Small change: check for clarity

All of us, however experienced, have one thing in common: an ability to grasp the wrong end of the stick.

For proof of this, ask each of your people to write down the main discussion points and actions at the end of a meeting, then compare notes. You will likely encounter myriad misinterpretations, misattributions and omissions. You may wonder how anything gets done.

To understand why this is, we need to consider the fact that we each experience the world through a unique lens. We each have our own attitudes, beliefs, experiences, values, memories, relationship with language, and ‘meta programs’. And they render us prone to distorting, deleting and/or generalising anything we hear.

The good news is that there’s a simple remedy. At the end of your meetings, run a ‘clarity check’ to ensure a shared understanding of the main points. You might just save yourself a huge amount of time, money and frustration.

Something to consider: are we all clear on what’s next?

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