Are you in breach of
The Communication Contract?
Under the terms of what I call The Communication Contract, every message sent
out must be received and understood by someone, somewhere. If that does not happen, there is no communication
because someone has breached the contract.
How can we be in breach of the contract? Well, as the poet said, “Let me count the ways.”
Oral communication
Have you ever gone into a store to buy technical equipment without a lot of knowledge of the technology?
Some time ago, I bought a digital camera. When I approached the salesman in a major photography store, he launched
into a long technical explanation of the various models and prices—lots of talk about pixels, resolution, capacity,
and other mysterious attributes of digital cameras. I had no idea what he was talking about. It apparently never
occurred to him to ask me about my level of familiarity with the technology, or what I wanted to do with it. As a
result, he expressed his message in his own language, not mine, and it was neither received nor understood.
Oops—breach!
Do you have someone in your organization whose constant lament is “Nobody ever tells me anything around
here”? Did you ever hear that person say, “I never listen”? Probably not, but that’s usually the problem. Most of
us don’t listen as well as we think, and some people never listen at all. Contrary to common belief, listening and
hearing are not the same thing. Hearing involves only our ears. Sound reverberates off our eardrums, producing
words we can recognize, as well as other sounds we must interpret. It happens all the time, even with sounds we
don’t consciously notice: traffic in the street, radio or television playing in the background, the conversation at
the next table in a restaurant. But that’s not listening. Listening, on the other hand, involves not only ears, but
also mind, eyes, smile and even body. Your mind processes the sounds you hear into a coherent message, while your
eyes and body convey to the speaker that you are, in fact, receiving and understanding the message.
When someone else is speaking, you are usually silent. But if you are running over your reply in yor mind
and waiting until the other person finishes so that you can jump in, that’s not listening. Instructions,
information, messages, news—all of it goes in one ear and out the other without any interference from the
brain.
Oops - breach!
Written
communication
When it comes to the written word, far too many business letters are jargon-filled pages, sent to people
who don’t understand this inside language. Is the reader a member of your company, your organization, your industry
or profession? If so, a certain amount of jargon may be appropriate. After all, jargon evolves because it is often
the best means of communication among members of a particular group. The problem arises, however, when we forget
that a particular reader may not understand our “inside language”. For example, do you know what the following
terms mean?
- full bleed
- GAAP
- to die intestate
- term life
- laproscopic procedure
If you were a printer or graphic designer, you would know No. 1 means the ink covers the paper right to
the edge of the sheet. An accountant would know No. 2 stands for Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Any
lawyer could tell you No. 3 refers to a person who dies without making a will. To the insurance industry, No. 4
represents a type of insurance policy, and surgeons perform No. 5 when they make perform a specialized type of
surgery with the help of computers and cameras. So there is no reason why you should know all these terms from
various industries and professions, and it’s important to remember that other people have no reason to know yours.
Outside your group, use plain language that people will understand.
Jargon is a useful communication tool created for a good purpose - but greatly misused.
Oops - breach!
You may not have thought about reading as a communication technique, but it is an important part of the
contract. A child died in hospital in unusual circumstances. At the hearing, a nurse testified that she didn’t
properly read the doctor’s instructions about monitoring. There was nothing wrong with the instructions—she just
didn’t read them properly—and a child died. Sadly, this story is true, and it illustrates a serious breach with
tragic consequences.
Non-verbal
communication
How can non-verbal messages breach the contract? Well, have you ever called someone and listened to a
voicemail greeting delivered in a flat monotone? Do you feel inclined to believe that this person will be pleased
to do anything, let alone call you back? The words say one thing, but the tone says another. Oops -
breach!
And what about company presidents who stand up before the press or shareholders and say, “Our employees
are our most important assets” - and then proceed to close a plant and put 900 of their most important assets out
of work? The words say one thing, the actions another.
Oops - breach!
It’s important that there be congruence among the written, spoken and non-verbal clauses of
The Communication Contract. If the words say one thing but the actions or body language
another, the non-verbal cue will always be believed. Think what that can do to your credibility.
When you consider how easy it is to breach The Communication Contract without
even noticing, it’s no wonder we have so much difficulty getting our messages across!
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