Among the most recent personality traits to be considered missing in action by yours truly, Communication appears to have completely vanished from my radar. Not so much in the online world, where the very concept of communication is the mother of why the Internet even exists, but in reality, where action is more visible and words are apparently too cheap these days.
Now, I don’t want to get off on a rant*, but it’s ever-present to me that it’s easier simply to act and ask forgiveness rather than having the common courtesy to ask permission and act. In the corporate environment, communication is above and beyond the realm of a courtesy; without it, no project would get completed, or a single person would serve as Atlas to the globe that is the company’s success. In an Internet company, there is no one individual that can be credited with the complete and total success of it. In order for a team to succeed, it must work together. Teamwork requires communication. Otherwise, it’s not really a team so much as it is a group of individuals. As a team works together, they form bonds and get to know how the others think, function, and execute. In team environments it would behoove each member to communicate in order to succeed.
So therein lies the major part of my current annoyance and frustration. The dysfunction of working in a group of people than a team grates on me on a daily basis. I’m bombarded with “help the team out,” or “the team needs you.” What team is there to help? This is no team I recognize. Sure, there might be two members with whom I feel I know to a degree to want to help, but other than that, it’s difficult to get animated and charged up when no one else is.
A solution to this problem, of course, is to communicate it. Tablespoonfuls of my own advice is necessary here to communicate the problem in order to bring it specific and decisive relief. In that sense, I’m working on it, but it’s difficult to communicate when there’s no one to listen to. Correction: It’s difficult to do that when the only ones you’re preaching to… is the choir.
Of course, that’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.*
* with apologies to the master of sarcasm and wit, Dennis Miller.
