Public Service Articles in the pursuit of
Recreational Boating Safety

Communication – It ain’t like it used to be!
By Wayne Spivak
National Press Corps
United States Coast Guard Auxiliary

When I went to college, in the mid 70’s, I came with my Smith-Corona electric typewriter. For many of our readers, they’ve just asked themselves what’s an electric typewriter, and who was Smith-Corona?

Today, as I type this article on my state-of-the-art computer, I give pause to contemplate the change in communication, from not only the physical world, but the visceral world. Communication hasn’t changed, but the world around us has, thus changing communication!

A conundrum if I’ve ever heard one. And the answer is directly related to how we communicate, for the change that our information age has wrought, must modify our behavior, from listener to communicator. Communication is at the core of all leadership competencies.

We used to communicate by using the telephone or in writing. When reaching large audiences, one always wrote. It took time to disseminate this message, and time for feedback to bubble up from the readers. Expectations were tempered by the technology. In the mid to late 70’s, the fax machine made its debut. When the company that I worked for bought our first fax, some thought we were throwing out money we couldn’t afford. But the president of the company had a vision; cut down the time delay between communication intervals, thus increasing productivity. Our expectation of information changed from days and weeks to hours and days.

Twenty-five some odd years later, our technology has increased, and with it our expectations on communications. With the integration of the information superhighway – the internet, into not only our lexicon but our offices, homes and even our cell phones, communication is now working on seconds and minutes.

With instant communications, we must now spend more time communicating. We must strive to become better communicators, not just on organizational level, which has become even more critical, but on a personal level as well. Gone are the days when the roadblocks of cost and time in writing a letter protected us. Sending an e-mail is simplistic, and almost negligible in cost.

Nothing today irks customers (sub-ordinates, peers, supervisors and fellow co-workers) more than not being kept informed. Communication ain’t what it used to be. As such, as we all (vendor or customer) must strive to communicate in a more efficient and erudite manner.

Failure to reply violates all the Coast Guard Leadership Competencies. For each of the major competencies is based upon communication, either verbal or written. Customer focus to management and process improvement are based on effective communication. If we are to meet all our expectations, we must learn and follow some simple communication rules:

• Make sure you can be found (nothing is worse than finding out the addresses in a directory are out of date). Register with the National E-Mail directory so others in the Auxiliary can find you. • Reply promptly to valid messages, even if is just to say you’ll be getting back to them. • When replying in earnest, three word answers just don’t cut it. When it comes down to a decision of whether it is better to brief (brevity) or clear (clarity), one should choose the clarity over brevity. • Read the message. In our day and age of time-slicing, nothing can be worse than answering a message incorrectly by failing to read the message!

Our technology has changed, and so has our expectations. However, just as it was in the latter half of last century, the need for well written, timely communication between individuals and groups are essential to maintaining a good relationship.