CommunicateEarlyAndOften

Doing "to" people rather than "with" people is a common problem with consultants, in addition to in-house service organizations. I knew a consultant once who thought his main selling point was that he worked with his clients rather than to them. (He didn't, but he thought he did!)

But, no matter what your position, thinking about how to work with the people you're supposed to work with is a Good Idea.

- How have you chosen ways to work with your colleagues, whether they were in your group or not?

- How have you avoided keeping people in the dark?

- Have you ever been penny-wise and pound-foolish? (and what did you learn from it?)

-- JohannaRothman 05.05.02

One thing I like to do when I first begin to work with someone or a team is to sit down and ask the question, "How should we work together?" This would include things like, What drives you crazy that you hope I never do? What are your preferred ways of getting information...email, face-to-face talk? What things do you especially want to work on within this project, your favorite things, your least favorite things.

This helps to open the communication and let people know that I care about what works for them, and that there are things that work best for me. I'm not good at everything and neither is anyone else. If we can establish who likes and is good at particular things, we get more done. Random assignments are lessened, and people feel more comfortable with the work environment. MarieBenesh 5/14/2002

Updated: Tuesday, May 14, 2002