communications

Social needs introverts too

My name is Molly, and I am an introvert.

There, I’ve said it. Few of my colleagues or acquaintances would believe it. My job as Social Business Director at 1000heads demands some of the most ‘extroverted’ activities you can imagine – speaking at international conferences, running training programmes for clients, internal evangelism – activities that demand constant sociability and public gregariousness. And I love it. I absolutely love it.

But those who know me well also know that I regularly retreat into ‘Molly zone’, craving time alone to think and work. I will book out meeting rooms to escape open plan intrusion. After a long day of interaction, I will more often than not run away to spend time with a book rather than join others for beers.

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Live From the War Room April 19th


In case you missed the news, McDonald’s had a National Hiring Event April 19th when they recruited 50,000 new employees from the front counter to the home office. We are tremendously excited for this event and the overwhelming response that we’ve received from prospective employees and media.

With this post, I wanted to lift the tent slightly and share a little about how we are managing the communications for this event. As you can imagine, the planning and communications out to the Field (McDonald’s speak for the 14,000 restaurants and thousands of employees around the country that make our operations run smoothly) has been going on for months.

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Is it Communications… or Communication?

I have studied the subject of communications for years. It is funny that many people us the words communications and communication interchangeably. You might ask yourself– what is the difference of a simple “s” at the end? Well there is a lot of difference.

To begin with, TRUE communications occur only when what is being expressed by the sender is clearly understood by the receiver. If someone says s/he is a good communicator but most people cannot follow/understand what the individual has written or said– the fact of the matter is– that person is either not a good communicator or has failed in his/her communications attempt.

An easy time to observe this is during negotiation situations– or times of hostility– when people are tense OR upset with one another. During such times, it is easy to observe the communications process OR lack thereof it quite clearly.

In these times, one party tends to think the vantage point s/he is coming from is “what is right” and that the other person/parties point of view “is wrong”.

When this begins to happen– one way and stifled COMMUNICATION is occurring instead of the flowing two way stream of communications.

One of the best skills that a great “communications person” has is solid listening skills. This skill is oftentimes overlooked but, as the old saying goes, we have “two ears and one mouth” for a reason.

So for true and successful communications to occur– all parties– the sender and receiver… must be willing to listen, willing to hear the other side out, willing to clearly explain a message that can be understood, and lastly if all else fails… be willing to “AGREE TO DISAGREE– AGREEABLY.”

What differences do you observe between communication and communications?