Organising yourself to communicate

Abstract

All aspects of business life necessitate organisation, and communication is no exception. Self‐organisation implies thinking out how best to accomplish one's tasks, and then doing them with a will. Intelligent people recognise the need for planning, but often overlook the vital part played by the will. Weakness of it can cause peculiar difficulties in communication. There are folk who seem to lack any will to communicate, because by nature they are retiring, reticent or simply uncooperative. Others reckon that by keeping information to themselves, or at best passing on only what suits them, they can gain or retain power. If you wish to organise yourself to communicate, you should first examine yourself for signs of these internal barriers. If you find them, you have some self‐development to do to avoid becoming an obstruction to the smooth running of your firm. This can happen whether you work for a large company or a small one. Indeed, a non‐communicator can cause proportionately more disruption in the smaller unit. It is much easier for the key person among five employees to bring them all to a halt for want of information or instructions than for the chairman of a concern five thousand strong, in which delegation is normally practised and other directors are at least partly in the know.

Citation

Sheldon, R. (1985), "Organising yourself to communicate", Education + Training, Vol. 27 No. 9, pp. 285-287. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb017196