Dec 1, 2021
Compliment turned into Insult
“You submitted your project early today.”
You said the phrase with a smile and looked at your associates, complimenting them for submitting their task earlier than the due date. However, they interpreted it differently, giving you a questioning look. Such genuine praise can turn into a misinterpretation that may cause an argument.
I know that some of us could relate to this. However, the notion of being misinterpreted is a consequence of not considering its audience and not communicating clearly. Nevertheless, our goal is to limit being misunderstood by other people.
Communication, both verbal and nonverbal, can be a tricky art form. It can cause a big problem when misread. For example, people who work in the technical aspect are intelligent, but they lack communication skills. It is a problem as we live in a world where we mostly do is communicate.
It can be a challenge for them as well as interacting with others. They can be good at the technical aspect but cannot comprehend the instruction, do not know how to relay a message to another person, or are unable to work with a team.
They can also have tons of ideas but have a hard time putting them together. Whether you may be good at your task or an intelligent person, not knowing how to communicate is nothing.
To address this problem, they must learn to communicate and do it properly. They must avoid the following factors, which are the communication realities.
- Inconsistent communication, where it can cause a problem in a workplace.
- People will always have different interpretations of it, maybe because of the person’s competence and comprehension.
- The emotional variable can cause emotional breakdowns that can affect the way a person communicates.
- The unique frame of reference, wherein our different perspectives, such as beliefs and culture, can cause miscommunication or destroy a relationship.
- Life experiences can dictate the way we communicate and how we understand other people.
Communication is not a matter of who is right or wrong but understanding the perspective of the other, putting ourselves in the shoe of the other, and having good listening skills.
Considering all of the factors mentioned above, we are already utilizing sociocultural and strategic competence. These will help in avoiding the communication realities that get in the way of our conversation.
Santos, R. (2021, September 11) Effective Office Communication: Causes of Miscommunication in the Workplace [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBoEhfYQWBo
