The Silent Treatment: Workplace Communication in 2007

By James Adonis

Managers are giving their employees the silent treatment. And it's not because they're angry, bitter or upset - it's because they've forgotten how to communicate.

It all started in 1990, when the internet first became available for public use. The tool which has made communication easier and faster must also claim responsibility for the hushing of our workplaces, the misinterpretation of tones, and the rise and rise of email wars, some of which have become world famous.

A prominent victim has been the prestigious Australian legal firm, Allens Arthur Robinson. Two of its secretaries became internet superstars when their fiery email exchange over a missing ham sandwich got them fired. The email was forwarded to others in the firm and subsequently made its way to millions of computers around the world.

The introduction of email has been a non-confrontationist's dream come true, and in a country like Australia, which has the world's highest rate of avoidance leadership, managers galore were tapping their fingers away like Montgomery Burns, saying "excellent" as Outlook or Lotus Notes were installed on their computers.

Consider this: over 171 billion emails are sent every single day, which means that about 2 million emails are sent per second. We're addicted.

But this blessing has turned into an evil spirit that is dividing organisations and costing them millions of dollars.

The "bottom-line" is the most overused term in the corporate world. And whenever it's mentioned, it's associated with productivity and costs. But the discerning manager realises that what fuels "bottom-line" results is not productivity or cost control - it is the drivers of these two factors which determine a company's profit levels. Communication is such a driver. Right now, the cynical manager is thinking "whatever". Well, whatever this...

Watson Wyatt conducted a comprehensive study into internal communications which revealed that communication effectiveness is a leading indicator of financial performance. Specifically, companies that communicate effectively experienced these outstanding results:

• A 19.4 per cent higher market premium than their competitors.
• Shareholder returns that were over 57 per cent higher over a five-year period than other companies.
• They were four times more likely to report high levels of employee engagement
• They were 20 per cent more likely to report lower rates of employee turnover

And yet, according to a study by the folks at OfficeTeam, 71 per cent of managers say that email is their primary means of communication, while only 14 per cent say that face-to-face is their preferred option.

People sitting next to each other email one another as if they're invisible. Text messaging has changed the way that younger generations spell - with many of them thinking that "u" is a word. Managers fire their employees by shooting off an email.

Network Ten's firing of news-reader Tracey Spicer by email was not only a public embarrassment, but it also resulted in a legal settlement.

With a greater array of communication mediums to choose from, we've sacrificed the most effective type of communication - face-to-face.

Joseph Priestley, the man who invented soda water and discovered oxygen, once remarked that, "The most elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate" - and he died in 1804. He'd be turning in his grave right about now.

Even Time Magazine's Person of the Year award panel is guilty. In 2006, the Person of the Year was "you" - an approving nod to the user-generated content on the internet via mediums such as MySpace, blogging, website, and YouTube.

You'd think that since employees, especially Gen Y'ers, are tech-obsessed, that they wouldn't mind the miscommunication revolution. But it's not the case.

A study by Eversheds revealed that 97 per cent of workers would like their bossed to communicate more clearly and directly. As a result, a survey by Talent2 has shown that half of all employees claim that water-cooler conversations are their only source of information about their company's future. So in effect, we've gone from an environment in the 1990s where water-cooler conversations were about the latest episode of Melrose Place, to an era where employees are using this meeting spot as a way of getting company information from their peers.

Harvard University's Nitin Nohria sums it up beautifully with, "Communication is the real work of leadership".

Mahatma Gandhi was such a person who used the power of effective communication to become one of the finest leaders we've ever seen. He conceived a theory of non-violent communication which advocated four key steps. Briefly, these are: (1) speech and action; (2) maintenance of relationships; (3) openness; and (4) flexibility.

These same four principles can be applied in today's world of corporate communication. Let's talk more (by conversing with people in person), let's build stronger relationships (which can only happen through face-to-face communication), let's be more open (by sharing ideas), and let's be more flexible (by not limiting ourselves to virtual communication).

In the same way that instruments have made way for computer-generated music, and live orchestras have been abandoned for rave parties, so too has the tried-and-tested way of face-to-face communication fallen out of tune. It's time for an encore.

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