The whole and its parts

The whole & its parts

The illusion of communication

When I was thinking about a blog post I wanted to write, I encountered the saying “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”

The LinkedIn post I had been reading attributed it to George Bernhard Shaw. As I routinely checked it with Quote Investigator, I found that it appears in the writings of William H. Whyte. There is no substantive evidence that it can be linked to Shaw.

This made me smile a bit, as the LinkedIn post I was reading mentioned “correct” as an important aspect of communication. The idea of that post was that one’s ability to establish communication using seven criteria would make it successful. These criteria were Clear, Concise, Concrete, Correct, Considerate, Consistent, and Connected.

I do think that all of these criteria are useful and lead the way.

However, as the quote doesn’t seem to be from George Bernhard Shaw, the post highlighted how difficult communication is if one assumes that the shared message has to be perfect.

In this case, the author’s good intent may seem contradicted by the impression that the communication isn’t 100 percent correct.

It isn’t.

What is happening in such a situation is quite normal, communication rarely achieves perfection. It actually can’t.

What communication can do is invite those involved to notice that there is enough space beyond the given communication that is available and serves an aimed for understanding. That last mile needs to be done by all those involved. It’s best done together. But it does ask all those involved to be willing to make the effort of wanting to understand instead of assuming knowing.

 

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