COMMITTED COMMUNICATION, PART 2

In our last letter we began to see through Jim's story how you can increase your power to get things done through others by viewing language as a tool for commitment. Let's now turn to some of the tools that will help you produce with others more effectively.

Work is a Network of Commitments

The Committed Communication model is based on the work of author and international consultant Fernando Flores. Flores has taught his communication system to Fortune 500 companies, including IBM, thus providing them with an effective method for managing commitments. Let's look briefly at how a network of commitments works.

When you are in charge of a project, you typically make requests of your people. They, in turn, can respond in three primary ways. They can take responsibility for the request by making a commitment to complete it, they can refuse for whatever reason, or they can suggest an alternative action. In the same way, you make commitments to your boss that will become the guides for how you report progress or problems.

Organizing work around commitments can provide some valuable benefits and opportunities. For one, by taking your own commitments to heart and by communicating all the information people need in order to commit to and complete your requests, you model the behavior you want your employees to follow. For another, when your people experience breakdowns in making and keeping their commitments, you learn about them firsthand because your people keep you apprised. When they don't, you know that, too. This kind of knowledge can help you determine when and how to use coaching techniques to help people be accountable, solve problems and improve performance.

Managing Commitments: Make It Easy on Yourself

To make all this work, we recommend that instead of managing people's actions, you focus on and manage their commitments to you. The Committed Communication model provides a way for you to do just that. Let's look at two aspects of this system.

The Committed Communication model identifies two components of communication: (1) language actions and (2) phases of the conversation, which we explain later in this chapter.

Essential to any work in Committed Communication is the ability to distinguish between the "language actions" that occur during different moments of speaking and listening. We identify various types of language actions in more detail in later chapters, but for the present, here is a brief overview by way of definition.

Becoming Aware of "Language Actions"

We are all aware of what an action is. Now we would like to introduce the notion of a language action. A language action refers to the different moves or types of statements people make in conversations that are intended to move a project toward completion. For example, a request is a language action. When Jim asks (or requests) that his people attend a meeting at 3:00 p.m., he is talking in the realm of action. If he asks Mary, his Field Services manager, how her weekend went, he is not speaking in what we call action mode, but is simply making casual conversation. Mary understands that he doesn't expect her to take any project-related action as a result of the conversation.

Language actions involve issues related to productivity. When communication lacks action elements, productivity suffers. Language actions, for example, can tell people what should be done, who should do it, and when it's due.

Too often, however, we have observed that when people are working in action mode&emdash;planning a forthcoming project, for example, during a staff meeting&emdash;requests for specific actions may be missing. Following such planning sessions, we often hear people complain, "Well, nothing came of that meeting. What a waste of time." Understanding the concept of language actions and knowing how to make and manage requests can usually prevent these kinds of scenarios.

Another language action, one Jim could have taken with Hank, is to make an offer. An offer implies a commitment to take some action in the future. For example, a manager might tell a project leader, "I would like you to have access to my schedule, so I'm having Joan, my assistant, set up a scheduling program on the computer network that will allow you to check my schedule from your office. This will be in effect by Tuesday at the end of the day."

Another language action is what we call a declaration. When Jim announces that the group will seek ISO 9001 certification, he has made a declaration. Something that did not exist prior to his statement now exists, regardless of whether or not people resist the new requirement. Given his role and job title, Jim has the power to make such declarations.

As mentioned above, we will delve into the important topic of language actions in more detail in a later chapter. (Notice that we just made a promise/commitment to you, the reader&emdash;another language action statement.)

The Benefits of Language Actions

Our anecdotal research into coordination of action and language indicates that when groups are working smoothly, productively, and harmoniously, their members are using language actions in their conversations, although often unwittingly. Also, we have found in most cases that because people have little conscious understanding of what makes up a language action, they can't explain why a given group sometimes functions well and at other times does not.

With the Committed Communication model, the manager learns specific language actions and how to listen for these actions, or the lack of them, in verbal exchanges. Armed with knowledge that helps in understanding and identifying language actions, a manager is prepared to troubleshoot when things don't go well. Let's look at how this plays out at work.

Recently, Jim met with his second in command, Ralph, and asked him to take certain steps for a project that involved redesigning the services that would be offered to internal customers. This project was being pushed by the CEO and was clearly important and urgent. Ralph, who had several other projects and was about to go on vacation, told Jim, "Maybe I can get to it."

Jim found Ralph's response confusing. Had he made a commitment or not? To understand what's going on here&emdash;and how Jim needs to proceed&emdash;it's necessary to take a deeper look into the Committed Communication model and the nature of requests. We will do that in our next letter.