The Communication Problem Solver

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A common joke among managers is “Work would be great if it weren't for people.” This book deals with dealing with those people. The book focuses on communication skills, which are essential for a manager to possess to ensure a productive work environment.

The challenges that managers encounter often are caused by a breakdown in the communication process. For example, managers may struggle with communicating expectations, dealing with difficult people and situations, delegating work, and a wide variety of other common worksite challenges. The author provides methods that all managers can use in dealing with their direct reports. These techniques also may be useful in managers' relationships with senior managers or situations in their personal lives because communication skills can be woven into all relationships.

The book is divided into three sections, and each section builds on the one before it. The overall emphasis is on the key components for cultivating a successful work environment: developing relationships, using communication process skills, and having effective collaborative conversations. How-to steps, real-world management situations, and the author's own experiences provide clear and concise examples of effective communication methods.

The first section of the book deals with developing and maintaining relationships with staff members and communicating expectations with clarity and preciseness. The goal is to cultivate a productive and motivating work environment. Setting clear expectations ensures that the work will be done appropriately and with minimal rework. This section offers a worksheet on clarifying expectations. It concludes with a detailed section on how to and how not to convey those expectations to direct reports.

How to communicate is the key. To illustrate, the author provides several examples of ways to build relationships through trust, spending time with staff members, and creating laughing moments. For example, the author explains how a company in California fosters a humorous and positive environment that motivates clients to achieve their objectives. By using laughing moments, this company creates a relaxed, educational, and pleasurable work environment. When people laugh together, they create shared moments and a strong, trusting, team-focused environment.

The second section deals with workflow structure and discusses how workflow processes and project management steps help reinforce a manager's expectations. The more the manager's direct reports clearly understand what is expected of them, the greater the potential for a productive job performance and workflow. These chapters encourage the manager to develop the skill of managing in a factual framework while maintaining trusting relationships.

One chapter in this section addresses judging and labeling people and how it hinders communication, relationships, and progress in the workplace. The author lists common terms people use to describe their opinions of others that can cause tension within the relationships. The author gives a three-step process that can be used to help identify the root causes of problems:

By following these steps, managers can help preserve relationships or rebuild damaged ones.

Other chapters in this section describe numerous scenarios that allow managers to visualize their own real-life people problems and formulate solutions. There is a chapter that can be used as a reference guide for many actual work problems and solutions managers have mentioned encountering at their work sites. The author summarizes this section by stating that people problems are business problems enclosed in concerns about interpersonal communication and are often emotional. By using the three-step process, managers can identify the business facts and observable behaviors, which will reveal the truth about both the work issues and the interpersonal issues.

The last section of the book discusses feedback, coaching, delegating, and listening, all of which are essential for collaborative conversations. Each chapter reviews every aspect of how to have those two-way conversations with direct reports. By using the skills and methods discussed in these chapters, the manager will foster a positive and productive work environment. The section concludes with nine communication tips that are sure to enable the manager to become top notch. One tip is to stay positive. By choosing to maintain a positive attitude, the manager will energize the work environment by creating a positive and exciting vision of the future. The author also introduces the term “life boat people” in this section and explains that life boat people are positive about the future and immediate situation at hand and inspire teamwork.

The book concludes with two appendices. One defines three tools used to communicate job expectations, such as goals, job descriptions, and performance standards in the work setting. This appendix gives examples of how those three communication tools are linked together. The second appendix is a valuable resource for first-time managers. This appendix provides examples about balancing the dual roles of operating as a manager and an individual contributor, and about transitioning to a management role.

Promoting effective communication is the manager's responsibility. This book provides tools and techniques for managers to help them solve communication problems. The author of this book is a professional speaker, communications consultant, management trainer, and a former manager. The author's expertise and the value of her own stories provide a solid reference guide. I believe this book is an extraordinary resource that all managers can embrace to help them effectively lead and manage.