Communication Refactoring in Organizations

When we discover misunderstandings, and work them out, we tend to focus on the misunderstanding at hand. Afterwards — not often enough — we ask ourselves, "Is it possible that there are some similar misunderstandings elsewhere?" If we look upon misunderstandings as potential indicators of broader difficulties, we often find opportunities to search around for other examples of that same difficulty.

For example, suppose you discover that one of the Advance Marketing (AM) teams began meeting weekly to make plans for a new product introduction. And suppose you find that they've been meeting without a representative from Customer Support (CS). This isn't good, because AM does need input from CS, and CS needs to be fully aware of what AM is planning. After investigating, you manage to correct this communication defect.

But you don't stop there. It occurs to you that other AM product introduction planning teams might be doing the same thing — that is, excluding CS. Not by intention, perhaps, but it doesn't matter why. Upon investigation you discover two AM teams that are including CS and one that isn't. So you fix the one that isn't, too. Finally, you address the problem generally between AM and CS, and that kind of omission won't be happening again. Success.

But what about the relationship between CS and the Product Development teams? Are they keeping each other as informed as they need to? Since you don't know, you investigate that, too, and you fix what you find there. More success. You keep doing this until all the connections with CS are working right.

Then you take it further. You look at all the silos, top to bottom, to determine whether all the people that need to connect with each other are actually connecting. It becomes an enterprise-wide initiative.

I call Communication refactoring is a
disciplined process of improving
communication between the
parts of an organizationthis process communication refactoring. It's a method for generalizing one situational repair of organizational communications to all possible instances where it might be beneficial, throughout the organization. In this way, by improving organizational communication gradually, we help to transform the organization from a series of weakly interacting silos into a coherent whole. I say "help" because there's a lot more to do to achieve coherence, but communication refactoring is a good start.

The term refactoring is borrowed from Software Engineering, where it refers to a disciplined practice of gradually transforming a program's code, usually by a series of seemingly tiny changes, that, over time, make the code more readable, maintainable, and extensible without directly affecting its intended functionality. By analogy, communication refactoring is a disciplined process of improving communication between the parts of an organization.

You might ask, "Where else can we apply the refactoring approach to improve the effectiveness of the day-to-day interactions of organizational life?" My guess: everywhere. You can start today.  Top    Next Issue

Are your projects always (or almost always) late and over budget? Are your project teams plagued by turnover, burnout, and high defect rates? Turn your culture around. Read 52 Tips for Leaders of Project-Oriented Organizations, filled with tips and techniques for organizational leaders. Order Now!

Your comments are welcome

About Point Lookout

Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful, and that you'll consider recommending it to a friend.

This article in its entirety was written by a human being. No machine intelligence was involved in any way.

Point Lookout is a free weekly email newsletter. Browse the archive of past issues. Subscribe for free.

Support Point Lookout by joining the Friends of Point Lookout, as an individual or as an organization.

Do you face a complex interpersonal situation? Send it in, anonymously if you like, and I'll give you my two cents.

Related articles

More articles on Personal, Team, and Organizational Effectiveness:

Figuring Out What to Do First

Whether we belong to a small project team or to an executive team, we have limited resources and seemingly unlimited problems to deal with. How do we decide which problems are important? How do we decide where to focus our attention first?

Workplace Barn Raisings

Until about 75 years ago, barn raising was a common custom in the rural United States. People came together from all parts of the community to help construct one family's barn. Although the custom has largely disappeared in rural communities, we can still benefit from the barn raising approach in problem-solving organizations.

Why Don't They Believe Me?

When we want people to believe us, and they don't, it just might be a result of our own actions or demeanor. How does this happen?

How to Reject Expert Opinion: I

When groups of decision makers confront complex problems, they sometimes choose not to consult experts or to reject their advice. How do groups come to make these choices?

How to Foresee the Foreseeable: Focus on the Question

When group decisions go awry, we sometimes feel that the failure could have been foreseen. Often, the cause of the failure was foreseen, but because the seer was a dissenter within the group, the issue was set aside. Improving how groups deal with dissent can enhance decision quality.

See also Personal, Team, and Organizational Effectiveness and Effective Communication at Work for more related articles.

Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout

Coming July 3: Additive bias…or Not: II

Additive bias is a cognitive bias that many believe contributes to bloat of commercial products. When we change products to make them more capable, additive bias might not play a role, because economic considerations sometimes favor additive approaches. Available here and by RSS on July 3.

And on July 10: On Delegating Accountability: I

As the saying goes, "You can't delegate your own accountability." Despite wide knowledge of this aphorism, people try it from time to time, especially when overcome by the temptation of a high-risk decision. What can you delegate, and how can you do it? Available here and by RSS on July 10.

Coaching services

I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates. Contact Rick for details at rbrendPtoGuFOkTSMQOzxner@ChacEgGqaylUnkmwIkkwoCanyon.com or (650) 787-6475, or toll-free in the continental US at (866) 378-5470.

Get the ebook!

Past issues of Point Lookout are available in six ebooks:

• Get 2001-2 in Geese Don't Land on Twigs (PDF, )
• Get 2003-4 in Why Dogs Wag (PDF, )
• Get 2005-6 in Loopy Things We Do (PDF, )
• Get 2007-8 in Things We Believe That Maybe Aren't So True (PDF, )
• Get 2009-10 in The Questions Not Asked (PDF, )
• Get all of the first twelve years (2001-2012) in The Collected Issues of Point Lookout (PDF, )

Are you a writer, editor or publisher on deadline? Are you looking for an article that will get people talking and get compliments flying your way? You can have 500-1000 words in your inbox in one hour. License any article from this Web site. More info