Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

It is often necessary but seldom practiced that a high-ranking person takes the time to tell everyone else what is happening and why. Let’s call this “micro communicating.”

Consider what I shall call “micro communicating.”

I found this practice, not the term but the practice, many years ago. An executive-level person was managing a billion-dollar project. He visited as many persons as he could who were working on the project. He didn’t care how little they did on the project, but if they did anything—including mopping floors in assembly rooms—he tried to talk to them face-to-face to ensure they knew how important the project was and how important it was for them to do their best.

By the way, these projects succeeded. I find the co-occurrence of his communication efforts and the success of the projects to be more than chance.

That is one form of micro communicating: the highest executive speaks face-to-face with anyone doing anything on the project.

Another form of micro communicating is for the highest executive to understand the details behinds communications sent upwards. This requires questions or as some call it, “pull.” Please explain to me what you mean when you say fill-in-the-blank-with-your-favorite-generalization.

It is unfortunate, but much of the communication upwards tends to gloss over details. “All is well. Just trust us.” And then a 737 falls out of the sky and subsequent micro communicating reveals … well, uh, er, lots of problems.

Yes, there is a place for a staff of persons who work the details. And yes, there is a place for an executive or someone up in the clouds to ask a detailed question that deserves a detailed answer.

Communicate the details. Communicate with everyone involved. Talk in plain language in person. It is amazing what can happen.