Email Protocols That Build Teamwork by Dr. Brent E. Betit, The Fletcher School
Earlier in my career, I worked in postsecondary education where I developed skills as an organizational utility infielder. In all, I held six interim senior management roles at the same college, in addition to my ongoing responsibilities. A colleague told me it was because I didn’t know how to say “no.” However, it was one of the best learning experiences imaginable, providing some interesting insight into change processes, organizational culture, and team dynamics. Because I served in these roles on an interim basis — and made clear I was not interested in permanent positions — I benefited by not experiencing the political dynamics that often hinder interim leaders. Surely the most common challenge I encounter in both interim and permanent roles is communication. Heard that one before? Any organization with more than a single employee has a culture of communication — one that can either compromise or deliver consistently positive outcomes. Unfortunately, culture is too often unspoken and unexamined. Unless retrospection and reflection form a strong foundation of the culture, communication challenges will persist. What is the primary objective of communication in any team? A review of business literature provides context. Bjørn and Ngwenyama believe it is “shared meaning between participants.” 1 Warkentin and Beranek suggest “interpersonal communication dynamics” can be improved when organizations “require team communication training on group interactions, especially for enhancing...relational links and thereby improving communication and information exchange.” 2 Frost points to communication standards as the first principle to address communication problems in the workplace. 3
If we want to achieve meaning and high performance on teams, we should create simple team communication expectations and standards and establish consistent team-wide communication practices. Another colleague once told me that this kind of organizational epiphany is more of a “duh” moment thanan “aha” moment, and that embracing the obvious seems to be a key skill I had learned in multiple interim appointments. I’m pretty sure she meant that during my many interim roles I developed an uncanny ability to identify common team challenges. Yeah, let’s go with that.
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SPRI NG 2020 │ SAIS.O RG
