Why Systems Thinking Is Essential for Effective Communication
All types of technical professionals benefit by approaching communication as a system
Systems thinking is essential for effective communication. A system is a collection of interrelated parts that produce something that the parks, acting independently, cannot produce themselves.
Your Car as an Example
The wheels cannot move you from one point to another by themselves. Neither can the steering column. Neither can the engine block. But working together, all of those interrelated parts can move you to a desired outcome.
The Parts Don’t Have to be Perfect
Now, a corollary is that all the parts do not have to be perfect. In other words, you don't have to have the ideal tire wear or the ideal tire pressure, or your engine doesn't have to have the ideal compression in every cylinder as long as the parts work together.
A Cause-and-Effect Approach
So, FINESSE is a cause-and-effect approach for effective communication based on systems thinking. The seven components of FINESSE work together to produce effective communication.
The Benefit for Technical Professionals
All the parts must work together, but it is not necessary for each part to be perfect. So that gives us hope, especially for technical professionals. It means that you don't have to be the most articulate. Or the most attractive, or even the smartest, to be an effective communicator. You just need to have the seven components of finesse working together as a system.
Putting the Communication System into Action
So, the big takeaway is effective communication doesn't mean everything has to be perfect. It means you have to trust your system. That means you have to trust the approach that you elect to do. And more than anything else, don't sweat the perfection of every part.
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JD Solomon is the author of Communicating Reliability, Risk & Resiliency to Decision Makers: How to Get Your Boss’s Boss to Understand and Facilitating with FINESSE: A Guide to Successful Business Solutions.