Solution to communication obstacles: solve cross-departmental communication problems from the organizational level.
Selfish departmentalism is the most talked-about problem in cross-departmental communication, and it is also the most fundamental reason for poor communication. When the leaders of many organizations criticize selfish departmentalism, they don't realize that the root of selfish departmentalism is leading themselves.
The purpose of division of labor is cooperation, and functional system is the most common form of division of labor at present. The effectiveness of the division of labor is reflected in the contribution to the partners and the overall results. Each department is not responsible for the final result, so it is easy for each department to judge their work with their own professional standards for the purpose of completing their own tasks, and to brush their sense of existence. Unfortunately, the performance appraisal of many enterprises is biased towards "professional appraisal" rather than "overall appraisal", and it is biased towards measuring what employees have done rather than "what achievements have been made". If you add many leaders who prefer "obedient people" and prefer "satisfying themselves rather than satisfying customers", the struggle for power and money and power between leaders will soon be "fish in the pool, how to know is not a blessing". Under such a system and environment, how can we not be "selfish" or "proceed from our own interests"?
Similarly, the achievements of each of us and each department are not in ourselves, but in the people who use the results of our work. Therefore, in order to break the fundamental obstacles of cross-departmental communication, organizations must establish a division of labor, assessment mechanism and organizational culture with "achievements and contributions" as the core.
The first is the concept, that is, the definition of the value of the work results of the company's management and department heads. There was once a leader in charge of a trade union in a large manufacturing industry. He thought it over carefully, and the value of trade union work was to "improve employees' sense of belonging and responsibility". Therefore, the achievement of the trade union department is not how many activities are organized and how many photos are taken, but the orientation of "the reduction of employee turnover rate" and "the degree of employees' participation in decision-making", which makes the work of the trade union truly widely supported by employees and various departments of the enterprise and soon makes extraordinary achievements.
Second, ideas don't automatically translate into actions. Guo Shina, the former president of IBM, famously said, "You will get what you evaluate". If it is necessary to strengthen the cooperation between departments and teams, we should examine it from the perspective of "cooperation" and "overall effect", not from a professional perspective.
However, although we can easily describe and prove what we have done, it is difficult to answer "the value of these works" or "what is the result", and it is even more difficult to prove this result or value with quantitative standards. In fact, this requires the management of the company to organize the leaders of various departments to sit down and give feedback and evaluation on the cooperation of various departments with the actual situation at work rather than personal relationships. Yes, this method is more vague, subjective and inefficient; However, the more important the problem, the less it is solved by efficiency.
Third, the form of self-organizing division of labor. Self-organization breaks the boundary between organization and department, and the existence of individuals or departments will no longer be taken for granted, but will come from "need" and "value"; The emergence of the Internet enables organizations to work independently through the network, without the need for "managers" to give orders. Although this form of self-organization mainly exists in the emerging Internet field, it is the general trend that "self-organization" replaces "functional system" just as "bureaucratic system" replaces "family system" and "functional system" replaces "bureaucratic system" in history.
Solution to communication obstacles: solve cross-departmental communication problems from the personal level.
Lu, a son of Zhang Xuegan in The Analects of Confucius, worked part-time. Confucius said, "If you listen to doubts more, you will be few if you are careful about the rest." If you see more dangers, if you are cautious about others, you will regret it. If you don't say anything, you will regret it, and Lu is one of them. "In addition to the organizational level, each of us has different experiences, expressions and communication methods, which will also have different influences on cross-departmental communication and cooperation. For how to solve the cross-departmental communication barriers, from their own point of view, we can start with the following points:
First, put yourself in the other's shoes, assuming that the other person's motivation is positive.
When there is a conflict when communicating with other departments, many people always think that it must be the fault of other departments at the first time, or even pass the buck. At this time, we should try to put ourselves in others' shoes and look at the problem of mutual communication, instead of always saying, I think, I think, or taking the interests of our department as the highest point and ignoring each other in the communication process. At the same time, when expressing different opinions, we should not completely deny the other party's point of view, but keep the other party's position and nod and smile in response.
Psychologically speaking, the human brain magnifies what it cares about; Once the other person's motivation is assumed to be negative, then the subconscious will prompt our brain to collect and process "evidence related to negative motivation", and we will really "see" more negative things, which is the so-called "self-realization of prophecy";
More interestingly, our "negative assumptions" will affect the other side of communication. Once the other party enters this "negative hypothesis" mode, "war" will be inevitable. There is no winner in the war between departments, and the result is bound to be both sides. Friends who are familiar with game theory must know the "prisoner's dilemma". The reason for the "prisoner's dilemma" is precisely that both sides will assume that "the other side will make the most unfavorable action" at the beginning. This is human nature, because we are born to learn to survive and avoid risks.
Second, repeat the other person's point of view, whether you agree or not.
As long as you observe carefully, it is not difficult to find that before we think that the other party has not heard our views, our attention is often focused on constantly expressing our views, rather than listening or discussing. By repeating the other person's point of view, you can first ask the other person to confirm "I am listening to you" and "I heard what you said", and at the same time show respect, so that the conversation can move towards substantive exchanges and discussions. Secondly, we all know the concept of "writing harmful meaning". We use words to express our intentions, but different people will choose different words. Many problems in communication are debated endlessly, and finally it is found that there is no difference in everyone's views, just different "words" and different expressions. The second function of retelling the other party's point of view is to reduce the influence of different expressions on communication as soon as possible.
Third, always pay attention to establishing a * * * relationship with the target interests.
The premise of win-win is that both parties have the same target interests. Therefore, the most taboo of cross-departmental communication is to start from one's own work and think that "the other party should cooperate." People in the workplace who are good at communication must do their homework before cross-departmental communication. While examining their own needs, we should understand the work of the cooperation department, including the current situation of the cooperation department, the company's requirements for the cooperation department, and the dimension of the other party's expected achievements, so as to find some combination points between the two departments. Then, when communicating, try to express from these combination points, observe each other's reaction, and build the prospect of cooperation on the same vision.
Fourth, often praise each other with concrete examples.
No one doesn't want to be affirmed by the company or others, but when was the last time we were praised by the cooperation department? We all know that praise is far more powerful than criticism. Someone said, "In which direction you want to develop, you should consciously praise each other in that direction." . The key to praise is to be concrete and objective, and to have real phenomena or examples, otherwise it is easy to fall into "hypocrisy or exaggeration". Praise itself is not difficult, but it is difficult to praise with specific examples.
Fifth, improve your communication skills and influence.
Communication is the lifeline of management and the necessary means to integrate the planning, organization, command, coordination and control functions necessary for management. Therefore, it is emphasized that "communication is everywhere", and cross-departmental communication should pay special attention to communication art. It is suggested that all managers improve their communication skills, including effective listening, and keep communication concise and accurate. In the internal communication of the company, people are often eager to express and ignore listening. In communication, if both parties or at least one party pay more attention to listening, repeat and ask questions in time to confirm key information, and give appropriate feedback, then the effectiveness of communication will be greatly improved, that is, accurate, time-saving and less conflict. The stronger our influence in the organization, the stronger the consciousness of cooperative departments to actively cooperate. However, influence is not politics, not "getting on well with leaders", nor "crying and quarreling", but that we can make effective contributions to leaders and colleagues around us.