Had an enlightening meeting this week. And I had some thoughts about myself and how I communicate as a result. This is just sort of my thoughts in “draft” form resulting from the meeting.
I am the type of person who will fill in the gap when others are slacking. I will go out of my way to make sure things get done right. And I try my hardest to teach people along the way. I do love teaching. However, I can get to a point where I've just had it. I don't have the capacity to fill the "gap" anymore. When this happens, I have done what I thought was escalating the problem to the appropriate person in order to get help.
However, I have not been communicating my need for help. My words are coming across as complaining when what I really intend to say is, “I've tried everything, now I need help”. A definition of communication that I have posted at my desk is, “Communication is two or more individuals sharing and understanding and idea.” It is clear now that I have not been communicating well because my idea is not being shared or understood by others. So I thought about how I could be a better communicator. Here is what I came up with for me.
In order to better communicate issues that I have that need additional help or attention, I need to:
- Be sure to actually communicate the specific issue to the appropriate person.
- Explain the nature of the issue and the length of time the issue has remained outstanding.
- Share how I have attempted to resolve the issue.
- Share the results of the attempted resolutions.
- And finally actually ask for help… and be specific about what kind of help I need.
I’m going to try to be better about communicating when I need help.
