Good fences make good neighbors. Sometimes.
I’ve been living at the same address for over twenty years. The fence moved in before I did. It was sturdy, redwood, interwoven, and taller than I am. I knew my back neighbors only by the top of their hats: baseball in summer and woolen in winter. They couldn’t have known me by much more.
One day we met, kind of. The top of my head spoke with the tops of theirs and we talked about our enduring fence and what if we just… took it down. We considered the pros and looked at the cons and decided the whatif’s? were greater than the sowhat’s?
Whatif I got a dog and you got a baby? Whatif you sold your house or I sold mine and one of us needed a fence because the new neighbors were mean and nasty? It’s too risky. It’s better to leave well enough alone. Maybe it’s supposed to be that way. After all, good fences make good neighbors…
In late spring, a storm came, and when it left, it took the fence with it. For many days we busied ourselves in the aftermath, chopping, stacking and hauling until finally, we looked up and saw ourselves face to face over a space that once had separated us.
Nowwhat? How would we relate without the walled protection of whatif’s and sowhat’s?
Across the country companies are consolidating their holdings and closing the divide that separates departments and business units. The motive to merge comes from a logical look at the bottom line; it’s cheaper to operate under one roof than many. If you work in closer proximity to what you make, market, and ship you’re more likely to talk to each other about what you know, do, and need. Or so it would seem.
People tend to hold onto the old ways, the established, institutionalized ways; the good fences make good neighbors ways. Instead of crossing over invisible lines, departments and business units remain protective of what was. Barriers, real and imagined, remain in place.
What can you do to remove internal blocks to communication, whether real or perceived?
Observe that it’s happening.
Point out the obvious.
Point out the obvious to the oblivious.
Get together with the oblivious and the obtuse.
Learn their objections.
Overcome the obstructions.
Develop mutual, agreed upon objectives.
Reap the benefits
If what you do is what you did, what you’ll get is what you got.
Communication is the most basic, fundamental, foundational, no cost, no frills tool you have at your disposal. Use it wisely and use it well.
“This is what we do over here and (keep it simple) this is how we do it. Here’s what we need from you to do our job and to help you do yours. What do you do, and what do you need from us?”
If you insist that good fences make good neighbors, the least you can do is install a gate that opens both ways.
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Joyce Richman (www.joycerichman.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at www.thecoachingassociation.com.
