By Diego Nascimento
Have you ever stopped to think that communication failures are very costly for you, your neighbor, your family, your business, and all other sectors of society? We make mistakes when writing notes, small messages in WhatsApp, personal texts, work emails, recordings and even advertisements. A recent study has shown that, in the United States alone, an average of $ 5 billion dollars is wasted each year because of communication mistakes in organizations. That is a lot of money, right?
If you think that to write or speak well you have to study journalism, writing or explore an difficult path through grammar and public speaking. Good communication habits start at home when we leave a little message on the refrigerator with a comma in the right place. The habit of reading, an essential tool for building a good vocabulary, has its beginnings in our example. And we do not always pay attention to this responsibility.
Several times I witnessed misunderstandings because A did not correctly understand the message given by B. Since the result was not ideal, B gives the biggest lecture to A for having failed in the task. What people do not understand is that the one who must ensure that the recipient fully understands the message is the sender, that is, if my mother asks me to take the cake out of the oven at 4:15 pm, it is her job to ensure that, in fact, I understood the correct time and not a different time. What passes for this is lack of commitment, skill or competence of those who received the task.
At the beginning of the article I gave the monetary example of how much it is costly for US companies to deal with communication failures. But think with me: how many things were bought mistakenly at the supermarket by a silly mistake in the transmission of the request / message? Even your pocket book suffers from this. Now do you understand how serious this is?
What care should be taken to ensure effective communication?
• Whether writing, speaking or typing be absolutely sure that the words are correct.
• The comma and the end point are your friends and do no harm to anyone. Whenever necessary invite them to be part of your message.
- If you receive some shared information, always try to find out if the content is true and worthy of being “passed on”.
• Listen more and speak less.
• Escape the gossip and the corridor whisperings.
• Verify that the chosen communication channel is the best path for your message.
• Ensure that the recipient understands your message.
• Ask for help in proofreading text / speech (if necessary).
• Never be ashamed to recognize language limitations and seek improvement.
Finally, before sending, I would listen to and read reports of communication failures that directly or indirectly hit you. Comment on the site www.diegonascimento.com.br or reply to the email, if you prefer. I have a duty to be realistic, practical and direct in the articles and, therefore, your participation is fundamental!
See you next time!