How many times have you been on hold with a customer service department, having to explain your dilemma to every person that gets on the line, and still not get to hang up with your problem resolved?
How about waiting to send out a big project, and a person with key information is nowhere to be found? Even worse — if he’s disappeared before, and the manager has never taken disciplinary action against him?
Too often, there’s a breakdown along the chain of command in the workplace. The customer has a problem, the first person they speak with isn’t helpful, the manager can’t solve their problem, etc. The Harvard Business Review had a great column about this exact situation, specifically, about his order getting messed up at a bagel shop.
The author concludes that the problem often stems from lack of communication, and people not working together as they should. Unfortunately, we’re often limited in our jobs by what our coworker get done; if they’re late with information, that makes us late, and vice versa.
How do you resolve this in your office? What tools do you have in place to make sure everyone is on the same page?
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