TimWoolery.net Documenting the Journey and the Learning Curve

#39 – Business Communication for Beginners

So here I am, just bored in class when an epiphany strikes me and sheds some light on one of my major learning roadblocks that?s plagued me since starting the new job. Communication has always been one of my major Achilles heels and that it?s been so difficult has been something that?s always confounded me. After all, was I not The Writer? Hadn?t I learned to write to people so that they always knew how I felt?

I came upon one truth in business writing which goes almost completely against the grain of everything I knew about writing. You can?t tell it like it is. Tragic truth of life, but there you are. I had been learning that rule for a while but The Great Thank-You Note caper cemented it for me. In the business world people are so used to being told only half the story and having to speculate about ?what?s really going on?. So, it causes confusion if you tell the plain and simple truth. People just can?t handle it (Insert Jack Nicholson impression here). Thus, I?ve learned that I have to couch whatever I say in the standard workspeak if I want it to be accepted.

Enough of that-here?s the new thing I have come up with. There?s a difference between professional and unprofessional communication. By ?unprofessional? I don?t mean non-PC-type language; I?m talking about what is within the boundaries of your profession to render opinion on and take responsibility for. I?ve been having a lot of trouble correctly responding to non-professional communication; I don?t do it very well. My best example of this is my work with a person of authority that works in the same general sphere of influence as yours truly. If an issue comes up where this POA feels that the overall experience of our service is deficient-they will engage you in debate on the point with the vague threat that the conversation will be reported on to The Boss Over All if s/he gets an answer s/he doesn?t like.

The practice has always irritated me. It?s also irritated me that I?ve never found a way to deal effectively with that type of situation. What I?ve realized in today?s flash of brilliance is that there are professional and unprofessional types of discussion and the majority of these debates begin and end in the unprofessional area. It?s not something that s/he has any business browbeating me over, it?s also not something that I can provide an official brass-will-back-me-up answer for. The trap of these unprofessional questions and statements is that unprofessional communication is a lot like talking to the cops-anything can and will be used against you. Before I got into this game, I believed that unprofessional communication was relatively consequence-free. Not so. Perhaps it?d be good to post the Miranda rights in a poster on the wall so that everyone knows what the game is.

The practical application of this knowledge goes back to my friend the POA. I know that professionally, they have no business engaging me in this debate. I know that, but since it?s been drilled into me that I have to provide a response I feel obligated to say something. You can?t have it seem on paper as though you?re ignoring an issue. So, I engage in the debate even though I know it?s a waste of time, even though I know it?s probably going to make me look bad and even though I know if the POA can they will filibuster until I relent out of fatigue. I realize now why this is a mistake and I also realize what I should be doing instead.

If anyone you apply this information to makes an unprofessional statement or question, they?ve already informed you silently that they are unlikely to treat any further communication on an unprofessional level. In fact, they?re likely to treat it as professional and attempt to hold you professionally accountable for it later on. Therefore, treat this communication as a slippery slope. I have two choices at this point: respond professionally or respond unprofessionally. If I choose the latter option ? no matter how well I word what I say in these opening words it?s as if I?ve taken a snowboard and jumped onto that slippery slope screaming ?Cowabunga!? By responding in an unprofessional manner I?m also giving that person ammunition if s/he should choose to make it out to be a professional conversation later on.

If I choose to respond to the persons? unprofessional communication in a professional way then I?m stopping at the top of the slope before the slide can even begin. The professional response to the POA?s unprofessional question is simple: they?re attempting to engage me in a debate on how my department provides service to the users. I don?t make that policy and I don?t have authority to make decisions on it. Instead of even commenting on what the person is trying to corner me into I will simply direct them to my manager who is paid to deal with such nuisances. That way, my butt is covered, my time isn?t wasted and my general stress level is lower as a result.

It?s good to mention at this point that this rule of professional verses unprofessional communication does not have to be applied to everyone. Fortunately, society hasn?t degraded that far so you?ll find out as you go along that most people do not fall under the umbrella that this advice applies to. However, if you haven?t been in your job situation long enough to figure out who this does or does not apply to, it won?t hurt anything to apply it at the beginning and relax it as you get to know people.

The sad part is that knowing that this type of environment exists and working within it is a denial of all those ideals we were taught about telling people the truth and being as honest as you can. It?s sad that we have to work like this and believe me, I would be happier if we could all just say what was on our minds and get on with it but let me be the first to tell you that it doesn?t work that way. Accept that; accept it and move on because some people spend their entire careers in second gear because they can not or will not learn to play by those rules.

Is this information a cure for the common cold? No, absolutely not. This is one of those flashes on an idle Thursday that come when you?re sitting in a stuffy classroom bored out of your gourd. It?s an answer to a question I?ve been asking for the past seven months and it?s my way of saying ?Please don?t waste your time with this, try it and see?. I?m going to put it into practice and let you know how it goes-if you want you can do the same, I?m not trying to corner the market on how to survive in this world by any means. We all can learn the rules of the game and up the amount of winners in our corner. Perhaps we can get together at the top and figure out how to make the path simpler for others.

-Tim Woolery 2/16/03