In every interaction, whether we’re aware of it or not, we make assumptions about the other party involved.  These assumptions are often correct and help us condense or avoid the back-and-forth process of getting on the same page.  However, sometimes we get it wrong.  We assume that others know what we know or share the same perspective that we do, when in fact they don’t.

When this happens we leave the interaction feeling confused, disconnected, and disappointed.  Likely, we fault the other person.  After all, it made perfect sense to me!  Yes — sure it did, but that’s not really the point.  We needed the other persons help, but failed to consider their perspective and information needs, and thus ended up with a poor outcome.  Or, perhaps they never really understood that this was a problem in the first place.

ConAgra Foods communicators faced a situation that is quite familiar to those of us in the communications field and gave them a great opportunity to challenge their assumptions and typical ways of working. A business partner approached Communications with information that needed to be shared with employees.  More specifically, there was a financial goal that the organization needed to achieve.

However, rather than taking the traditional approach of asking “what information do you (the business partner) think is most important for us to explain this to employees,” communicators took an inside-out approach.  They considered the topic from the perspective of the employee – i.e., questioning the assumption that business partners’ information needs were the same as employees’ information needs.  The question to the business partner then became, “what information do we need to share so that employees can develop solutions and propose ideas on their own?”

The following questions illustrate the thought process used by ConAgra Foods in this example. The first couple of questions may feel fairly familiar, but they serve as an important setup to the third and forth questions, which force you to consider the employee’s perspective.

If seriously considered, I think these questions will guide you towards sharing different information with employees, and, more importantly, towards generating improved business results.

This company profile is part of the Communications Executive Council’s most recent study on Building a Change-Ready Organization.  You can learn more about the ConAgra Foods’ case study – Information Needs Assessment Process here.

CEC Related Resources:

• Information Needs Assessment Process (ConAgra Foods case)
  
• Key findings from Building a Change-Ready Organization
  

CEC Related Blog Posts:

• Communicating the Right Information to Drive Change
• 4 Themes  from Europe:  What’s Hard About Creating an Agile Organization
• Agility: What It Is & Implications for Your Company