Most builders treat a communication breakdown as a people problem. Dan Okart says it is a clarity problem, and it starts at the top.
Dan from A Thousand Feet Deep is back with Az for a third Monday in a row. The brief was simple. What does effective communication actually look like inside a building business. The answer went a long way past a five point checklist.
Dan opens with the line that frames the whole conversation. The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place.
From there, three things to do about it.
First, a communication agreement. Not a vibe. A written set of non-negotiables that says this is how we communicate around here. How fast an internal email gets answered. How quickly a client call gets returned. One builder built theirs around the word BRAVE, because they knew their team had to get braver about asking questions. Dan's own rule was that bad news never goes to a client on a Friday. SpaceX bans abbreviations. Different rules, same principle. If it is not a non-negotiable, it is flexible. Anything flexible is sporadic.
Second, know who you are talking to. There is always a communicator and a comprehender, and both carry responsibility. Dan uses DISC profiles to map how people take in information, because the bloke who wants three words and the person who needs the full picture will not meet in the middle on their own.
Third, paint the picture and keep painting it. Dan's rule of thumb is seven. People need to hear something around seven times before it lands. Say it once and you have not communicated it. You have mentioned it.
Then Az asks a question neither of them planned. What about the way we talk to ourselves. Dan calls it the most important thing the two have ever covered. He tells the story of his young fella coming home from footy after an adult on the sideline had torn into him, and what it takes to put context around words before they set. Take your thoughts captive, or they will take you captive.
The conversation lands where these ones always land. Culture is how you do what you do. Leaders build people, and people build homes. And when a building business goes under, the mind usually finishes before the numbers do.
Also in this episode. Master Builders workshop nights across northern New South Wales. Why men and women hear the same conversation differently. And a champion of the 1980s who played an entire career carrying doubt nobody knew about.
Hosted by Az.
For more head to: https://www.1000feetdeep.com.au/