Try this revealing (and fun) exercise to show you how easy it is to confuse what we think we’re saying with what others actually hear.

Sitting in a circle, everyone looked a bit apprehensively at each other and I could virtually hear them saying to themselves “oh here we go, I’m going to have to say something about myself and ‘share’ when I don’t want to etc”. You know the drill.

The point of doing what we were about to do was to show why it’s so crucial to check in with your client/customer/colleague/spouse/friend to make sure what you think you’ve said means, (to them) what you actually said.

I asked everyone to write the word “dog” on the top of a piece of paper and then to take 30 seconds to write as many words that sprang to mind when they heard the word dog!

Everyone partnered up to compare notes and, without exception, we all had many different takes on the word “dog”, ranging from “tooth check”, “hound-dog”, “scary”, “man’s best friend”, “commitment”, “furry”, “poo-bags”.

Now if all those differing associations came from such a simple, everyday word just think of the room for confusion when people use jargon-y, overblown, words-for-words sake.

Take it from Gina – one of our hound-dogs – it’s very easy to assume everyone knows what or how we’re thinking about something and it’s really worth just checking (hounds-tooth or otherwise Gina!).

These days, as we’re working around the world and in quick-fire style, on email/text/twitter etc it’s even more important to check what you mean to say is clear – “by that I mean” is a useful little phrase to pop in.

By the way, I have a great example of some “corporate gobbledeegook” for you in Volume 3. Examples of what was said AND what was meant to be said. My client and I are still giggling about it!

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