In a previous meditation, I talked about communication. The way things are going at work, it seems to be my running theme for the last few weeks, so I'm planning to do two things: write down what I've figured out about communication, and solicit any tidbits from others that I can pass on to my coworkers (and even integrate into my own communication style).

I had previously said that "Even if you are the hardest person in the company to talk to, if you consistantly get what needs to be done faster, cheaper, and more reliably than anyone else, you'll be invaluable." I'm really starting to see the error in that statement, as husker pointed out.

While there is a certain amount of eccentricity permitted to higher-performing employees, the bars are set much more extreme than I may have implied at the time: the bar for "high performing" is quite high to be permitted minor eccentricities.

Tanktalus' Rules for Effective Communication

Communicate in the language of the listener

You may be a very technical person. However, the listener may not. Do not describe your problems employing any technical jargon that the listener does not know or understand.

If the listener is amenable, you can educate them on some of the terms, but this isn't a university class they signed up for - they have an actual job to perform, and learning a new discipline is unlikely to be it. So keep it brief, and keep it straight-forward. Don't leave them with enough information to be dangerous, though¹.

Understand the listener's motivation

This is part of the above, but is important enough to get its own point. You need to understand where the listener is approaching the problem from, and why they want it solved. Yes, at the core, many people are doing what they do just because they're getting paid. But you are unlikely to be able to influence their pay directly, so the next best thing is to help them look like they're performing well.

What is it that they want or need?

Give it to them.

What? Are you daft, Tanktalus? No, actually, I'm not. (Well, I don't think so anyway - my wife isn't so sure.) In a competition, there are winners and losers - for someone to win, others must lose. What you do in your day job, or even at home with your partner, is not a competition: it's a team sport. The way for everyone to win is really to try to give the other as much of what they want as you can without sacraficing what's important to you. Of course, to do that, you need to know what the other person or people want.

By ensuring their needs are met, they will be less likely to resist you getting what you want or need. And, funny enough, this works at home, too ;-)

Be transparent

There's an old saying - those who have nothing to hide, hide nothing. It works at work, too. Do not lie or mislead those you work with. Make it easy for coworkers to understand your perspective and motivation. That makes it easier for them to communicate with you. And, especially, do not lie or mislead your reporting chain(s). Not only is this an "actionable" offense (translation: you can be fired), ... well, isn't that enough reason?

You want your reporting chain on your side at all times in case things get rough. By keeping them informed and aware of your successes and roadblocks, you can be sure to get timely feedback if it is your performance faltering, or timely help to remove those roadblocks that you don' t have the influence to remove. Of course, this helps your performance, which is usually what you're getting paid to do, so it's like a win-win-win situation here.

¹There are three types of people in any given area of expertise: those who know what they're doing and know they do; those who don't know what they're doing but know they don't; and those who don't know what they're doing yet think they do. It's the last group that gives everyone else problems. It's also the last group that most people fall into most of the time.

All that said, there are specific exceptions to every rule. There are definitely some coworkers where the best way to communicate with them is, when they ask a question, to laugh maniacally and walk away, shaking one's head. ;-) But I'm more interested in the generalities of good communication from a technical person to someone who may or may not be technical, and, if they are technical, may not be an expert in the same area.