Communication….Facebook
If you have heard it once, you have heard it many
times…Communication is key. When I first
started my professional career as a young lad at Electronic Data Systems, I
experienced professional team development, reviews, and many other necessities
that corporate environments provide.
Reviews were requested and once compiled the managers summarized and
presented to the team during a team retreat.
The number one issue from nearly every team member was
communication. The near unanimous response
was more than interesting as I thought we were communicating effectively. Heck, we had pagers and a phone line. Email was just coming into vogue. To put it in perspective, we did not have EDS
email addresses yet, but used personal AOL email for work.
Fast forward 17 years and communication still remains the
number one problem I see working with cross-functional teams both clinical and
non-clinical. Every previous position,
both large and small companies, live and die by communication and the varied
communication methods ingrained into the company’s culture. As a certified PMP, PMBOK tells us that 90%
of being a project manager is communication.
Nothing can kill a project or relationship like poor communication.
We were taught that verbal (written and oral) and
nonverbal (body language) are the two methods of communication. I would like to focus on the verbal ->
written aspect in how we use Facebook.
Facebook and I have developed a love/hate relationship
over the last couple of years. It is a
great tool for staying in touch (communicating) with old, current, and new friends,
spreading emergent news, or communicating with direct groups of individuals
among many other applications. The idea
of hearing news of births, success stories, business opportunities, and viewing
images of our friends’ families are all appealing and worthwhile to keep
Facebook as a communication tool. Contrary
to the benefits are the unnecessary commentary, needless diatribe (as some may
say my “therapeutic to me” blog is), and updates on what you ate for dinner
become repetitive and simply a waste of time.
The braggadocios nature of Facebook is not appealing, nor
are the time wasting applications. My
inability to separate myself from the negative aspects led me to quit using
Facebook several weeks ago. During that
time, I have learned the following:
1.
People do not communicate like we have in the
past. What I mean is picking up the
phone and having a conversation. Think
about it…how reliant are you on Facebook to find out what happens to your
friends?
2.
Reversing the whip – do you remember a time when
you received good news, maybe an award, passing a big exam, winning a
championship, having a child, etc…warranted a phone call to your friends and
family? Not any more. The mass marketing efforts of Facebook remove
personalized communication from these milestone events. Today, I would feel selfish or needy if I
called a friend to ask them how something turned out when I know they undoubtedly
posted on Facebook. I could hear the
conversation now, “Hey amigo. How did X
go?” They would reply or think, “Are you
not reading Facebook? I posted all the
details and pictures to boot!”
3.
In actuality I do rely on Facebook for
updates. I have been conditioned to not
call friends when I would have in the past.
Text messages do help, but still have the same issues as someone
repeating information already posted for Facebook friends to view.
I guess I’m old fashioned. When in the office at work, I get up and go
speak to people in their cube if possible.
I enjoy calling my friends to see how they are doing and more so to hear
the verbal communication. You can really
interpret your friend’s mood and attitude by hearing their voice. Ask your Wife and kids. They will tell you the same thing.
In summary, I will be going back to Facebook. There are some things too important to miss
out on...births… health announcements for those who are sick…updates on out of
town friends arriving in town for a short while…etc. It’s kind of like trying to find a new
church. If you really like a traditional
service, you will be in for a shock.
Most of the newer churches move to the contemporary service as a standard
format, but they are few, far, and in between.
After all, us “traditionalists” continue to make adjustments to
communicate effectively without wasting your time by actually having a
conversation.
Now, let me go post this blog on Facebook!
Brian Stewart, PMP
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