Continuous Improvement and Communication

Most organizations have taken steps and created processes for measuring productivity.

But organizations as well as improvement projects often become less productive without people being aware due to poor communication and poorly-run team meetings.

But beyond meetings and teleconferences, there are a number of other areas within an enterprise where poor communication creates expensive problems... and the waste might be greater than you think!

Here are some examples of costly miscommunication in business environments:

• Long, boring, poorly-planned unproductive meetings that reach no conclusion and serve no purpose
• Sales presentations that show no concern for, or understanding of, the client's needs 
• Wasted time due to miscommunication about time or scheduling
• Badly written e-mail messages that cause misunderstandings, ill will and wasted time
• Employee alienation caused by managers who don't listen
• Lack of understanding between people of different age groups
• Lack of understanding between male and female employees

"Measuring productivity on the shop floor is relatively easy," says author and consultant Helen Wilkie. "But administrative productivity or miscommunication related costs are more difficult to gauge."

Here are a few additional cost statistics about workplace conflict, which is a common result of miscommunication or misunderstandings:

•  In 2008 U.S. employees spent 2.8 hours per week dealing with conflict. This amounts to approximately $359 billion in paid hours or 385 million working days.
• Ten percent reported that workplace conflict led to project failure and more than one-third said that conflict resulted in someone leaving the company.
• Twenty-five percent of employees surveyed said that avoiding conflict led to sickness or absence from work.