Loice Shiguri
Nov 5 · 4 min read

Sinking? Thinking? What does it matter?

Every moment, every day we interact with fellow humans. Well, we are naturally social beings. One of the ways we interact is through communication. But have you ever thought of how much impact effective (or ineffective) communication can make in life?

The story of The German Coast guard joke commercial paints an interesting picture of this. An English captain is heard
saying to a German Coast Guard colleague , “We are sinking.” But the guard hears him say “We are thinking.” And he sluggishly asks, “What are you thinking about?” The captain did pass a message, the guard did hear the message but,

1. The Guard did not understand

2. A captain got frustrated and possibly;

3. The ship sunk, killing numbers of people in a painful experience

4. Families lost loved ones

5. Families lost livelihood providers

6. A nation lost its people and contributors to its economy

7. A company lost an asset

…the list can be endless. Well, it’s a joke anyway.

But whose fault was it here? The conveyor of the message or the recipient? Don’t answer. Let’s just talk about the moral we get from the scenario.

When communicating, it important to know who you are talking to. The people who your message is intended for are commonly referred to as Target Audience (TA) in advertising. A business has to do due diligence and or/research to understand their audience. It can not be guess work. In some cases a diligent process called KYC (Know Your Customer) may be used to analyze these people; where they live, platforms they use to receive news, their preferred language and style of communication. Needless to mention, some entrepreneurs have no idea for whom they are creating a product. They just saw it on the internet and started selling the same, via some guesswork social media channel. Huge businesses can also go very wrong if they don’t do KYC process properly and start selling the right product to the wrong target group. This ends up in dormant accounts amid high

administrative costs to the business. It will surprise you how ignorant we sometimes are of the people we relate with even on personal levels. Some spouses don’t even know what kind of a gift or statement of appreciation would impress their partner, or what words would rub them badly. They just talk. Some parents don’t know their only child’s favourite food, only child!

The captain possibly had no idea who the person on the other end of the radio was. Yet it may not be his fault that he didn’t (Story for another day).

Secondly, ensure you have a clear message. Luckily or unluckily, the captain had a clear and precise message. “We are sinking.” It is

important to keep your message as precise and clear as possible. Otherwise you lose your audience somewhere along the line.
When passing an important message to a fried amid a long conversation, it might be necessary to throw in a prelude before your main message, such as, “Now this is what I wanted to say.” Or ‘The main reason I requested to have this chat…” That way the person you are addressing will give keener attention to what you will say next. Even if you are going to use the sandwich method whereby you highlight good things before and after the bad message you want to pass; beating around the bush too much can dilute your message. For commercial communication, you can have your short and precise Key Message standing out on your ad, followed by details/descriptors, be it billboard or press Ad.

Third, it is critical to use a language that can be understood, a language of the audience. Different people or audiences understand different languages. This includes the tongue itself, choice of words and tone. If you are talking to your spouse, it may be

disheartening to start a conversation with a statement like, ‘’Meet me at the dining table in two and a half hours to address the issue of funds.’’ It is important to switch tone based on your audience at the time of conversation. If you are talking to a business head for

a possible partnership or a rise in pay and or rank, experts will tell you that you will be judged by how you present yourself and your language will certainly matter, including body language.

Finally, use a medium of audience’s convenience. The Captain used radio to pass an important message to someone whose tongue is different, so the recipient understood a totally different thing from the intended message. Maybe if there was screen translation,

the guard would have understood the message. In today’s tech-driven world, people have different comfort zones for receiving news. We have moved from available media to convenient media. You must be keen to use what works be it phone call, email, one-on-one conversation, text message, social media etc. Different media and tones work for different people and scenarios/contexts.

While this may not fully cover all aspects of effective communication, the ripple effect impact of ineffective communication can be very unpleasant. It could be immediate or delayed, but it will come to pass. Being careful and live to effective communication between and among people is therefore essential to maintaining meaningful relations and co-existence in society, it

is only natural. And, as seen the impact can be far reaching even from economic point of view.

Also, when taking a job or assignment, it helps to be honest about the languages you are fluent in and/or not ☺.

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    Loice Shiguri

    Written by

    Communication Enthusiast | Relationship Expert | Entrepreneur