How large organizations communicate and provide customer service both internally and externally is always of interest to Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation.
Inefficient systems, especially those funded by taxpayers, waste scarce dollars.
When the education of children is involved, efficiency is doubly important.
I want to show you the new communications flow chart being used by the school district to which I pay taxes each year.
The Keller school district communication chart
How to send an e-mail in the Keller school district/Courtesy of R.I.C.H. via Flickr
This is obviously the mother of all Rube Goldberg contraptions for e-mail and verbal communications.
If you are a teacher in the Keller, Texas school district, you can no longer go directly to the administrator with the answer to your question or problem. Instead, the teacher must notify the principal, who then must notify the director of education at the administration building. That director is then supposed to notify the actual administrator in charge for an answer or solution.
This involves everything from missing textbooks to questions about field trips. Really, it involves everything in the school district.
Instead of the ding-ding (problem holder to problem solver) of normal communication, communication bounces like a pinball: ding > ding > ding > ding.
Superintendent James Veiteinheimer explained in my Nov. 22, 2009 Star-Telegram Dave Lieber column that he wants to collect data so he can anticipate problems before they grow widespread.
If there’s a textbook shortage or continued questions about field trips, he wants to know so his deputies can streamline the answer process.
“We’re trying to create the processes that get the answers back faster, more accurate and more consistent in a system that has doubled in size,” Veitenheimer says.
His goal is to collect data on problems “before something really dramatic happens.”
Like what?
Superintendent James Veitenheimer
“Before the system implodes on a person or a department or something like that. All of a sudden the phone is ringing off the hook and you can never get through because everybody’s calling.”
He says the system is working. Calls are being handled within 24 hours of the request to a principal.
I wonder if that’s true. I’m no fan of anonymous comments, but ConcernedTeacher posted this on the Star-Telegram.com Web site after my original report appeared.
“We get a response within 24 hours?! NOT! I know of teachers that have sent an e-mail with their question to the principal (which is what we were told to do in our building) days ago and still have no response!!!! They were then told to wait 24 hours and send another one if there was no response. If no response, wait 24 hours and then send another one,etc. REALLY!!!!! How many times are we to do this when BEFORE all we needed to do was make ONE phone call!!!! Principals don’t have time to take care of all of those questions!!!! It is just crazy!!!!!”
Spend a little time examining the communications flow chart. It’s fascinating. And get this: The district never released the plan with a detailed memo. The chart was shared with top administrators who then filtered it verbally to their underlings.
It caused a lot of confusion.
United Educators Association rep Larry West says, “”Effective communication doesn’t really filter well through layers. These are human beings, not machines. Machines are linear.”
Cara Jacocks, an instructor in organizational communication at Texas Christian University, says of the Keller plan: “They’ve bureaucratized communication.”
She adds, “In a large school system like this, it might be more beneficial to give the teachers more decision-making power as opposed to ‘I can’t make a decision now. I have to talk to this person and this person has to talk to that person.’ “
Please post comments about effective communication techniques that work for your school or place of business.
Let’s communicate about communicating!
Dave Lieber, The Watchdog columnist for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is the founder of Watchdog Nation. His book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, won two national book awards in 2009 for social change.
