“How well we communicate is not determined by how well we say things, but how well we are understood.”
– Andrew Grove
Hi Everyone,
Communication –
Several years ago, I wrote a paper and created a presentation on communication. My paper is primarily focused on truth-telling and how important it is that we properly represent our understanding of the truth to others. When we are communicating with one another we are warrantying our understanding of the truth. I outlined three fundamental types of truth-telling: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Ideal, truths.
Tahzoo must be fast. To do this, we need to improve the quality and accuracy of our communication. Successful companies are agile because they are good at learning and collectively processing information. Truth telling will accelerate the velocity of the company because it will decrease the natural friction when exchanging information between clients, individuals, and teams.
Throughout the process of communication, you are sharing information which I’ve categorized into three buckets. As you engage with members of the team or clients this week, listen to how you answer questions and ask yourself what you are guaranteeing in your communication. Is the information you are sharing properly qualified?
For example, when you are reflecting on your understanding of a situation and providing a Qualitative response to someone, what are you guaranteeing in your communication?
This is a good example of truthful communication and the guarantee that you are implicitly expressing …
“I have done the best I can to remember and research the facts and I am warrantying to you that from my memory this is the best that I can recall.”
An Example Response to Quantitative Question
“I have done the research, tested my hypothesis, taken all the measurements, and reached a conclusion. I am warrantying to you that I have found no other possible understanding.”
An Example Response for an Ideal Truth Question
“If I had perfect information, then the following would be true.” … But this is unattainable because none of us are omnipotent and have knowledge of infinity.
I realize this may sound very theoretical, but I assure you it’s not. You make decisions every day in your communication patterns about how truthful you are with your warranties. I’m suggesting that we all take a hard look at what we are saying and what we are guaranteeing to one another so that we can become a better organization; a learning and agile organization. It’s all about communication. If we can improve the quality and accuracy of our communication, we will improve the quality of our client relationships, our work, and our personal satisfaction at work.
The following is a link in teams to the Communications training deck that was produced a few years ago. Please review it, and I look forward to speaking with you more on this topic.
Let’s go be great!
Brad