Close friends and I were reflecting on the year\u2019s events.\u00a0 One friend made a comment that had me thinking about mixed messages.\u00a0 She commented on how difficult it\u00a0has been\u00a0to filter out the noise from the truth.\u00a0 Recent events have underscored the dangers of mixed messages- is it safe to gather or not?\u00a0 Do I wear a mask or not?\u00a0\u00a0Is the\u00a0pandemic\u00a0a hoax?\u00a0\u00a0Do I get vaccinated or not?\u00a0\u00a0Different news sources\u00a0seem to come from\u00a0different planets.<\/p>\n
These mixed messages have caused much heartache and angst.\u00a0 In Utah, a doctor told a story of a patient critically ill of COVID, who refused to believe he had the virus.\u00a0 His source said there was no such thing.\u00a0 On a macro level, mixed messages\u00a0can\u00a0cause disastrous results.<\/p>\n
On a micro level, the same mixed messages can ruin a business.\u00a0 Similar to national news, small businesses must seek out good information sources. Valid information can help us avoid mistakes and identify new opportunities.\u00a0 Small businesses don\u2019t have the funds to hire a corporate intelligence specialist.\u00a0 They must develop cost-effective ways to keep abreast of industry changes that may impact their business.\u00a0 The information sources must be reliable and up-to-date.\u00a0 Industry and trade organization websites and publications are good sources of comprehensive information about changes in specific industries.<\/p>\n
The world of business can be full of crossed signals.\u00a0\u00a0Your management style can add to the problem or aid in the delivery of information employees can trust.\u00a0\u00a0When managing employees, mixed messages can deteriorate engagement.\u00a0\u00a0Some mixed-messages we have seen involve:<\/p>\n
The question is not whether these messages were correct or not.\u00a0There may be good reasons behind the decisions.\u00a0Mixed messages\u00a0occur when employees\u00a0misread a situation or event.\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen these situations\u00a0play out when a message from a\u00a0CEO or\u00a0manager were not received\u00a0in the way they intended.\u00a0\u00a0These messages contained too little information or\u00a0not enough\u00a0context.<\/p>\n
A manager can\u00a0thinks\u00a0he\/she solved a problem,\u00a0when in fact, they created a new one.\u00a0\u00a0What is\u00a0said by one person is often what\u2019s misunderstood by another.\u00a0 Intent may be clear to the manager but may not be clear at all to the employee.\u00a0\u00a0There may be a disconnect between senior\u00a0management\u2019s wishes\u00a0and mid-level managers\u00a0delivery.<\/p>\n
It is helpful to follow-up with employees to be sure messages were accurately understood.\u00a0\u00a0Hey, just ask them.\u00a0 Numerous kinds of candid, accurate feedback\u00a0methods\u00a0allow to flow to the top.\u00a0 Surveys, 360 evaluations, and\u00a0systems\u00a0measure on how effectively employees are attaining results.<\/p>\n
If leaders\u00a0communicated\u00a0a unified message about the pandemic,\u00a0I believe\u00a0people\u00a0would have\u00a0rallied\u00a0together and seek ways to meet the challenge.\u00a0People have an uncanny ability to get behind a cause they believe in.\u00a0\u00a0Seeking\u00a0multiple points of views and testing the\u00a0validity of\u00a0sources\u00a0can be hard but not impossible.<\/p>\n
Leaders need to mean what\u00a0they\u00a0say and say what\u00a0they\u00a0mean.\u00a0 Consider less about what is said and focus more about how it may be received.\u00a0\u00a0Clarity is essential for good decision-making and good people\u00a0management.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Close friends and I were reflecting on the year\u2019s events.\u00a0 One friend made a comment that had me thinking about mixed messages.\u00a0 She commented on how difficult it\u00a0has been\u00a0to filter out the noise from the truth.\u00a0 Recent events have underscored the dangers of mixed messages- is it safe to gather or not?\u00a0 Do I wear […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":10844,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[266],"tags":[],"post_folder":[268],"class_list":["post-11023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-consulting-services"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11023"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11077,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11023\/revisions\/11077"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11023"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=11023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}