Make it or Break it

Many today greatly overlook the importance of communication. The art of conveying ones thoughts and wishes to another in a legible form is crucial for anyone in any position of authority. One superintendent whom has been in his current position of employment for 25 years once said, “ I attribute my long employment wholly to my ability to communicate. First you must learn to master this art within and outside of your departments, and especially with your membership and board of committee before you learn how to grow grass. Make sure its in that order! More jobs are lost because of the inability to communicate than the lack of skill to provide tournament type conditions and the quality of the grass.” I believe this view is widely carried by many employers today, golf course related or not. When you look communication up in the dictionary you are given a number of definitions:

• the imparting or exchanging of information or news
• the successful conveying or sharing of ideas and feelings

I would like to put emphasis on the second definition, especially one word in particular,“Successful”. Communication is worthless unless it accomplishes a goal, namely the successful transfer of information, ideas, and feelings from one individual to another.

I believe many think there is a law of conduct for all communication, one specific mode of action. False. One of the challenges of being a good communicator is being able to adjust and adapt to each individual. Everyone behaves, receives, and understands things in their own specific way. Some times the differences can be subtle, but being able to learn these differences can greatly turn the tables in your favor for your commands to be understood and carried out. A simple search on google will quickly reveal this to be one of the “secrets” of communication. Secret? Please, this is, or at least should be obvious. An article on mastering communication displayed on ezinearticles.com said, “We must understand that different people perceive the world differently. Everybody has different internal filters. When you tell a joke, a group of people may laugh while another group does not think of it being funny. This does not mean the second group does not have a sense of humor. It is just that they perceive humor differently. As a great communicator, we must take responsibility changing our communication (joke) until we make our audience laugh.” I believe this example of humor is perfect. We are all individuals with widely differing tastes and we must take that into account.

The question that remains is how do we learn of each individuals preferred method of information

acquisition? It’s a scary concept for many employers and is not always completely attainable due to the size of the crews managed, but a personal interest in each individual on your staff must be taken. Only through getting to know these individuals personally will you ever find that one specific communication approach best suited for the individual/situation.

I am aware that this is just a small step towards becoming a proficient communicator, but if you make it a point to attempt to add this strategy to your arsenal I believe your success as a communicator will increase noticeably. Remember, know how to make the “audience laugh”. Through practice you will find which “jokes” are effective for each. It’s worth investing time into since the importance of mastering communication can be the deciding factor of whether you make it or break it as an employer.