TOW#601 — I’m not sure you understand me
We had a heated discussion a few weeks ago and this sentence was used about every ten minutes. What was interesting was that the sentence was being uttered in different contexts:
- when we were discussing what we needed to do,
- when the discussion was gaining fiery momentum,
- when we really weren’t understanding each other,
- when we wanted to offend the other side.
One sentence, a million different concepts.
And you know what? The only problem I had during that discussion was that nobody ever replied whether they actually understood or not, or whether they were joking by asking, or at least someone saying: yes/no, I do(n’t) 100% understand what you’re saying to me.
The fact is that we don’t understand each other, and we’ve written about this countless times. One side says one thing, the other another thing, they were both thinking about something else while the other spoke… in other words, chaos, and in the end either the agreement is broken or they hug, but it could’ve all been resolved much earlier.
So, the next time you’re asked or told “I’m not sure you understand me”, please reply with a yes or no. With ‘yes’, the discussion/negotiation continues, whereas with a ‘no’ the other side should help (if willing) to explain further.
I hope you understand what I’m getting at(?),
@kalin.babusku
Member of the Team
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