You Said It, We Didn’t Hear You

We all have heard it. Most of us have said it, too. Communication is critically important. What is humbling to learn is that despite our best efforts, much of what we intend to communicate isn’t heard. In fact, the human experience takes in information in extremely ineffective ways through our senses. Our biases, perspectives, and limited senses continually distort, delete, and fill in gaps in the information we receive with reckless abandon. As a result, what we see, hear, and feel is a second or third rate representation of reality.

As I write this, I can’t help but think of my business and how it interacts with you all. I know for certain that despite the hundreds of repetitions delivering the explanation of who we are and what we do to members as they join our community, the thousands of blogs curating that story, and the countless podcast interviews crafting our story that they too are distorting, deleting, and filling in gaps as they please to out best effort communications.

This would explain the various answers we’d get if we polled a hundred community members with the simple question, “What is DEUCE?” While preventing this might be impossible, I firmly believe there is power in acknowledging the ineffective nature of our communication rather than naively believing that everything we communicate about is made clear once and for all. This world-view creates space for continued dialogue, redoubled efforts, and understandable slack in the communication system.

As you read this, you’re likely granting too much confidence to the clarity of your communication. What assumptions are you making about how your loved ones, co-workers, and friends are hearing from you?

While I have your attention, let’s make the poll above real. Would you take a stab in the comments section to answer the question, “What is DEUCE?”

 

Logan Gelbrich  

@functionalcoach