Do you practice “Drive-By” or “Drive-Thru” Communication?An example of “Drive-By” Communication is when you swing by someone’s desk to ask or tell them something. You say what you wanted to say, then you go on your merry way without a clue what kind of impact your conversation just had on the other person. You have no idea if they understood you clearly or if they’re capable of doing what you requested.
It’s a little like a drive-by shooting. You cruise by, fire off a bunch of communication bullets (why do you think they call ‘em “bullet points?”), then keep on driving.
Drive-by communication often results in confusion, missed deadlines, wrong deliverables, and conflict.
Maybe you said you needed something ASAP. Your ASAP might be this afternoon. My ASAP might be early next week. When we finally discover that difference, it’s too late. The victim (the project, our relationship, etc.) has been severely, or fatally wounded.
I’m going to take a wild guess and say about 80-90% of all communication happens this way.
Instead of Drive-By Communication, consider making Drive-THRU Communication your norm.
Think about how you order food at a fast-food drive-thru. To make sure you receive exactly what you ordered, you follow some basic steps each time you order. What’s nice is these steps are universal, no matter what restaurant you go to. In other words, it’s such a simple, effective system, it works almost everywhere.
The same steps can actually help you communicate more effectively with your team and lead to greater productivity and less communication breakdown. Here are the steps:
1. Place your order. Maybe “make a request” would be a better way to think about it in the work sense.
2. Confirm your order. Double check to make sure the other person understands exactly what you said. In fast food drive-thru lanes, they have those screens to show you what the order taker is entering into the register. It’s pretty clear pretty fast if they heard you correctly. Of course you don’t need a screen to check with a teammate, you could simply ask if they understand what you’ve said and ask if they have any questions.
3. Make corrections on the spot. In a drive-thru, if you see a mistake on the screen, you correct it right then, BEFORE you drive up to the window. If the guy hands you an orange drink instead of a Coke, you hand it back and say you ordered a Coke, not an orange drink. When dealing with your co-workers, if something’s not right, deal with it right away. You’re much more likely to get what you were expecting in the end.
4. Double-check your order before driving away. We’ve all learned this the hard way, haven’t we? If you open that bag on the freeway and it doesn’t contain what you ordered, well, that’s your own dang fault. Have you ever thought someone did what you asked, just to find out too late that it didn’t really happen the way you expected? Well, that can be your own dang fault, too, if you don’t follow-up to make sure.
5. Eat it anyway. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you’re going to get chicken nuggets instead of a Big Mac. Is that really so bad? Ok, so it’s not what you ordered, but it’s still yummy, greasy food. When things don’t go perfectly with your team, despite your best efforts, take a moment to assess if it’s really worth getting all bent out of shape about. Occassionally, you get lucky and get something even better than what you wanted. If you’re too upset that it’s not EXACTLY what you requested, you could miss the fact that it’s actually better.
Follow these simple steps and I promise you’ll have fewer Drive-By fatalities and many more Drive-Thru successes. You’ll also probably never be able to get fast food without thinking about how to improve your communication. So now you can actually make the argument that fast food helps you be a healthier team member! 
Other articles you might like:
- Toyota has a customer service problem
- The new KISS philosophy
- I’ll Take a Number Three Please
- Respond to every customer every time
- Never blame defend or explain (part 2)
