Work experience

n my position at work, I have an influence on the upward, downward, and the lateral organizational levels. I am in an organization where my direct supervisor only knows my job description but not what that description entails. Additionally, the lateral and downward chains are similar, but there are technical differences. Furthermore, coercive power, which is the fear of punishment or the loss of some valued outcome, is something that I am against because it destroys socialization and organizational culture (Crossman & Hardesty, 2017). Consequently, I ensured that I never communicated in a coercive manner.

          I was the senior editor of a weekly publication that was published both internally and externally. I had ideas on the different content that should be included in the magazine. I presented my ideas to all three tiers because they will influence the entire organization. My subordinates were all for the new direction, and so were my peers. However, it was a challenge to try to sell it to the upward chain. Even though both the lateral and downward levels agreed with my proposal, the upward level was more reserved.

          I was attempting to increase readership with the publication and change it where it pertained to a broader audience. In my opinion, the magazine’s current format was getting stale, and it needed to be replaced before the loss of readership was detrimental to the longevity of the magazine. Our readership was continually decreasing on a weekly basis. The upward chain initially decided to keep the magazine in its current format.  Consequently, the readership continued to fall and the upward management team finally became concerned. Right after their decision was made, I created a survey and made it available across several mediums. The reader’s responses correspond with the lateral and downward levels. I should have completed this survey before my initial meeting, which may have helped to sway the upward management’s thought process. However, once the management team reviewed the surveys, they decided to implement my plan, with a few added modifications. Within one month, the readership was at the highest levels in several years. Furthermore, after two months, readership doubled.

          A few years ago, my leadership assigned me as the operations manager for my company, which was a big promotion. After being in the position for about a month, my direct supervisor approached me to ask how things were going. I told him that working in operations was not bad. However, I felt that I was having a hard time communicating my intentions to my subordinates. Furthermore, he told me that was his main reason for asking me how things were going because a few of my employees approached him. They advised him of some of the same issues about my directing and communicating abilities. He was happy that I was honest with him. However, he did put me on notice and told me that I had 90 days to form my communication plan to increase the effectiveness of my communication down to my subordinates.

          By putting me on notice, I had no choice but to formulate a plan to be a better communicator. After self-reflection, I learned that I took for granted their knowledge about a particular topic because I knew about the subject and they should as well. I learned to make a written outline highlighting the information that I wanted to share with my subordinates. Additionally, I started to allow an ample amount of time for questions to be asked and answered. In the past, I told them to email me their questions. Consequently, I learned that this causes a breakdown in communication and discredits collaboration.

          An influencing factor was the lack of motivation of the employees. By becoming an effective communicator, I was able to help the employees feel like they had a purpose and were part of a team. Additionally, production was another influential factor. Once they realized what they had to do and when it had to be completed by, my subordinate’s productivity excelled beyond normal levels. Finally, my initial inability to efficiently communicate affected the culture of the company. Once I opened effective, efficient, and transparent lines of communication, the culture of the organization became more favorable. This situation allowed me to understand the importance of effective communication within an organization. Without effective and transparent communication, the organization as a whole suffers (Jackson, 2013).

Crossman, K. A., & Hardesty, J. L. (2017). Placing Coercive Control at the Center: What Are the Processes of Coercive Control and What Makes Control Coercive? Psychology of Violence, 32-41. doi:10.1037/vio0000094

Jackson, J. (2013). Understanding Group Differences. Bridging Differences: Effective Intergroup Communication Bridging differences: Effective intergroup communication, 74-112. doi:10.4135/9781452229706.n3