Master the Art of Closed Loop Communication
Enhance Clarity and Efficiency in Conversations
I was recently working with an expert and her executive assistant who faced a challenge that arose due to a problem in communication. The expert had asked the EA to have a gift delivered to a client. It was a bottle of wine and due to the liquor laws here, the delivery person wasn't able to just leave it with the concierge at the building. This was causing some drama, and there were phone calls and text messages flying from the delivery person to the EA, to the expert.
Unfortunately, the EA was overseas and didn't really understand the ins and outs of the laws here in Australia. To add fuel to the situation, the expert was going into a dinner with 20 clients and was struggling to deal with all the calls from the delivery person and the EA.
At the end of the day, it was the EA's job to manage.
So the last message the expert sent to the EA was something along the lines of 'I don't know the answer. We'll just have to work out how to get it to her.' The EA read this and assumed the expert was handling the delivery from there. But rather than circling back and confirming that, they simply didn’t respond.
Ultimately, the wine wasn’t delivered to the client. As you can imagine, the Monday team meeting was quite fraught. This was all due to a failure to use closed-loop communication.
What is closed-loop communication?
Closed loop communication is a method of communicating that uses feedback (both verbal and written) to make sure that messages are correctly understood by their recipients. At its most basic level, it means repeating back what’s been said to you to ensure that you correctly understood the information.
When it comes to using closed-loop communication in your practice, you can repeat back what’s been said via text, email, slack, direct messaging, or verbally – however, the message is being communicated to you in the first place. The important thing is making sure that it’s been received, that both parties are on the same page and that assumptions are removed, especially when people have two different native languages.
Closed-loop communication can be very well understood when you think about how pilots and control towers talk to each other. When one delivers a piece of information, the other will always acknowledge it by repeating back instructions. Imagine what might happen if a pilot asked if they were cleared to land and simply got no response (much like the EA failed to respond to their expert!).
By using closed-loop communication then you can minimise any confusion.
Why closed-loop communication matters?
As our example with the EA above shows us, when we don’t have closed-loop communication, things can go awry and go awry quickly.
As Fyodor Dostoevsky, one of the most famous authors in Russian literature, said, ‘Much unhappiness has come into the world because of bewilderment and things left unsaid.’ But it doesn’t have to be in our own practices.
In fact, when we use closed-loop communication, then good things follow. In fact, closed-loop communication:
Builds trust
Reduces error rates
Reduces stress
Minimises confusion
And that makes it important for use in our businesses, our practices and even our personal lives. If the EA in the example above had replied via text – or better yet, picked up the phone and called his boss – to clarify what was being asked of him, he would have been better able to do his job, the wine would have been delivered to the client, and his expert would have been happy with the outcomes. The Monday morning meeting would have been a pleasure to attend as well.
How to use closed-loop communication in your own practice
Have clear instructions. Make sure that everyone knows what needs to get done and make a plan to make that happen.
Communicate with clarity. Be clear when you communicate so that you’re getting the right message across, whether it be via text, voicemail, WhatsApp or email.
Follow up. Create natural follow-up points in your communication so that everyone feels confident to reach out and follow up. This might be at the end of every day for outstanding items, for example.
Document your communications. Document discussions in your project management platforms like Asana and actions needed. This helps everyone to stay on the same page.
Repeat. Repeat these interactions until the particular item that you’re communicating about has ‘closed’.
Questions
So, to get started, ask yourself the following questions:
Do you have clear instructions in your business?
How well do you and your team communicate with one another?
What are your expectations about closing the loop on communication, and how can you convey better closed-loop communications to your team?
I’d love to hear your thoughts….