Archiv der Kategorie: Communication

Communication consists of perception, thought models and communication behavior.

Sticking the head in the sand only brings disadvantages

Leaders, who are in charge formally or informally, shape large groups. The role model of leaders determines the behavior of the members on all levels. Good, but unfortunately also bad habits are transmitted and reused thoughtlessly. The decisiveness, the readiness for risk and openness are just some positive characteristics that make the enterprise fit for unexpected events. In times when accuracy is more important than decided action, the employees develop passive approaches that help to avoid being noticed due to too many breakdowns. In addition to sitting out issues, beating around the bushes and the noncritical fulfillment of tasks, the ‘sticking the head in the sand’ seems to promise a way out. Nevertheless, it only provides disadvantages.

kopfindensand

After the slogan ‘No one sees, what I do not see’ the decision makers save themselves quickly into their own mindscape, without paying attention to the signs coming from the context. The better approach is the attentive observation of the environment with the following measures.

  • Benefit from the contributions of superiors, colleagues, employees and others!
    The proposals that are provided by the environment, offer frequently solutions for most of the difficulties. In order to lift these treasures of proposals, it needs nothing else than the ability to listen. Formally, idea forums or suggestion systems can be installed and evaluated with little expenditure on the web.
  • Detect weaknesses and risks!
    As soon as the employees assume that the quest for possible complications eventually creates the inconvenience, preliminary avoidance of trouble is no longer possible. Tools, such as SWOT, the view of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and risks, provide good results, in order to step out of the way of obstacles.
  • Use opportunities!
    The well-known coin that lies on the street, of course, must be seen, in order to pick it up. In a similar way, it is important to keep the eyes open for opportunities, which create one or the other way around problems. With the appropriate plan radar, opportunities can be identified at an early stage.
  • Cultivate long-range views!
    The future cannot be seen until it becomes present. However, since it is mostly build on existing aspects, you can develop scenarios that can be derived from the available insights. The consequences that will be discovered from these perspectives, improve in any case your ability to react appropriately to the future. The joint development and the spreading of the scenarios empower cooperation.
  • Foster decisions!
    As long as mistakes are not considered valuable experiences, it is difficult to get long-term agility based on decisive employees. In centralized companies, like for example those in the Middle East, the boss signs personally even the smallest procedure. It is surely better to use the current hierarchies in such a way that the responsible level makes the decisions. In the event of a fault, nobody should be afraid that apart from the actual difficulties, additional punishments could take place.

Bottom line: Sticking the head in the sand creates only disadvantages – for the enterprise. Therefore, an environment that tolerates mistakes and provides elbow freedom for the entrepreneurial spirit of the employees is needed. Difficult decisions in the interest of the company should be taken quickly and decisively. One, who closes the eyes to the reality, is disturbing sand in the gear.

Not denouncing – Remembering!

Who? What? When? Where? How? Why? Good questions, in order to seize an issue. Publications are more and more taken to pieces. For this reason many avoid to criticize directly in order not to expose oneself to criticism. It is also not necessary to denounce, since it is sufficient to mention the topic. Our acquired assessments lead then automatically to a collective condemnation – without denouncing directly, but through simple remembering.

Erinnern

A skillful culture of remembrance can be used for keeping awake, refurbishing, or reconstructing the stigma of a social group in the consciousness of the society. Examples are everywhere. Thus Japan keeps each year on August 6th in Hiroshima and on August 9th in Nagasaki the memory awake of the nuclear bombs that were dropped on Japan in 1945 by the USA. Or think about the western media that regularly refreshes the memory of the incident on June 4th in 1989 besides the square of Heavenly Peace in Beijing under the heading ‘Tiananmen massacre’. Or the speech of president Obama on the 24.7.2008, at the Siegessäule in Berlin, where he rebuilt the spirit of the cold war *1.

The accusation is, so to speak, in the corresponding rituals of remembrance – publications, reportages, meetings and the like. The following elements are particularly effective.

  • Catch words
    These are terms that trigger specific associations in the target group with an emotional and evaluative meaning, e.g. political left and right, freedom fighters and terrorist, capitalism.
  • Images
    The media society has an huge amount of pictures anchored in the collective memory, e.g. Abu Ghuraib, the fleeing policeman at the Berlin wall, the Chinese with purchase bags, who placed himself into the way of tanks besides the square of Heavenly Peace (s. picture above).
  • Contemporary witness
    The statements that contemporary witnesses use to remember events after many years.
  • Comparisons
    The comparison of current events with historical incidents provides at the same time an assessment of the current situation. For example in 2014, the comparison between the beginning of the First World War and the current political situations around the world.

The remembrance keeps the meaning of circumstances, events or emotional experiences awake. Even if the situation became obsolete, old feelings are kept active by remembering. On the one hand, it can contribute to the fact that similar things will never happen again. On the other hand, the opportunity of forgetting and forgiving is missed and old dislikes are preserved for a long time.

Bottom line: Criticizing, accusing, stigmatizing and condemning directly is the last resort in order to denounce shortcomings. The subtler way is by commemorating. That keeps the former issue awake and the original emotion active, without becoming directly vulnerable by using active criticism.

*1 “In this century – in this city of all cities – we must reject the Cold War mind-set of the past, and resolve to work with Russia when we can, to stand up for our values when we must, and to seek a partnership that extends across this entire continent.” 24.7.2008