Breaking Barriers: The Unseen Power of Clarity in Our Words
In a world drowning in noise, clear communication is not just a skill—it’s an act of rebellion against the chaos that enslaves our thoughts and intentions. The clarity of your message can be the difference between bondage and freedom in your personal and business life. Dare to be understood, dare to understand, and watch the chains fall away.
Inside: Personal Experience/Story
Let’s try a very simple exercise. Think of a red chair. Now draw that chair on a paper. I will do the same. I will think of a red chair and I will draw the chair that I thought about on a piece of paper. Now let’s compare both drawings to see if they look the same. Highly unlikely. I am pretty sure that you have heard of or seen this exercise before. Even though both thought about a red chair, the likelihood that we both came up with the same drawing is very slim. And we can make the argument, how could this be? Those are very clear instructions. Think and draw a red chair. How come we draw to different things?
You have to understand that we process information based on what we already know. Past experiences and knowledge that we have acquired along the way. Therefore, my chair could be a different kind of red than yours, mine could be told and yours could be short, mine could have a backless and yours maybe not. They both still consider chairs but they are very different. That is why clear communication is vital, not only in business but at a personal level too.
Have you ever felt tension in the workplace with another peer? Maybe you have a business partner and you cannot see eye to eye and you feel that the business is not going anywhere. How about your spouse; have you ever made up stories in your mind about your spouse that are not true at all? The majority of all these scenarios can be solved by simply having better and clearer communication. I don’t like to have business partners. To me, it complicates things more than what they need to be. But at the time that I am writing this, I do have a business partner. But my situation is a little unusual.
My business partner and also my boss. Let me explain to you. My business partner has 2 different businesses. We are partners in one of those businesses but I work for him on the other one as an employee. And this creates a lot of tension between us. Especially for me. I have not had a boss in a long time. And knowing when to switch hats and become an employee is almost impossible for me. So when we started working together everything looked very promising. But very soon we realized that it was not what we thought about and that it was going to be more complicated than anything.
Only a month later after we started working together we had our first fall off. And since then it has been up and down. Too many times I have thought about just quitting and I am pretty sure he has thought about getting rid of me and that this was a mistake. But in the last couple of weeks, I like to believe that we are working better together. And I have to contribute this success to our communication. A couple of weeks ago we had a long and very productive meeting. In this meeting, we reminded ourselves what were the goals that we set before we even started working together.
We also talked about the expectations that we had one for another. We discussed the best way to approach each other and the best way to talk with each other. You see, even though we talked and planned everything before we started working, we never took the time to be detailed with all these important things. So proper communication was never established. So even though we both decided to think and draw a red chair, we both came up with 2 different chairs because we never had constructive communication since the beginning. Now things between us are a lot better and I hope they keep moving in the right direction. So if you want to improve your relationships whether they are professional or personal you have to improve your communication skills.
Data:
Miscommunication costs businesses $37 billion a year, as estimated by SHRM. On a more granular level, a study by the Economist Intelligence Unit found that 44% of executives believe miscommunication is a barrier to effective business strategy execution. Harvard Health also links clear communication to better health outcomes in personal life, proving its value extends beyond business.
The Problem and The Solution:
The problem is a pervasive misunderstanding of what clear communication truly entails. It’s not about grandiloquence or verbosity—it’s about conveying your thoughts and emotions effectively and understanding others. The solution involves active listening, feedback, and a continuous learning approach to interpersonal skills.
Conclusion:
To sum up, clear communication is the silent hero of success in both our personal and professional lives. This blog has dived into the essence of effective communication, drawing from personal experiences and supported by compelling data. The solutions offered are practical and actionable, promising a path to freedom from the constraints of miscommunication. Remember, when you speak and listen with clarity, you unlock a world of possibilities. Clear communication is the key to unlocking your potential and freeing you from the misunderstandings that shackle your success.
