Can we talk and listen at the same time?

The most profound way to improve communication is to improve the way managers and employees talk to one another

“Anyone who isn’t confused really doesn’t understand the situation.” Edward R. Murrow’s words describe a situation many employee communicators find themselves in today.

Each week seems to give us a new technology to help us help employees understand and line up behind organizational goals. RSS feeds collide with wikis, while vlogs compete with podcasts for time and attention. We’re picking up instant messages during the videoconference about social networking. Then there’s citizen media, which makes us wonder if we should have the CEO write a blog or if we should skip that step and take her message right to YouTube.

These technologies will bring employees closer together, building communities. Or they might keep us apart, building walls. It all depends on the tool, the audience, the message and the context. It also depends on the week. Every few days a new report suggests that whatever we heard about organizational communication last week wasn’t exactly true.