How communications deficiencies get in the way of a company's ability to get the most out of technology.

Mark Cornillie, Brainiac Paradox author

Many things can get in the way of a business’s ability to use information technology to best advantage – a lack of alignment between IT initiatives and business goals, poor project management, not having the right skills in place, choosing the wrong technology, a lack of funding… the list goes on. The most insidious inhibitor, however, is one that underlies many of the other problems: an inability for the people involved to connect and communicate effectively.

Author Mark Cornillie, founder of TechCommBridge, a company specializing in bridging understanding between technical professionals and non-technical audiences, addresses this problem in his new book, The Brainiac Paradox: Solutions for the Communication Challenges of STEM Professionals. In it he shares his experience, gained in over two decades working with some of the largest organizations in the U.S. and around the world, and research into this phenomenon, as well as practical, prescriptive, and proven solutions for addressing it. He recently spoke with Abbie Lundberg of Lundberg Media, herself a communication advisor to CIOs and their teams, as well as the former editor in chief of CIO magazine.

Abbie Lundberg: What is the Brainiac Paradox?Abbie Lundberg

Mark Cornillie: It is a phenomenon whereby the aptitudes that facilitate success in technical fields (the STEM professions) seem to run in inverse proportion to those that are important for effective communication, which I define as constructively influencing people’s perceptions and behaviors.

Why does this matter? What is at stake?

Technology is crucially important to drive economic growth and address societal challenges. I’ve worked with many brilliant people over the years who were not able to deliver fully on their gifts. They possessed certain characteristics that interfered with their ability to make personal connections, create mutual interest, convey understanding, and appeal to the logic and emotions of disparate audiences.  Without those, they had problems getting projects approved, funded, supported, etc.

What role does empathy play in effective communication?

Empathy is at the heart of effective communication. Unfortunately, I think people often confuse being a considerate communicator with being an empathetic communicator. In the book, I relay the story of a woman who went to the doctor to get some very important test results. He provided her a lengthy explanation, using a lot of very technical language. When she expressed her bewilderment, he defended himself by saying that he hadn’t wanted to talk down to her, because he would never want someone to talk down to him. He was being considerate, but he wasn’t being empathetic. Being an empathetic communicator means communicating in terms of our audience’s understanding, abilities, interests, etc. 

You talk about communication as a result, not a task. What do you mean by that?The Brainiac Paradox by Mark Cornillie

Most commonly, people who work in technical fields are linear thinkers. They tend to be very logical in their communication planning and disciplined in the execution.  However, some get so wrapped up in the process that they lose sight of the objective. But communication is an imperfect art. As you communicate you have to monitor how people are reacting, how the environment might be changing, and even if the goal needs to be changed.  You must pay attention and be willing to adjust in order to achieve your ultimate goal.

A lot of people get caught up in crafting their message so every detail is exactly right, and once they complete that message and launch it, they think their job is done.

Exactly. They’ve done their planning, created their messages, executed flawlessly – check, check, check – so they contend they have communicated.  But sometimes they are confusing communication the process with communication the result.

And it is immensely frustrating when that doesn’t work, because they have put so much into it.

Absolutely. I get frustrated too, so I use that mantra, “if they haven’t heard it, I haven’t said it.” I find that very helpful. It usually takes me a short while for the frustration to pass, but then this mantra helps me recalibrate and focus on why they haven’t heard it, and find a way to reach them.

The most direct route in communication is not always the most effective one. Talk a little bit about enlisting other people into your communication strategy.

At one company, IT attempted repeated communications when the e-mail system would be down for maintenance over the weekend, but inevitably, the maintenance period would be at a crucial time in some executive’s travel, and there would be some heated feedback.

The communication planning methodology that I offer in the book takes an approach similar to a Sudoku puzzle. The idea is to plug in the information you know, and then fill in the blanks and try to find the most effective way to meet your communication objective. In this case we realized that the executives had become immune to the IT team’s many operational email notifications. Rather than trying to break through by sending more or better emails, the tool caused us to think, “if they ignore IT, who do they listen to?” The answer: their executive assistants. We talked to the various executive assistants and came up with a system where we would alert them, and they would alert their bosses. It worked beautifully. The tool encourages the kind of lateral thinking that is sometimes necessary to solve problems that linear thinking won’t.

I’ve worked with clients where projects get slowed down by fear and a lack of trust among some of the business executives. This happens a lot when a new CIO comes in to fix a bad situation, and there’s a perception gap between the old reality and the new. If you assume the CIO and his or her team are good at their jobs, how can they overcome this mistrust?

IT leadership must make managing their team’s credibility a top priority. Look at it from the executive’s perspective.  If someone were to propose that you make a high-stakes decision on something you didn’t fully understand, it would be the credibility of the person, more than what they say, that is important.  And yet, IT teams will spend considerable time and energy preparing elaborate proposals for top leadership, and typically very little actively managing their credibility.

They can start immediately by managing expectations – under-promising and over-delivering. They can also get a quick shot of credibility by “selling from the outside in,” i.e. getting third-party endorsements. Business execs might not have the expertise to know whether their IT team is a top or a bottom performer, but if they hear that IT is receiving recognition, winning awards, and otherwise being endorsed by credible third parties, they are likely to think “if they think they’re good, then they must be good.”  Finally, and most importantly, I recommend communication mapping. It emphasizes proactive communications, which facilitates strong, consistent and compounding messages. This builds credibility as opposed to reactive communication, which leads to sporadic and inconsistent communication, typically diminishing credibility.

You identify nine foibles that STEM professionals are prone to that get in the way of effective communication. What kinds of issues do they cover?

I take an exceptions-management approach. The foibles represent the key constraints, the things I have repeatedly witnessed impeding the effectiveness of some in technical fields. These relate to denial, a lack of empathy, using too much jargon, excessively long communications, overly process biased (or not being results oriented), aesthetics, poor collaboration, not managing credibility, and reluctance to sell ideas. Of those affected by the Brainiac Paradox, most will have problems with only a few of these, maybe only one. I devote a chapter to each, offering both an explanation for the foible and prescriptive techniques for addressing it.

How do you want the book to affect people?

Generally, I hope that it will reduce the communication issues that zap the productivity of technical teams, but specifically I think in terms of the people I’ve worked with and helped in the past, and I just hope to reach more like them. There is nothing like seeing a really talented person who has been stuck because of just one or two characteristics, and then watching their careers take off. I assume that through the reach of this book I will be able to do and see much more of that.

Subscribe to The Heller Report

Roles We Recruit


 

Read our weekly e-newsletter packed with career advice and resources for the strategic technology leader, and information about active searches.

The Heller Report

Add a Comment

Ask These Revealing Leadership Questions When Recruiting Digital Trailblazers

Mar 27, 2024

Mark Sander of Azurity Pharmaceuticals on Leading in Times of Dynamic Growth and Change

Mar 27, 2024