It's possible to overcommunicate as a manager, according to Joel Spolsky of Inc.com.
He gives the examples of inviting eight people to a meeting instead of just the three who really need to be there just so no one feels left out, and sending out a companywide email that is only relevant to one person.
Although Spolsky admits communication is important and that failure to communicate causes many organisational problems, he points out the risks of overdoing it.
"Everybody who doesn't need to be in that meeting is killing productivity," says Spolsky, who is co-founder and CEO of Fog Creek Software. "Everybody who doesn't need to read that email is distracted by it. At some point, overcommunicating just isn't efficient."
Spolsky says the problem gets worse as businesses get bigger: "As companies expand, the people within them start to specialise. At such a point, some managers will conclude that they have a 'keep everyone on the same page' problem. But often what they actually have is a 'stop people from meddling when there are already enough smart people working on something' problem."
So managers must find ways to reduce paths of communication. Spolsky recommends eliminating companywide mailing lists and large meetings and establishing a culture where people are rewarded for doing their job but frowned upon for meddling in other people's business.
He expands: "And on every project, assign one person to make sure that communication happens - but only the right communication. Otherwise the team will just start having long meetings.. and argue about things they don't really care about just to hear their own voices."
Spolsky concludes that managers must "invent specific communications systems so that exactly the right people find out and nobody else. Not because it's confidential. Because it's a waste of time."
A Little Less Conversation
Joel Spolsky, Inc.com, 01/02/10
