Not Everybody Knows What You Mean

You walk into the local outlet of a major sandwich chain restaurant and they start rattling off the options quickly in a monotone voice, while doing other things. They have a pretty efficient assembly line, and they need to keep it moving. The problem is, you have never been there before, and you need a second or two to realize what they are asking you. Meanwhile, they are ready to move on to the next customer.

What that person behind the counter does not realize is that, while they say the same thing 200 times a day, you might only hear it once every 200 days. To them it’s redundant; to you, it’s new.

Back when I was teaching I could easily be guilty of the same thing. Standing in front of a classroom full of university undergraduates, I had to remind myself that they didn’t have a PhD like I did, and were not going to be as familiar with all the previous research and experience that had led to my understanding of the subject. What was common sense to me was totally unknown to them, and that didn’t mean there was anything wrong with them, it simply meant I had a different perspective.

The same thing can happen in your company. When talking with your employees about business matters, it may be the case that you know what you mean, but no one else does. If you’re discussing the issues you deal with as a leader, these might be issues from which your staff is far removed and with which they have little or no experience.

It can be frustrating to feel like you have to explain simple things to others, but you need to remember that your employees’ perspectives are different from yours. The things on which you focus often are not the things at the top of their lists, so what may seem normal and mundane to you may be unknown to them, and might require a little explanation. It’s not their job to do YOUR job, so they are not going to be as familiar with it as you are.

This is just as true when talking with more experienced employees as it is for people who are new to the field or new to your firm. Don’t assume that, just because someone has been with the company for years, they understand the intricacies of budgeting or recruiting. Don’t ignore the confused looks on their faces. And please, don’t try to impress people with your use of arcane jargon or acronyms (that happens WAYYYYYYY too often). Give some thought to your listeners’ perspectives, or they may just stop listening, and no one benefits from that.