Communication - Checking for Understanding

by Angela Gallogly

Vice President of USA Operations, Advanced Team Concepts

http://www.atctraining.com/

The value of effective communication hit me again this week, this time in a more personal way. I had to have a couple of important customer conversations, and I needed to put the tools that I teach to use. One of the companies that I work with is experiencing some policy changes that directly impact their training requirements. Another customer experienced changes in their team and was feeling concern about how this would impact the training goals that have been set.

Both customers had a message for me, and I had to make sure that I understood what that message was. It turns out that my initial assumptions weren’t correct. It took a little more dialogue to get the right information, with enough detail, to allow me to provide for my clients what was really needed.

Communication Key #2:

Check for understanding. How many times have you left a conversation having heard what was said to you, but misunderstanding what was meant? Last week I wrote about slowing down our communication, and that applies here. The best communicators slow down, watch out for assumptions, and confirm understanding.

There are many techniques that you can use to check for understanding. Some of the simplest and most effective:

- Ask questions
Make sure you have all of the details needed. Don’t fill in the blanks yourself.
- Paraphrase
Rephrase what you think you’ve heard to reduce misunderstandings
- Summarize
Still paraphrasing, but also reviewing progress or pulling ideas, facts and feelings together

These techniques helped me with both of my customers. With customer #1 and the policy changes, I used probing questions and summarizing. I discovered that the real impact on the training was around measurement and accountability. My first workshop for the client under the policy changes was earlier this week, and I was equipped with a new pre and post-assessment that met the new requirements.

With customer #2, I used paraphrasing. I thought I heard that a new training approach was required to accommodate the team changes. When I paraphrased this, the customer corrected me. All he was asking for was some additional detail. This was enough to reassure him that we were on course.

Use the same techniques when you’re the one sending the message. If you’re worried that it will seem patronizing to ask the other person to paraphrase or summarize, put the responsibility on yourself. “I don’t always give enough detail or make the message clear. Tell me what you heard.”

These techniques aren’t new. In fact, you’ve probably heard them before. It’s really about getting into good habits and using the tools that you have. You don’t have to do this every time you communicate, but if the message is important enough, take the time to get it right.