Effective Communication is the Key to Client Satisfaction
| by Steve Flick | ||||
In my checkered past are many years misspent in the fragile ecosystem known as “IT”. I’ve been a programmer, systems analyst, and data analyst. I found the work itself to be largely satisfying. Many of the people I worked for and with were (still are, I hope) outstanding — talented, dedicated, and personable. It was the politics and the lack of meaningful communication that I could do without.
Issues, edicts, proposals, RFPs, ad nauseam had to go up one side of the “ladder” and down the other. My clients and I had to pretend we didn’t notice each other as we stood on the ground, across from one another as we steadied the ladder.
In theory, my clients passed requests up the ladder. Up they went to a project leader or department head, who passed them off to an IT project leader. Then, they were passed down the other side of the ladder, and they might come down to me…or they might not.
In fact, we did our best work when we ignored the protocol and worked directly with one another. I read their request, we discussed it, and we arrived at a mutually agreeable statement of work. Then I worked on the request, keeping in touch with them as I did so. Typically they got exactly what they wanted within a week instead of waiting two weeks for something that may or may not work to their satisfaction.
One of the things that has always struck me about the Wide, Wide World of IT and users is the way everyone adheres to communication methods and protocols that don’t work (and never have). Users and techies often have an unhealthy disdain for one another. Each is secure in the “knowledge” that it knows what it’s talking about and the other one doesn’t. One party knows better than the other and “…if only they’d shut up and listen. We have the answers.” (Sound familiar?) Instead of working together for the common good (i.e., the financial health of the organization), they wage meaningless turf battles and accomplish nothing of value.
In the last decade, a lot of IT departments have been significantly reduced or killed off altogher and the work outsourced so that expenses and waste (at least, in the short term) could be cut. (“After all, we can get the same ‘work’ for 20% of the cost.”)
Yet, a number of companies have elected to discontinue their outsourcing relationships and have brought work back in-house because (Anyone? Anyone? That’s right, because…) they fail to recognize that poor communication isn’t incidental, that it isn’t just one of many causes of failed projects. It’s typically the root cause.
Communication isn’t “I give you a set of requirements and you meet them”, any more than it’s “Here’s your program — over time and over budget, minus some of the functionality you wanted — but it’s yours, so pay me.” Communication is “Let’s talk.” It’s a two-way street. I share an idea with you, and you share your thoughts with me. Communication is an ongoing process, one that requires not just open minds but a common language.
The July, 2009, issue of Quality Progress Magazine has an excellent take on the concept of improving results by improving the communication process. In the article (“All Ears“, by Sherman & Vono), the parties in need of more effective communication are the Quality department and top management. The authors are telling Quality, “You have to speak the language of management — money! — if you expect to accomplish anything.”
The moral of the story for IT and its users — its clients — is a similar one. IT, you’re trying to sell a concept to your clients, internal or external. Learn to speak their language. Learn how to talk in terms of the bottom line. Show how you arrived at your conclusions. Use plenty of pictures — charts, graphs, diagrams — to further the communication process.
Effective communication improves quality and produces more satisfying results, guaranteed.
Categories:
Business Improvement Services • Customer Quality
Tags:
customer satisfaction • effective communication • language barrier • oral communication • process improvement • user satisfaction • visual communication
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Originally published in 2009 by Bizmanualz, Inc. under the title Effective Communication is the Key to Client Satisfaction. All rights reserved. Reproduction permitted with attribution only. www.bizmanualz.com
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