TheZerothLawOfThermodynamics

"Keep things informal. Talking is the natural way to do business. Writing is great for keeping records and putting down details, but talk generates ideas. Great things come from our luncheon meetings which consist of a sandwich, a cup of soup, and a good idea or two. No martinis."

--T. Boone Pickens


Great advice (save the last remark).

The last three blogs I have written to you talked about what I call the three critical success factors: cooperation, commitment, and control -- the three C's. Frankly, I don't think that anything great happens without these in abundance in the working environment. People have said to me, "What about communication? Isn't that really necessary?"

My education provided an insight from the study of thermodynamics. After the First, Second, and Third Laws of Thermodynamics were formulated, the cognoscenti believed that something even more fundamental needed to be articulated to permit practitioners to apply the Three Laws. So they went back to state the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics (namely that a quantity called temperature exists that...... er, sorry about that, wrong career). Mathematicians call these "necessary but not sufficient" conditions. To me, communication is even more fundamental than any of the three C's.

A skill I long ago gave up trying to master was mind reading. The problem with mind reading is not the high probability of being wrong. The worst part is the impact it has on your own thought processes. We tend to make real any information we take in; hence Mark Twain's warning that a little bit of knowledge can be dangerous. When we fail to openly and freely communicate, each person is left in a conversation with himself.

An old comedian (I'd mention the name, but too few of you would recognize it and then I'd feel really old) used to tell a story about a guy in a rental car who gets a flat tire. Predictably, there's no jack when he looks in the trunk. He remembers seeing a gas station a few miles back, so he starts walking. On the way, he plays out the conversation with the service station attendant asking to borrow a jack. "What if he doesn't have one to spare? What if he tries to overcharge me? What if he doesn't have the authority without a manager there? What if he's just a jerk? ............." By the time he reaches the station, having worked himself into a frenzy, the guy flings open the door, and screams at the astonished attendant, "KEEP YOUR GODDAM JACK !!"

Obviously, that's silly. It's also what happens when we substitute speculation, conjecture, and partial information for open communication. It's also what we run the risk of having in most organizations. We're all guilty, so don't be too tough on yourself. Or too kind. If we don't resolve to continuously improve the situation, than we all know what to expect, and it's ugly.

We also need to work on communications with our clients. The fastest way to breed ill will is to do a lousy job at this, so we will be paying more attention to training, improving the various channels, etc. People have a tremendous capacity to be understanding if you let them know what is going on, just by telling them. When they do not receive information, they all too frequently think the worst.

Which medium is the best? Face-to-face. Phone. E-mail. Voice mail. Text messages. Tweets. All of them are part of a culture and discipline of communication. Whatever the medium, the important thing is to open the dialog -- that's the hard part. But how? [This is a "Grant's Tomb" question.] Try asking them. "Do you have any questions or concerns? Do you have the information you need?" Most importantly, we must each back up the words with the action. If your listener thinks that you're just going through the motions, you might as well have saved yourself and your colleague the trouble.

I am coming to the belief that the people and ability that I prize most in an organization are those that get everyone freely talking with each other. I see the other values as logical extensions of this kind of behavior. If I have any regrets, it is in not having seen the importance and emphasized this value sooner.

Finally, it is essential to consider that perhaps the most valuable communication skill is listening. In order to have effective communications, you must have a committed speaker and a committed listener. John deButts, the late CEO of AT&T and the man with the vision that his business was to become a lot more than plain old telephones, was asked if he'd rather talk or listen in a meeting. "I don't learn anything by talking" was his reply.

So I'll stop talking. Lucky you.