Legal Quality Management Initiative (QMI)
Institutionalized Communication Barriers™ (ICB)
Institutionalized Communication Barriers™ can evolve into deeply rooted obstacles that hinder optimal business performance - particularly in organizations lead by attorneys. We are utilizing a business framework, grounded in quality management and quality controls principles, that visually maps the presence and root causes of these barriers.
Why It Matters:
Unresolved ICBs strain organizations, increase risk, damage relationships, reduce trust, negatively impact employees' mortality rates, reduce quality and productivity, infuse confusion and inconsistency, and lower profit margin.
What Are ICBs?
Institutionalized Communication Barriers™ are often seemingly unrecognized constraints that deter management and frontline workers from communicating mission-critical information relevant to an organization’s performance. ICBs can be particularly harmful to properly implementing quality controls.
While we continue to investigate ways to identify and assess these barriers, the general approaches listed below may help mitigate ICBs on the path to organizational recovery.
Training in business communications, assertiveness, emotional intelligence and empowerment, in conjunction with other core principles of quality management (QM).
Running a quality controls (QC) program.
Implementing information control strategies and knowledge management that work in conjunction with a quality controls (QC) program.
Recognizing and understanding communication-constraining
behaviors that significantly add to the economic cost of ICBs.