Communication
Posted by Bill Molesworth
Doug Glynn has spent his career in Journalism and Communications. He's worked on the Globe and the Star, has taught at Mohawk and has advised business and political figures on how to present themselves and their ideas.
Since retiring to Midland, Doug has become a stringer for the Free Press, the communications consultant for the HDH fundraising efforts, a member of the Friends of the Library and President of his condo association.
Since retiring to Midland, Doug has become a stringer for the Free Press, the communications consultant for the HDH fundraising efforts, a member of the Friends of the Library and President of his condo association.
Doug said to work and live we all need to think and to communicate - to get our message out. It sounds simple, but few can do it well.
Tom Watson, first at NCR and then at IBM, instructed his staff to Think. He felt communication breakdowns were invading the workplace to such an extent that people felt they had not 'been at the same meeting'. People are too busy to listen, their minds are elsewhere on competing concepts. As well, employees withold and conceal information and give the appearance of being helpful as a way of making themselves important.
It's true in the home too. Teenagers are on the Net but can't, or won't say what they're talking about, or to whom. Different generations communicate differently and sometimes need translations as media changes. Standards are dropping - he recently received a letter from a law firm (in Toronto, I was told afterwards) with 4 spelling mistakes. This lack of attention to detail doesn't reflect well on the firm.
Schools are failing to graduate students with basic skills. Now they have to be taught at the university level. And getting one's message out is critical. 'I don't know' won't work.
Doug gave some examples of problem communication - the Biden comment on Obama in which he said Obama was 'clean'. Biden may have meant a clean record, a clean slate - who knows? What it was heard as was rascist.
Jacques Chirac said once that if Iran used nuclear weapons against Israel, Teheran would disappear, a comment that was at odds with the stated policy of France and Chirac's own previous comments. He tried to backtrack, but it was out.
Sometimes people say things they actually believe - 'I am not a crook'.
Doug said Diefenbaker, Martin Luther King, Tommy Douglas and Kennedy were exemplars of communication. Diefenbaker had polished his skills as a defense lawyer and could think on his feet. Kennedy worked on his writing and his presentation, to the extent of practicing the Ich bin ein Berliner comment for hours.
On the other hand, look at Three Mile Island and the Union Carbide Bhopal disasters for examples of how not to proceed.
Bruce thanked Doug for coming and making the process of communication a little clearer. Then he asked him if he could make the Free Press practice it a bit.
Tom Watson, first at NCR and then at IBM, instructed his staff to Think. He felt communication breakdowns were invading the workplace to such an extent that people felt they had not 'been at the same meeting'. People are too busy to listen, their minds are elsewhere on competing concepts. As well, employees withold and conceal information and give the appearance of being helpful as a way of making themselves important.
It's true in the home too. Teenagers are on the Net but can't, or won't say what they're talking about, or to whom. Different generations communicate differently and sometimes need translations as media changes. Standards are dropping - he recently received a letter from a law firm (in Toronto, I was told afterwards) with 4 spelling mistakes. This lack of attention to detail doesn't reflect well on the firm.
Schools are failing to graduate students with basic skills. Now they have to be taught at the university level. And getting one's message out is critical. 'I don't know' won't work.
Doug gave some examples of problem communication - the Biden comment on Obama in which he said Obama was 'clean'. Biden may have meant a clean record, a clean slate - who knows? What it was heard as was rascist.
Jacques Chirac said once that if Iran used nuclear weapons against Israel, Teheran would disappear, a comment that was at odds with the stated policy of France and Chirac's own previous comments. He tried to backtrack, but it was out.
Sometimes people say things they actually believe - 'I am not a crook'.
Doug said Diefenbaker, Martin Luther King, Tommy Douglas and Kennedy were exemplars of communication. Diefenbaker had polished his skills as a defense lawyer and could think on his feet. Kennedy worked on his writing and his presentation, to the extent of practicing the Ich bin ein Berliner comment for hours.
On the other hand, look at Three Mile Island and the Union Carbide Bhopal disasters for examples of how not to proceed.
Bruce thanked Doug for coming and making the process of communication a little clearer. Then he asked him if he could make the Free Press practice it a bit.