An analogy made between communications and the flow of water. You've mentioned three items I really liked. "clear, properly scoped objectives", "empathy for your colleagues", and "context consistent"
Water regulators are used between the reservoir and the home to prevent damage and provide safety. Cleverly, a regulator will have a spring loaded diaphragm which will constrict and narrow when the incoming water pressure is too high, reducing the amount of water passing through it. Likewise, when the pressure drops the the spring relaxes and the diaphragm widens, increasing the flow.
Typically, there is also an adjustment screw for the spring tension.
Individual humans, and teams are not equipped to handle a firehose of communication. A key function of each management layer is to provide a communications regulator, so that information flow can be absorbed and utilized.
I like this analogy. A lot of managers try really hard to protect their teams from extraneous information and decision churn. This is part of their job, after all. But in my experience, teams often perceive it as a lack of transparency or an attempt to exert control.
An analogy made between communications and the flow of water. You've mentioned three items I really liked. "clear, properly scoped objectives", "empathy for your colleagues", and "context consistent"
Water regulators are used between the reservoir and the home to prevent damage and provide safety. Cleverly, a regulator will have a spring loaded diaphragm which will constrict and narrow when the incoming water pressure is too high, reducing the amount of water passing through it. Likewise, when the pressure drops the the spring relaxes and the diaphragm widens, increasing the flow.
Typically, there is also an adjustment screw for the spring tension.
Individual humans, and teams are not equipped to handle a firehose of communication. A key function of each management layer is to provide a communications regulator, so that information flow can be absorbed and utilized.
Professional Empathy is a good place to start.
I like this analogy. A lot of managers try really hard to protect their teams from extraneous information and decision churn. This is part of their job, after all. But in my experience, teams often perceive it as a lack of transparency or an attempt to exert control.