Assuming The Worst
In the absence of communication, we humans will almost always assume the worst.
Recently, I was on a flight from Salt Lake City to Atlanta. In Atlanta, I had a pretty tight connection to Birmingham. The Salt Lake-to-Atlanta flight pulled away from the gate on time and we taxied to the runway. The pilot announced that we were number one for take-off and asked the flight attendants to take their seats. We then sat at the end of the runway for 20 minutes. During this entire time, the pilot was silent. Was there a mechanical problem? Was there congestion in Atlanta that we were holding for? Were we being bumped from our “number one for take-off” position by another flight? In the absence of information from the pilot, I assumed the worst and figured I would not make my tight connection. We finally took off and headed to Atlanta. For the entire trip, not a word from the pilot as to whether or not we would be on time or late. Again, because I am mostly human, I assumed the worst.
We did arrive in Atlanta in time for me to run to and catch my Birmingham flight but I remained bothered by not knowing what was going on.
Experiences like this remind me of how important it is to constantly communicate status. Unless we are providing nearly continuous communication, our internal and external customers and our employees will, at least those that are human, assume the worst.
And, as my network manager recently discovered, it is our customers who determine the frequency of communication that keeps them from assuming the worst.
We were installing new network services at a group of our sites. My network manager was used to communicating the status of this project in his monthly telecommunications newsletter. However, as the project progressed, a monthly communication was just not enough for the employees at the affected sites. I heard grumblings that they were getting more and more worried. First by the week; then by the day. At first, I was confused. According to my conversations with my network manager, the project was just fine. What, then, were the site employees worried about? They were worried because they, being humans in the absence of more frequent communication, assumed the worst. My network manager shifted to weekly status reports and everyone calmed down.
Now, it takes some extra effort to provide enough communication that people don’t assume the worst. In my case, I have to make a conscious effort. If I am not careful, days then weeks then months can slip by before I remember that I need to communicate. In order to discipline myself, I put reminders in my Outlook calendar. I also sanity check my communication frequency with my communication customers. Is my communication too frequent? Too sparse? Am I communicating what they need to know in order to not assume the worst? Based on their feedback, I revise what I say and when I say it.
