Open and transparent communication, both internally as well as externally with your partners, is one of the key success factors required for alliances & partnerships. It’s a simple concept, isn’t it? Unfortunately though, good communication is not as easy as it looks.
In many of the alliance health checks I’ve performed for clients it appears that communication, or lack of, is the main cause of misalignment between partners. Apparently, we are not as good at communication as we think we are! However, in these alliance situations it is not a matter of deliberate non-communication. In fact, it often happens when teams or partners are reaching maturity in their collaboration and the partners or stakeholders become less of an outside entity. We unintentionally assume they are on the same page as we are and therefore communicate less.
It’s like the well-known quote from George Bernard Shaw, “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” This miscommunication can easily be prevented, and repaired, by following a structured process in alliance communication.
More concerning is a new communication flaw I’ve seen arising over the last year, both in my own practice and one that I’ve heard mentioned by colleagues, trainers and coaches. It is the practice whereby despite previous warm conversations and relationships, (prospective) clients transform their communication into deep silence. Despite numerous attempts to communicate from me and my colleagues, these people “go dark”, ignoring our sincere attempts to stay in touch. It somehow seems too difficult to communicate the message back that they have chosen not to work with us!
Ironically this behaviour shows that they should actually be working with a coach to help adjust and improve their communication skills!
Of course, that non-communication in the relationship with me or my colleagues isn’t one that will harm their business or alliances. However, what will be worse is if this practice of ghosting is also performed with stakeholders or partners, now that might potentially harm their business or alliances! Again, bringing structure in your alliance communication can help prevent [unintentional] non-communication.
Think about this for a moment. Are you ghosting your stakeholders or is your communication structure properly set up to prevent this flaw from happening?