I’m dealing
with an internship situation right now that, hopefully, I can get straightened
out soon before everyone gets discouraged and gives up.
The bottom
line/root cause is, as goes that great line spoken by “the Captain” in “Cool
Hand Luke”: “What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.”
The irony of
this particular situation is that it’s a public
relations internship…and public relations (to me, at least) is about accurate, understood, and agreed-upon communication.
There are problems on all sides of this particular kerfluffle…expectations of the
internship supervisor, expectations of the site supervisor, and expectations of
the student intern.
Right now,
the conversations are running on parallel tracks, all heading in the same
general direction, but each just slightly
away from the others.
And,
unfortunately, that is how most misunderstandings are created…from general agreement but slightly divergent expectations of that
agreement.
Will the
world as we know it come to a screeching halt as a result of this? Doubtful.
Will some
feelings be hurt? Probably.
Will
important lessons be learned? Definitely.
Lesson 1: Be
crystal clear on expectations of all parties involved. (Assumptions were made
on all sides here.)
Lesson 2: Act quickly to clear up misunderstandings or miscommunications. (There was a delay, again on all sides, in acting on perceived problems.)
Lesson 3: Change procedures to ensure that, in future, the problem won’t bubble up again. (Done, with fingers crossed.)
Lesson 2: Act quickly to clear up misunderstandings or miscommunications. (There was a delay, again on all sides, in acting on perceived problems.)
Lesson 3: Change procedures to ensure that, in future, the problem won’t bubble up again. (Done, with fingers crossed.)
In looking
back at this situation, it’s pretty easy to see where the train jumped off the
tracks.
Everybody was
right.
And everybody was wrong.
It’s not the
end of civilized life as we know it. But it is
a good learning experience.
In the course of our careers, we (professionals, professors, clients, students, employers, employees…) sit in a room and
talk at each other...a lot. And we assume that the other parties understand and agree with us.
Most of the
time, things go as expected.
Sometimes, “we’ve
got a failure to communicate.”
“Much learning does not teach
understanding.”
–
Heraclitus, “From Diogenes Laertius,
Lives of Eminent Philosophers.”
I would add one item under lesson #2 above, and that is, "Be truthful and take ownership". So often in these situations, emotions run high and the finger pointing game begins.
ReplyDeleteAs a former colleague used to joke with me, "Don't worry about solving the problem, just find out who did it!!"
Each party should analyze their own words and objectively determine if some/all might have contributed to the misunderstanding. If yes, then acknowledge it. Sounds simple, but many times does not occur.
Thanks very much, Doug. A very insightful addition that comes from experience. Sometimes the most difficult words to say are a very simple, "I'm sorry. I was wrong."
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate your feedback!
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