Cognizant Colleague Communication

Last week’s blog http://bit.ly/RxWTOk definitely caused successive waves of emotions regarding client communication and the rocky waters one can hit if misunderstood.  Now this week I want to focus on the pitfalls of not being cognizant of gaps in communication with your colleagues.  When life imitates art, reality reflects what had previously been expressed in that art (or literature, real life drama, etc). As I’m finding out more recently than ever, so does an experience lay the foundation for writing these blogs & learning how to do somethings better as you go along.  If we’re not cognizant of what we’re conveying or implying to a colleague, we can misinterpret key points, directives and pertinent goals of a project. And that doesn’t just affect the working relationship but also goes to heart of productivity (or lack thereof) and the trust a client puts in you to get the task/project completed.  And I’m sure we all know from last weeks blog how detrimental that can be!

Tomato – Tomahto?
If I say the sky is blue and you say yes, it’s Robin’s Egg, are we going to split hairs over which is accurate or engage in the debate of semantics (the meaning/interpretation of words or groups of words within a certain context commonly used in order to win some form of argument)? There’s nothing wrong with individual expression, however lapses in correct communication with your colleagues can cause not just frustration but a host of other issues.  Some of which might include:
*Lack of Productivity    *Missed Deadlines    *Delays in the internal workflow system    *Disintegration of team morale & cohesiveness    *Stressful work environment
And I’m sure there is a bevy of many more.  It’s an “if / then” , “cause/effect” kind of issue.  Recently I had a situation where a client colleague  gave me some documents and wanted them converted to another format.  I thought we were on the same page, but the simple misunderstanding of “what it is vs. what I want it to be” caused longer hours, more resources and impacted the financial investment into the project.  A frustrating lesson to learn but nevertheless, it’s in my handbook now!
Tone Can Be Everything
One of the valuable lessons my father instilled in me from almost birth is that it’s not just what you say but HOW you say it that makes the difference.  Yes, I know you all have probably heard that a thousand times but as I was writing this blog, I thought about how that same motto holds true in business.  Whether its in a meeting, over the phone or responding to an email and/or text; HOW you say something will certainly determine WHAT people hear when you speak and/or write.   If your tone is biting, snippy or inpatient, that can determine the “joy” your colleague will have when needing to collaborate with you or fulfilling a directive.  Body language also plays an important part here as well.  A hand on the hip, an audible sigh or a rolled eye can easily cause a “in one ear & out of the other” effect.
That’s Not What I Said! 
Last week I talked about the regurgitation method or otherwise known as rephrasing.  When having a conversation, try to fully engage &  listen to what others are saying.  Then rephrase and repeat back to them what you believe were their important points.  For the time it takes to do this, it will certainly be time well  spent rather than going back on multiple occasions for clarification.
Not On Their Dime
If you are not concise regarding the instructions on how to complete a particular task, you might waste valuable time and have to go back for a do-over. That could also cause an unexpected financial impact on the project from the clients wallet.  So it behooves us all to make sure that what we are conveying to one another is accurate such as confirming the plan of action, workflow timeframes and completion dates.  

In conclusion, better communication leads to a more productive workplace, which in turn increases a company’s revenue.  If the company is doing well, that means clients are happy and possibly you & your colleague(s) can enjoy the financial fruits of your labors.  So let’s all try to be a little more cognizant of our colleague communication so that fruit stays ripe & abundant for  both the workplace and financial harvest.

 

 

 

Website Content: Cost, Time and More Explained

Many people ask me many questions about content writing.  They vary from the off the top of the head answers to “I actually need to research that” responses.  So when our head honcho at Design Theory asked me about researching client industries, billing and how clients respond to issues surrounding that, what solutions to these problems look like and how to not cause heart failure with the billing from it all, I realized I had quite a bit to say.  So rather than writing it all, Jean & I decided to give you an over the shoulder peek at our conversation on camera.  Some of it you might already know while another facet may give you an Ah-ha moment.  Either way, I hope it conveys some worthy considerations when you incur some of these same questions and frustrations with content writing, research and billing for your web and branding clients.

Here are some of the highlights:

Professionally Developed Content
*Clients need to understand the process & value of the necessary research & writing that will be critical to the success of their website.
*Not everyone who owns a business can necessarily write well about their business.
*Understand the importance of the potential consumers experience will be via the client’s website.
*Make the potential consumer/service recipient feel like “I want to do business with them or by their product.”

Content Writing Time & Research
*Do your due diligence in research to create great content to create traffic for the client
*Become intrigued and entrenched in the subject matter & then writing from a position of “seeming” expertise and authority.
*”Write It Like You Live It” positioning in content writing

Billing
*Use reportable billing software (i.e. Toggl) that report specifics to prove good utilization of time
*Consider incremental billing
*Establish a great rapport & trust so they so they don’t question the integrity of the work & the corresponding billing