Things get a little dirty when humans get involved. In any system, human behavior and human understanding “gum up” the process. These are a few of the dirty secrets for effective communications.

Communication

Communication is the exchange of information from one person to another.

Communication requires a sender, a receiver, and a message. Technical professionals (sender) usually believe the decision maker (receiver) cannot understand the message because the decision maker is not as smart as they are. Most of the time, the lack of understanding comes from the noise generated by the sender. The burden of effective communication is on the send (technical professional), not the receiver (decision maker). [Read more…]

Effective communication is the one thing that makes your life better, more fulfilling, and more rewarding. That is equally true in personal relationships and in business.

Keep it simple. If you can convey the same information in fewer words, do it. If you can use fewer sentences, use fewer. If you can avoid tangents and parenthetical comments, avoid them. Only about 20 percent of what you normally communicate provides 80 percent of the influence on others.

The one thing is right under your nose. The one thing is the game changer for your career because it enables others to understand the complex and uncertain world where you work. The one thing requires understanding the outcomes you seek before optimizing the separate components.

System Defined

A system is a collection of interrelated or interacting parts, each of which can affect the behavior or outcomes of the whole. One defining property of a system is that it provides a function that none of the parts can accomplish by themselves. The corollary is that a system is not the sum of the parts but the product of their interactions.

Simple examples include the mechanical advantage gained from a system of pulleys or a gearbox. Sports teams or work units are examples of human systems. Systems are essential aspects of our everyday lives.