#123

Welcome to Weekly Whisper #123.

The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion it has taken place - George Bernard Shaw

Working with leaders and their teams over the last few weeks I’ve noticed a bit of an incomplete, careless and, dare I say, lazy trend – the erroneous assumption that what was communicated is actually received, especially in the way that was intended.

For the 25 years I’ve been doing the work I do, when a leader, a team, an executive, an employee, an entrepreneur, most everyone are asked, 'What are some of your key challenges, problems and issues?', you can guarantee that communication will be on the list – it’s top 3 for sure.

Knowing the importance of communication - the leaders, teams, and functions in charge of communication double down on making sure the key corporate or leadership messages are clear, relevant, engaging etc. etc.

The problem, as I see it, is that you/your function might be responsible for communication, but that’s not the game you’re in.

You’re in the receiving, interpretation, sense-making, and meaning-making game. I.e. no matter what comes out of your mouth (or communicated via body language, or newsletter or ppt deck) it's highly likely there’ll be an individual interpretation of how it’s received on the other end.

If we’re lucky the recipient might receive the general gist of what we are trying to communicate and give us the benefit of the doubt. However, there’s usually mild to wild mis-interpretation from the time the sound leaves your mouth (or whatever communication tool you’re using) to the time it hits their ear drums and its translated into words and meaning.

A possible fix? Spend as much time on checking how it was received and filling the gaps as you spent building the pretty ppt decks.

One study highlighted that employees spent up to 20 hours a month creating, editing, formatting ppt decks and another suggested that nearly 30% of your average organisational leadership team are spending 5 hours or more per week on creating, adjusting, digesting ppt decks – Wow!!

The Big PowerPoint Study by Made In Office

Why Are You Wasting Time On PowerPoint Presentations by Buffalo 7

Imagine spending as much time on understanding how the message was received and interpreted as you spent on preparing the ppt deck! And that’s for those that take some care and preparation in the first place.

Communication is a dance between sent and received, and a more effective approach is to invest time understanding both parts of the dance.

 
Question of the week:
How do you know that what you ‘sent’ was received in the way you intended/wanted it to be received?

How often would you take a moment to check what’s been received rather than repeat the communication?

How often would you pause and allow the information to be processed and the interpretation played back?

 
Quote of the week:
A man hears what he wants to hear and he disregards the rest - Paul Simon (Lyrics from The Boxer)

It’s no surprise that many of us don’t just listen – we listen to confirm or deny. We listen for the evidence to prove our stated or held position. We listen to what we want to hear.

Try listening for what’s not said or what you disagree with.

Try listening for what’s confusing or you don’t know.

Try listening for beliefs, assumptions and baises between the words.

 
The Freedom Fridays Podcast Most Downloaded Episodes

The Freedom Fridays Podcast is about to hit 30,000 downloads! This has far exceeded my expectations and I'm honoured and humbled by those of you that have taken the time to listen, so thank you.

As we celebrate this achievement, let's take a moment to revisit some of our most popular episodes featuring guests Dr. Kristy Goodwin (Episode 73), Jim Steele (Episode 68), and Alison Cameron (Episode 59). If you haven't had the opportunity to listen to these enlightening discussions, why not make us your audio companions during your next drive, walk, or bus ride?

If you have any feedback or guest suggestions please respond to let me know. We're always up for a tune-up and your insights and suggestions are invaluable as we continue to deliver quality content on the Freedom Fridays Podcast.

      

           

That's all for this week. If you’ve been enjoying the Weekly Whispers please feel free to forward it to friends and anyone you think would benefit.

As always, email me at [email protected] to share your feedback or to let me know your thoughts.

Cheers

Pete