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| Common Communication Problems by Mark Rewhorn Entry Date: 200809 Communication, so easy isn’t it? We open our mouths, the words come out, and we have accomplished our task! If only!
Many years ago I was unfortunate enough (and incredibly naive) to have a conversation with a gentleman from Japan via the telephone. I instructed him how to setup a test unit we had sent him and explained how to operate it. He seemed satisfied; we both went on our merry ways.
Imagine my shock when a few days later a box of burned out electronics appeared from Japan. I had made the cardinal mistake of not checking that he understood what I was telling him. I was also blissfully unaware of the cultural differences between the UK and Japan, and that he was being extremely polite to me and didn’t want to offend me by questioning me. It was a lesson hard learned, and very expensive to put right.
So, apart from always checking understanding, what other common communication mistakes are made?
How about date formats? 01/02/2009 means what? To me, it means the first of February 2009. I bet to Lakota it means the second of January 2009. Let’s hope we haven’t got a meeting scheduled like this!
Time formats are similar. What does 5.15 mean? AM or PM?
How about when we state locations? If I tell people we are to meet in the “blue room” are they all aware of where the “blue room” is? What if the term “blue room” is local slang for a room, would outsiders be able to find it?
What about terms that mean different things in different cultures? I understand the term fender (as applied to an automobile) to be a bumper bar. Again, ask Lakota, and I bet he understands it to be a car wing.
Consider carefully using TLAs. Ah, you don’t understand that do you? TLA. Three letter acronym. They vary across industries and countries. SME in six-sigma speak means subject matter expert. But to me as a consultant it means small and medium enterprises. I once spoke about VOC in a six-sigma course. A student pointed out that it might mean voice of the customer to me, but to him it meant volatile organic compounds! Just a slight difference.
So the bottom line here is think carefully about the message you need to communicate, and verify for common understanding.
About the author: This article is submitted by Mark Rewhorn, European Business Improvements founder and Contributor. You can reach Mark by clicking the link below: If you're interested to receive this article in Pdf or Word format, please click on the "Make A Donation" button, below. European Business Improvements is asking a small donation in order to develop more material. Please feel free to make your donation and support European Business Improvements. When you're not interested to donate, but you want this article anyway, click on the "Make A Donation" button and fill in 0 on the next opening screen. Finally, when you don't want to make a donation, or when you don't want this article been send to you by us, but you want the article, just copy the text above and paste it in a for you suitable format and print, save it. Enjoy!
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