If you are deaf or hard of hearing, you can read the transcript of this skit here.
In this classic comedy skit by comedy duo Abbott and Costello we witness the hilarity that can ensue from communication errors. Real life communication errors can also be funny and may even serve as a bonding moment between the parties involved. But communication errors can also cost us time, money and relationships.
Abbott assumes that he has established that the players have funny names. From this assumption he communicates that “Who” is on first base. Costello, however, did not understand the assumption and does not understand that “Who” is a funny name. Versions of “Who’s on First” are playing out across corporations today.
Leaders assume that they have “communicated” to their teams yet team members miss the objectives because they did not know they were given. Consumers are frustrated by instructions that fail to instruct on the basics and support lines buzz with complaints.
No one hits a home run on communications 100% of the time but you can reduce your failure rate and minimize errors when they occur with just a few simple steps.
- Assume nothing. Assumptions can get you into trouble when attempting to communicate. Whenever possible, check the understanding of your audience. In a live interaction, ask. If sending an email, simplify as much as possible and include explanation for items that may not be mutually understood. If you are preparing for a meeting, keynote or presentation, verify the depth of understanding in advance.
- Invite questions. Ask if there are questions but do so in a way that truly makes it comfortable for people to admit a lack of understanding. There is nothing worse than making someone feel bad for not “getting it.”
- Listen. Costello asked the question but Abbott was not really listening. It’s easy to become impatient when we are misunderstood but this heightens the error.
- Be patient. I once had a frustrating days long email exchange with a web designer about the color blue. I was working with a client and the web team was based in another country. I got up in the middle of the night to communicate real time and desperately tried to find a way to communicate I wanted blue. An example and a little more explanation finally bridged our communication gap. Ideally, I would have hashed it out by phone but that is not always possible. When I let go of the frustration, and focused on finding ways to be understood we quickly moved to resolution.
- Check Understanding. Confirm that the other party understood with simple check statements such as: To make sure we’re on the same page, let’s confirm what was discussed, Does that make sense to you?, I want t make sure I got everything, may I confirm what we talked about? You can do this in live conversation or via a quick confirmation email following a meeting.
Please feel free to share your tips, or feedback in the comments section. And if something was not clear, please do not hesitate to ask. 🙂
Hi Joe,
Sorry for the delay, your comment was stuck and I had to free it. 🙂 Thank you for reading and commenting! Really good point, it’s not just listening to ensure that you are understood but listening carefully to understand as well. Your comment also brings up the point that the listener should ask questions to check understanding. I addressed it from the primary speaker’s perspective but it really is mutual. Thanks Joe!
Hi Fred – Ha! I think I may have been in some of those same meetings! Over the years I have come to respect good meeting facilitators. I agree with you it is a difficult skill to master but well worth the effort to learn when you are in leadership.
Andrew, I am always fascinated by your experiences. Living abroad definitely has a way of testing our communication skills. As the world grows smaller and we transact across datelines it will become more important for us to learn these skills. Thanks for weighing in with another great example.
Karen – love the skit.
Excellent list and I agree wholeheartedly. I had communication difficulties all the time over there in Korea. I found that there are some secrets to avoiding them with non-native English speakers. In written communication to non-native speakers, you have to spell everything out – non native speakers do not deal very easily with meanings that are implicit or ‘understood’ from the context like native speakers do. Speaking slowly and using simple words (pictures and gestures where possible) also helps as well. But no matter how hard you try, you will always have areas of miscommunication. I lost count of the amount of times that I arranged to meet people at seven o’clock for dinner, only to receive a phone call shortly before six to say that they had arrived and were waiting.
I’ve sat in meetings that reminded me of this routine. Hard not to laugh out loud when you start trying to decide which of the participants would best be played by Lou or Bud.
When a leader takes responsibility for encouraging listening and confirming it can change the flavor of an entire meeting structure. Difficult skill to master, but I was reminded of the need during some recent training.
Hi Brad, I really like the idea of distributing terms in advance. I have learned that even in the same company, terms and acronyms are not universal. That’s a really smart solution!
Karen,
Thanks for posting this. I guess one of the main takeaways from this is that *you*, meaning me of course, have to take responsibility for communicating well and making the effort to listen when others are trying to communicate with me.
Appreciatively,
Joe
Hi Karen, Another excellent list of communication tips! When I think of the “who’s on first” situation, it suggests people speaking totally different languages. There have been times where, in preparation for internal meetings, I distributed a list of terms and definitions, just to make sure everybody was figuratively and literally on the same page when we started tossing around those terms at the meeting.