Nothing New? Yes, You Communicate That.

Have you ever taken your car to the shop, knowing that the mechanic needs to order a part before the problem can be fixed?
 
Consider two scenarios.
 
Scenario one: You leave your car at the shop on Monday. You don’t get a phone call that day or early the next. Finally, at noon on Tuesday you call the mechanic and find out the part was delayed. It arrived shortly before you called, and it will be another day before the work is done.
 
Scenario two: You leave your car at the shop on Monday. Your mechanic calls a couple of hours later and explains the part is delayed. It will arrive on Tuesday, and the car will be ready on Wednesday.
 
The outcomes are identical in both scenarios: you get your car back on Wednesday. Which one would you prefer? Which one treats you with more respect?

It can feel awkward to communicate when there’s no action or forward movement on a project. After all, no news is good news, right?
 
Not necessarily.
 
At Reach Partners, we establish frequent touchpoints with our partners. These real-time conversations happen no matter what happens or doesn’t happen with a project.
 
Progress made? We communicate.
 
Problem uncovered? We communicate.
 
Nothing happened? We communicate.
 
Most of us pick up the phone or send an email when progress and problems happen. Doing the same when there’s nothing to report is just as critical.
 
We don’t want our partners to waste energy wondering about the status of a project. We communicate with clarity and integrity, even when the news to share is a big, fat zilch.
 
This keeps clients from assuming the best or the worst. It assures our clients that their project is important to us. It also makes it easier to connect when we have bad news to share, such as delays or blocks that might affect a project timeline.
 
After all, nobody wants to get a call only when something isn’t going right.
 
Think about it in these terms. If you’re selling your house, a weekly conversation with your Realtor makes you feel good. Even if there are weeks that nobody has looked at your home, you feel like things are moving in the right direction. You are confident that your house will sell.
 
Communicating nonaction will do that.

 
EDITOR’S NOTE: Adapted from a blog that originally ran in April 2017.