Communication Across Boundaries

Communication is perceived as a magical elixir that can ensure happy long-term relationships and guarantee organizational success. Good communicators are those who understand the principles behind communication and are able to effectively enact a particular communication skill as a situation warrants. Effectiveness and efficiency in communication is decreased in boundary activities that we face every day:

•Working in cross-functional teams
•Coordinating specifications with suppliers
•Supervising units in different nations or cultures
•Meeting with customers
•Executing a joint operation with another department or division
•Negotiating agreements with offshore partners
•Building a business alliance with a competitor

Building relationships promotes linkage throughout the organization. The ability to develop relationships creates a gateway to information sharing. Your ability to have a flexible mindset that provides groups with a new perspective to coordinate activates in the organization.

To understand why some communications are not effective, think about your values. Values are those beliefs that are personally important to you. Values are created by the culture that you grow up in such as age, sex, ethnic group, and race. Today, age can be an especially important factor because there could be three generations working in an organization. Communication workshops are a wonderful approach to opening up communication across boundaries.