Have you ever worked with somebody who just never seems to understand what you want? No matter how many times you tell them, they go in the opposite direction, and you end up disappointed and frustrated.
I’m not talking about language barriers here. In fact, I’ve rarely had an issue with language differences when we both had clear common goals to work towards.
I’m talking about a different cause of misunderstanding, and one that is essential to a project going smoothly.
The world relies on it. Everyday life would be empty without it. Work would be a confusing mess without it. We use it in everything we do.
I’m talking about communication.
Despite communication being the lifeblood of our everyday existence, we’re often not very good at it!
Communication tends to be the first thing that gets sacrificed during a work project whenever something goes wrong. It’s often the main reason the project fails entirely too.
“But I talk about where I want a project to go all the time, why isn’t it working?
Communication runs a lot deeper than just talking. You could have a task list as long as a novel, but still, be lacking communication. Like anything we use every day, it’s a lot more nuanced than we think.
Communication is based on listening as much as it is on talking. Have you ever been trying to make a point and wished the other person would just hear you out?
Most of the time, we are so focused on the end goal that we fail to communicate on the journey there. We forget to hear the other side of the story because we are so set on the final result.
This quote by Christopher Morley sums this up perfectly.
“There is only one rule for being a good talker – learn to listen.”
If we take the time to really listen to one another, we might just reach that goal faster. We could even improve on it!
I could write about this for days, but for now, I’ll leave you with a question.
What’s the one thing you wish a digital agency would understand when starting a project?
I’d love to know.
