Over 10 ways to avoid misunderstanding at work

During business communication, mistakes always happen from time to time, and the outcome can be from annoying to a disaster. Follow the following simple principles to save your troubles when communicating with colleagues and partners.

Effective communication with colleagues, customers, suppliers, superiors and subordinates is the key to business success. However, problems often occur. The following are some frequently obfuscated fields. Realize that they can help reduce such confusion.

Note: a pdf version is available for download.

1: Have we reached an agreement?

Have you ever thought of someone as a boyfriend or girlfriend, but you may have learned that your relationship with both sides is heavier (or vice versa) than his/her )? I don't want to make you sad memories, but in terms of business, there is the same situation between (you) and suppliers and customers ,. You have an idea, and they also have one. The problem arises.

Some time ago, I arranged a lecture on an organization. We set a date and agreed on the cost. I received a soft copy of the logo from the other party. I even spoke to the two executives over a conference call. One week later, I learned from the contact that the meeting was canceled. When I asked (the other party) to pay part of the cost for the teleconference, the contact said there was no order, so it was impossible to pay. Fortunately, I have not yet purchased a ticket, so despite the annoyance of canceling the ticket, the situation will be worse if I have bought a ticket and am entangled in it.

Be careful when doing similar business with others. Make sure that everyone knows the exact status of the relationship. In the same case, you may have met a supplier that is more active than me (it is of no value to pursue it ). For example, the supplier may argue that, from a legal perspective, although there are no orders, your teleconference and the act of transmitting a flag give him reason to conclude the contract. He can also use "No regrets (legal terms)" to refute your views on the dispute. That is to say, he may be able to "prohibit (you) from turning over", or prevent you from using this dispute as a defense because of his dependence on your behavior. In any case, you must confirm with customers and suppliers whether they (or you) should spend time, energy, and money. This will prevent later difficulties.

2: Who's time zone?

If you have phone talks with others in other parts of the United States, you need to clarify the time zone you are considering. Tell them, "Eastern time" or "Pacific time ". Be aware that there are multiple time zones in some States. For example, "four points in Florida time" is meaningless. If you are handling a teleconference, You need to identify who will be notified. Otherwise, you may get a situation like "arlouth and Galston *", as described later.

* Translator: Alphonse Gaston, yarlouth and Galston, two cartoon images created in 1901. For two French who advocate courtesy to pedantic, they always give priority to each other and lead to mistakes, each has a mantra: "After you, Alphonse. "," No, you first, my dear Gaston! "

3: Is there a daylight saving time?

Check whether the Daylight Saving Time system takes effect. Some States have different processing methods. For example, Arizona does not comply with the rules. Indiana is based on the county to consider whether to observe. Many countries, including China, do not follow the daylight time period. Therefore, during the daylight time period, there are 12 hours in Beijing, but 13 hours in the US east time.

4: Have you received my request?

Think about the requests that you send to someone via voice mail, email, or text. You encountered two different problems, didn't you? Of course, you will worry about whether the other party intends to complete the request. At the same time, you have to worry about whether the other party has received the request. Have you ever made such a request, and the other party has never heard of it before, and actually completed it? You may be very happy, but don't you want to know if they have received the request?

Pay attention when receiving similar requests. Even if you cannot process the request immediately, let the other party know that you have received it. The requester will be less worried.

5: Are you listening to me?

We are all familiar with the old challenge * about a tree falling down in the forest *. This principle also applies to mutual communication. Yes, you may be able to beat the keyboard or listen to your iPod for an irrelevant thing while listening to or understanding someone perfectly. However, another person may not be aware of this and may be offended by this seemingly rude behavior. Therefore, if possible, remove the iPod headset and stop typing when talking. On the other hand, if you think something is related to conversation (for example, you are a help analyst, and the other is a problematic customer ), make sure the person knows why you are typing.

* Translator: "A tree falls down in the forest...": it refers to a philosophical puzzle: if a tree falls down in the forest and no one hears it, does it sound? This issue has aroused discussion about consciousness and existence. The question was raised by Archbishop bekelai, a representative of subjective idealism in the 17th and 18th centuries of Britain.

6: Draft or final version?

An IBM executive who I once worked for always treats "work meetings" and "Final Statement" meetings that distinguish employees from him as big things. It would be nice if we had a meeting with him about the preliminary draft and demonstration. However, in subsequent meetings, we must be clear that he needs a final version of the demo, because he needs to hand it over to his superiors later. If he expected a final version, but the staff thought it was a work session, the result would be, in his words, "Everyone is not good ". Therefore, if you are going to have a meeting with your superiors, make sure you understand what they/she wants to see.

7: message or messenger?

Sophenus's play《Antigorne,There is a saying that "no one likes to bring bad messages .", This may be the origin of the phrase "opening a gun to the reporter", that is, attacking a person who expresses a critical opinion. This phenomenon usually occurs in chat rooms and forums. Member a will publish an articleArticleOr comment. Member B is not happy with this. He will say something like this, "What a ridiculous View", or something hard to print out. Member a will regard it as a personal attack rather than a response to the comment.

If you are responding, You Need To Know Who You Are responding to and what you are responding. If you are posting comments, comments, or articles, and you do not agree with the content, you can say it.

8: Are you kidding?

Despite its advantages, emails and text messages pose a threat of misunderstanding. Because we can't see people who are communicating, they may smile when they don't see us talking. Therefore, the joke we make may be considered very serious. At least, add some emojis to the information. For safety, I will start with in joke commentsAnd"LOL" is wrapped at the end (or "Haha" is used when using Chinese )). Joke comments and expressions are used only when you are familiar with each other. Avoid practicing this with others.

9: Original translation

When the topic is related to other languages: Be careful with the translation according to the original meaning. It sounds completely foolish to Translate Idioms in one language into another. For example, German politician hiensiloi lubke told Elizabeth II when they sat in the concert hall that "equal goes it loose) ". He wanted to tell her that the show was about to begin, but he took it for granted that the German "gleich geht es Los" was literally translated. If you perform a similar verbatim translation, it will eventually become nonsense.

10: Does the email request information or action?

In the future, the attacker will hit the outfield, right between the left outfield and the foreign field. When they saw me, I saw you, and the ball had already fallen to the ground. Last year, Phil Rizzuto, the startup announcer, called it a "Al-Louth and Galston" and cited the comic character. Two very polite French people always said to the other: "You first ".

If you are sending emails to multiple recipients and requesting action, make sure the action has been assigned to a specific person. Include those people in your message: XX, not CC: XX. In the latter, people may think that they only obtained a copy for the purpose of providing information. Then, you need to mention a person's name when requesting action. Otherwise, like allouth and Galston, both parties will think (or want) that the other party (or multiple parties) is responsible, and nothing will happen.

11: introducer or recommendation letter?

If you are responding to the bidding documents (RFP), be cautious about asking for a "Reference" prompt. Do you only need to provide the name and contact information of the Introducer? Or does it include submitting a specific recommendation letter? No matter what the requirements are, be sure to be clear. If you are a supplier, you do not want to be disqualified due to incorrect responses. If you are an RFP issuer, you do not want to be complained or complained by the supplier due to lack of clarity.