Communication breakdown: gaffes that hurt your cannabis business

"The truth is rarely pure and never simple." Oscar Wilde

The esteemed British writer has a lot to teach us about the human condition, and by default the world of cannabis.  The cannabis industry and its players have many challenges, one of which is self-inflicted:  poor, clumsy and unprofessional communications.

Improving how we converse with each other can go a long way in fostering mutual understanding, alignment of interests and collective action – plus deliver higher productivity and better financial results.

The 5 most common gaffes I see and hear are:

1. Being reductive, which turns important deliberations into win-lose passion plays; 
2. Ignoring the difference between implying something and inferring something, when having sensitive discussions;
3. Prioritizing subjective feelings over facts in decision making;
4. Conflating an explanation with a justification when reporting on business results;
5. Name calling.  This insulting and immature practice reduces mutual trust and segregates everyone into warring tribes.

We regularly witness these blunders in every company not to mention in online forums (like this one) and at conferences.

Regrettably, this problem is systemic. There are many causes but I’m sure professional immaturity, toxic corporate cultures, and poor language skills bear some responsibility.  Most likely, these behaviors also echo fissures in the cannabis community (e.g., roots vs suits) and the broader milieu (e.g., liberals vs conservatives).  

Communication breakdowns have serious consequences.  People stop listening to each other, mistrust grows, and misunderstanding become rampant. Needless to say, morale suffers, strategic misalignments appear and program execution is hampered.

Cannabis firms won’t rise to industry challenges if their staffs are not better communicators.  Companies might start with defining and implementing a simple, organization-wide Language Strategy (e.g., desired rules, norms and practices) that guides conversations, documentation, meetings and presentations.  Many leading companies including P&G (my alma mater), GE and Amazon have language and communication standards that must be followed.    These firms have learned (often the hard way) that effective and professional communications leads to improved decision making, higher productivity, enhanced teamwork and better stakeholder outreach.  We can and must do better.

#communications #teamwork #morale #culture #language