Communication

Communication. The Killer.

The Killer, you ask? Isn't a lack of communication the dangerous condition? After all, if we are communicating, then in theory we are talking about the same things. It's only when people or countries or businesses fail to communicate that things can become difficult.

True in one sense - obviously if there is no communication at all, issues are not being addressed and problems are not being solved. Allowed to go long enough, a lack of communication will result in the destruction of whatever needs to be communicated about.

But communication can be a killer to.

Why? Because too often when we communicate we think we are discussing the same items and issues. We may use the same words, we may use the same concepts, we may even leave with goals and "to do" lists, yet we never actually communicated about the issues we thought we were discussing. In this scenario both parties leave the conversation thinking that the other understands their position and what needs to be done.

Then, suddenly, two days or two weeks or two months later, the parties look around and realize that the nothing they discussed came to fruition. "How can this be?" they ask. "We had meetings and project teams and minutes around this subject? We talked and made plans. We communicated."

"We communicated." Perhaps. We talked, at least. We assumed we had communicated. But did we really?

Communication, to be truly effective, needs not only to be done, but to be done thoroughly and to the point of understanding. Only then will our conversation of issues turn to communication about the issues.