Who isn’t familiar with this: You say or write something, and employees or customers understand the context in a completely different way?
This kind of misunderstanding very often occurs between colleagues in everyday working life, but even more often between hierarchical levels.
If the CEO writes a clear and precise e-mail to everyone, it doesn’t necessarily have to be received by the employee in the same way. Instead, there is often uncertainty and a certain negative expectation from the outset. Or neutral sentences are too quickly interpreted as „hidden messages“.
Solche Kommunikationsprobleme gibt es leider immer noch häufig.
Wir fragen uns, ob das wirklich so sein muss. Klare Antwort: Nein!
Unfortunately, these communication problems still occur frequently.
We keep asking ourselves whether this really must be the case or not. Clear answer: Not!
Two procedures to finding a solution:
- Use direct communication:
Many misunderstandings arise from missing or too many emotions. Through direct exchange, face to face, the probability that a misunderstanding will occur is rather low. So instead of using e-mail traffic, you can simply address your colleague personally next time.
The second important approach: - Take a minute’s time to look at your own self
One can feel personally attacked when misunderstandings occur which leads to building up an emotional connection. However, it is important, especially in everyday working life, to look at things in a sober and objective way. It is important to listen properly, as this is quite often the starting point for misunderstandings. It helps to read an e-mail a second time and to put aside your own vanity and the present negative attitude towards the contact person.
In conclusion, we can say from our own experience that misunderstandings in everyday work and of course at home, can be avoided by listening to your counterpart, by positive expectations and by simply asking questions. If you have the feeling that you haven’t understood something correctly, then the best way is an offensive approach and to ask questions.
