(It is so important to be clear, concise and informative with communication)
I’m beginning to think that a lot of modern misunderstandings are caused by people assuming other people are telepathic. I’ve noticed this a lot recently within teams and organisations when communicating outwards.
The problem leads to misunderstandings which can in turn lead to devastating consequences or, in its milder form, confusion and a whole stream of actions following an incorrect path which wastes time and money.
To give you an innocuous example. I recently contacted my local council. The previous owner of the house I have bought left behind a number of council bins which are superfluous for my purposes. I dutifully went onto their online portal and raised the question as to whether they would like them back (oh that’s a whole other rant about the amount we do online for the big companies!)
Back came the reply: ‘We have logged a collection request number #123456’.
From this I assume they do want the bins back. However, that is all they said.
Do they need me to do anything? Do they want me to wheel them out on to the kerbside? Do they want me to leave them where they are and someone will knock? Who knows?!
As it is, weeks later and I am still in possession of unwanted council bins. I haven’t got the time or energy to get back in touch ergo the bins will stay where they are, at the bottom of the garden falling into disrepair. It is so important to be clear, concise and informative with communication.
A small and insignificant example of what I am talking about, however I think it highlights how easy it is to assume that the receiving person will understand what you are saying. Just because you might understand what you mean, you should never assume someone else will.
Be clear and be informative and actually answer any specific question or query that is raised. Failure to do so leads to inaction or worse, an action being taken that you never intended.
Moving on to insults, I would urge against treating anyone as less intelligent than you. They may not grasp the full extent or ramifications of what you are imparting, but it’s down to you to give them all the information they require to undertake and complete their task without judgment.
Again, to use a very simple example, a task I took upon myself was to look into Radon mitigation. I researched the basics before reaching out to various suppliers for solutions and costs.
One came back with some very useful information that I had not considered in my research which I took on board and adjusted my approach to the task. Life got busy with other things so a little time passed. This led to an email from this person who decided that their best approach with me was to belittle the knowledge I had gleaned, tell me I couldn’t possibly understand the ramifications of not doing anything at all and warn me that all other advisers in the field were probably ill- or uninformed.
Needless to say, that is one company who is now off my list of potentials.
Ignoring my simplistic examples of recent first-hand experiences I am seeing and hearing evidence of both these traits in workplaces I visit too.
It is so important to be clear, concise and informative with communication, whilst at the same time asking for – and then answering – questions. And when passing on your information, do not assume or judge the other person’s understanding to be any different from your own unless they prove otherwise.
Signed with a very apt US design principle KISS – keep it simple, stupid!
Wow, now thats an interesting sales technique. /S
