Communication - Is It Breaking Down in the TA Industry?

Written by: Federico Calvino

What is communication? According to the Oxford dictionary communication is defined as “the imparting or exchanging of information or news.” This requires a back and forth, give and take, relationship with one you are trying to impart information too.

One of the many challenges we face in the talent industry is mapping each client's communication pathway. Some might think, “Don’t you just ask for what you need from who you need it from? Don’t you just give feedback to those who need to hear the feedback?” The short answer is: No. Anyone with experience working with a variety of stakeholders will tell you that identifying who you can talk to and what you can say is the number 1 priority when bringing on a new client. Why is this? Frankly, because nothing will get accomplished without identifying a good communication strategy.

There seems to be a pattern recently where because of lack of communication, projects cannot seem to move forward. What is so confusing is that all sides actually think they are or have communicated with each other when in fact they may have spoken the same words yet had two completely different languages. For many years, the talent industry has chalked it up to “Oh, it's a start-up”, “Oh, in corporate they do things differently”, “Oh their management style is just unique.”. While all of these may be true, they do not help to understand why across all industries, all cultures, all teams communication breaks down.

The thing we have noticed here at TAM Solutions is that communication is a CHOICE. You actively make a choice every minute of every day on whether or not you initiate conversations, respond to messages, acknowledge the emails being sent over to you, take an interest in what someone is trying to share with you. All of it is a choice.

When we make the choice to not acknowledge an email, to not respond to a Slack message, to not answer a question of your talent team, it is important to understand the consequences of that choice. Without a clear communication path, decision-making becomes harder, teams are unaligned, employee turnover increases, client satisfaction goes down and company morale is defeated.

How many of us have seen the lasting impact on a great company when their communication paths begin to break down? How many of us have seen the morale slip away and employees become less and less excited about their employers? How many of us have seen this translate into a lack of excitement when recruiting new candidates? These impressions last for a long time, it is vital we keep them strong.

The leaders here at TAM Solutions have made a choice from the beginning, we will never fear communication, in fact we embrace it. We enjoy promoting the mentality of over-communication. Because why shouldn’t our clients get a play by play of how we are utilizing their resources? Why shouldn’t they get the opportunities to share with us what they really need? Why can’t they ask as many questions or share as much feedback as they want to?

Projects consistently have multiple stakeholders, various expectations and different ways of working to accomplish the same goal. When we take the time to be consistent in communication practices we can ensure team alignment, project success and employee / candidate satisfaction.

Here at TAM Solutions we pride ourselves on our top-notch Talent Acquisition support who will consistently provide data-driven, constructive, team-oriented communication and expert change management skills that will ensure a successful partnership.

So, let’s break the cycle of impersonal and ineffective communication styles. Let’s make a choice to say more, do more, and be more in how we impart information to others.