For years I have been amazed and intrigued by the prevalence of communication breakdowns in most of the companies I’ve worked with.  It often seems that the senior leaders are speaking a different language than the people on the front line.  As we know from traveling in other countries, we attempt to overcome such differences by speaking louder, thereby frustrating everyone involved. 

In a workshop last week, I learned that quality guru Juran (1904 – 2008) described and attempted to explain this exact phenomenon.   According to Juran, top management speaks the language of finance, whereas the front line speaks their particular technical language.  The managers in the middle are often counted on to bridge the gap and translate between the two.  Unfortunately, this translation often fails to occur, especially in times of accelerating change. 

I’m interested in hearing how you have bridged this gap.  Any success stories?