Tuesday, January 17, 2023

Thought for the Day - The Communication 'Gap'

 There is one thing that is at the bottom of everything - communication. We are all capable of communicating, know language but still cannot get the best out of one another. Why? What's the gap we ask?



The gap is nothing but the communication gap. We go this far with our communication and no further. We say the same things again and again without knowing if the other person is understanding the same or not. We do not say things because we feel they are assumed to be know to everyone. We do not ensure that the other person is capable of understanding what we are saying.

We know for a fact that the communication process is skewed this way - non-verbal (58%), vocal (tone and expression -35%) and words (7%). We know that our primal brain only looks at flight - flee responses and decides so we need to address that quickly and get it to be in a place where it is ready to engage. We know that people make decisions emotionally and not rationally. We know story telling works. Yet, we cannot communicate. Crores are spent trying to communicate and failing. 

The simplest way then is to commit to bridge the 'gap' whatever it takes. It will take honesty, clarity, empathy, vulnerability, transparency and most of all a commitment to communicate. Do not give up midway, get it all out. Get their perspective out totally also. Be vulnerable, try and explain because obviously they are not understanding or they are not in a state to understand. 

If they are not in a state to understand (if they are emotionally charged) try and bring them back to a place where they are not and then communicate. Once they are secure they will listen.

And then they will make decisions based on good communication. It takes patience, but its worth it.

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