve
conflicts are not developed, partly because they are not called into use.
If "no bad news" is sent [or received] there is no need to develop these
very critical conflict resolution skills.
Please comment on
- ways of encouraging the upward communication of "bad news," and
- how certain skills, such as negotiation, active listening and role
playing, instill a sense of confidence in the sender of "bad news," so
that the informal communication system (the parasympathetic nerves) work
to keep the organization healthy.
More to come.
"Yesterday is history; tomorrow is a mystery; today is a gift: that's why
it's called 'the present.'" - seen on the stairway wall of my daughter's
school.
Stuart Harrow
--"Harrow, Stuart" <bvc2206@dcrb.dla.mil>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>