Cooperative Communication
Alexander Muse , August 28, 2007
In business there are various forms of communication. Most of us took one or two communication classes in college, but they rarely covered electronic communication in a business setting (prior to 2001). I figured a quick run down might help everyone at Architel communicate better.
Passive Communication Examples:
Passive communication is communication that doesn’t require the recipient to respond, it is almost always a bad idea when delivered via email. Have you ever sent out a mass email (i.e. to a distribution list) asking for assistance or information? For example,
From: Someone
To: Everyone
Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2007 11:01:18 AM GMT-0600 US/Central
Subject: Help!Can someone call Joe at XYZ to make sure it is okay to reboot the server at 5PM? Let me know if there is a problem.
Regards,
Someone
Of course, everyone reading this email would assume that someone else (likely lots of people) must have called Joe by now and assume that the issue has been dealt with. But in reality it is just as likely no one has responded. The sender of this message has either wasted lots of people’s time or potentially put Joe’s server at risk of meltdown.
Passive communication doesn’t have to be one-to-many, it can be one-to-one as seen in this example:
From: Someone
To: Someone Else
Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2007 11:01:18 AM GMT-0600 US/Central
Subject: Help!I need you to help Ginger with her mouse, let me know if you aren’t going to be able to get to it before the end of the day. FYI - she is really freaking out.
Regards,
Someone
This is a very common email type. You have at the very least assigned the task to someone, but you have requested they respond ONLY if they can’t help. What if they don’t get the email until tomorrow? I guess Ginger will be freaking out even more.
Cooperative Communication Strategy:
In the cooperative communication strategy we are all working toward the same goal. Information distributed to the group is active. For example:
From: Someone
To: Everyone
Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2007 11:01:18 AM GMT-0600 US/Central
Subject: Help!Guys, there is a new virus and I would like each of you to check out the details in the wiki before the end of the day, click to review.
Regards,
Someone
Provide the information and suggest an action. Assistance requested must require immediate action. For example:
From: Someone
To: Someone Else
Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2007 11:01:18 AM GMT-0600 US/Central
Subject: Help!I need you to help Ginger with her mouse, if you can help her with the issue before the end of the day please give me a ring or respond to this email in the next ten minutes or so. Otherwise I will try to get someone else on top of it.
Regards,
Someone
If you need help and are looking for availability (i.e. you don’t have a clue who to specifically request), use another medium of communication. If you are in the same room as the group simply raise your voice and ask for help. If you are in a chat, IRC, IM or Twitter session ask the group for help. Don’t send an email blast. Why not? Either you receive multiple personal responses that no one else can see (i.e. wasting everyone’s time) or you are all using ‘reply to all’ and filling up everyone’s email box.
Stop using passive communication and start using cooperative communication. Deal?
