Communication is an integral part of our life. We use our communication skills while reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Almost the whole day is spent in communicating with others. Communications with others is critical. None of our day to day activities whether personal or professional can be completed without communicating. We keep communicating may be verbally or through writing to our friends, family members or professional colleagues. However, has it ever happened with you that someone to whom you were communicating asked you a question, “What do you mean” or “What you want me to do”? Sometimes you must have found yourself saying, “But I mean to say”, or someone who is talking to you says, “No, No, what I wanted to say”. Have you ever found yourself saying to your superior about your subordinate, “Sir, I told him several times, but I don’t know why he does not listen? Or “I don’t know why he does not do it”? All these questions and statement point out only one thing and that is, “Communication is not as easy as we think it is”.
I remembered to have read about a plane that had crashed due to the pilot error. While investigating the cause for the crash, investigators found that it was the misinterpretation of the communication that has lead to the crash. It so happened that just before touching down the runway, the pilot realized that it was too short to land, hence; he decided to give it another try with a proper approach. "Takeoff, Power!" he yelled to his co-pilot. Of course, his objective was to ask his co-pilot to increase the throttle to full so as the aircraft may get enough lifting thrust. However, the co-pilot interpreted the message as "Take off power," and turned off the engines.
You must have heard stories or experienced similar incidents that complicate our daily lives, and occasionally result in tragedy. In our personal life, miscommunication like this leads us to the situations responsible for most of our sour relationships, whereas in the business world, such misunderstandings cost heavily by losing important clients. Often we listen to statement such as: "I'll do it for you in a little while." Now what does one mean by "A little while"? To the speaker it might mean a week but to the person receiving the message, it might mean within a day. When the job is not done in a day it irritates the listener and forces him to react in the ways that hurt the speaker. What! If the speaker would have asked for the listener’s opinion, however, irony is that most of the times while communicating we only concentrate on delivering the message and very little attention is paid to find out listener’s understanding. Majority of the times if people do not implement what you want them to do, the reason could be that they have not understood your instructions and not necessarily they wanted to disobey you or were not interested in complying with your instructions. Hence, it is very rightly said, “Communication is done by the listener”, as whatever the other person makes out of the message only that can be considered as the message communicated by the speaker.
(Excerpts from the book, ‘Why My Horse Doesn’t Listen – Learn to communicate effectively)
Vivek Mehrotra
I remembered to have read about a plane that had crashed due to the pilot error. While investigating the cause for the crash, investigators found that it was the misinterpretation of the communication that has lead to the crash. It so happened that just before touching down the runway, the pilot realized that it was too short to land, hence; he decided to give it another try with a proper approach. "Takeoff, Power!" he yelled to his co-pilot. Of course, his objective was to ask his co-pilot to increase the throttle to full so as the aircraft may get enough lifting thrust. However, the co-pilot interpreted the message as "Take off power," and turned off the engines.
You must have heard stories or experienced similar incidents that complicate our daily lives, and occasionally result in tragedy. In our personal life, miscommunication like this leads us to the situations responsible for most of our sour relationships, whereas in the business world, such misunderstandings cost heavily by losing important clients. Often we listen to statement such as: "I'll do it for you in a little while." Now what does one mean by "A little while"? To the speaker it might mean a week but to the person receiving the message, it might mean within a day. When the job is not done in a day it irritates the listener and forces him to react in the ways that hurt the speaker. What! If the speaker would have asked for the listener’s opinion, however, irony is that most of the times while communicating we only concentrate on delivering the message and very little attention is paid to find out listener’s understanding. Majority of the times if people do not implement what you want them to do, the reason could be that they have not understood your instructions and not necessarily they wanted to disobey you or were not interested in complying with your instructions. Hence, it is very rightly said, “Communication is done by the listener”, as whatever the other person makes out of the message only that can be considered as the message communicated by the speaker.
(Excerpts from the book, ‘Why My Horse Doesn’t Listen – Learn to communicate effectively)
Vivek Mehrotra
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