Butting Heads in the Office

I had the longest meeting with my boss yesterday. The meeting wasn't long; it was the battery of criticism I received and wasn't prepared for.

 There seems to be a communication barrier between us, which makes certain projects difficult to understand and work on. I play several roles in my position, one being the Decipherer of information and Transcriber of design ideas. My other role is Messenger of information between my boss and our subcontractors and crew.

I now realize that I have to:

• Take initiative in getting the information I need, because it won't necessarily be provided. This includes design notes, drawings, photos, estimates, accurate measurements, site analyses, and any other relevant information. I need to make sure I ask for all that up front so I can avoid these communication barriers down the road.

• Meet with all the players on site. This it's been working: my boss goes on site, brings back information, which I then send on to our subcontractor, and what results is a bad game of telephone. In order for our projects to be successful, we all need to take the time to work together on site. But, of course, the limiting factor is time, so I need to be proactive about scheduling that time. That or I make the suggestion that my boss work with the subs directly, and leave me out of the equation.

Any thoughts?