Those who play golf sometimes have the sense that when they hit the ball, their club twists in their hands. The natural reaction is assuming they need to hold the grip tighter.

Those who play tennis know something similar. At times, when they hit the ball, the racket almost flies out of their hand. Tennis players might come to the same conclusion as golf players. But they might also have seen a visual clue of what happened. Instead of hitting the ball with the center of the racket, its sweet spot, the ball was hit off-center.

Choosing to hold the grip tighter is confusing cause and symptom.

Holding the grip tighter is trying to defy the physical forces at play when using a racket or club.

Choosing to hold the grip tighter is misjudging what must be done to get the best result with the tool in one’s hand.

Choosing to hold the grip tighter is practicing a skill that even reduces one’s ability to achieve the best possible result.

Transferring this image into the world of leadership, one can find a corresponding image within communication. When people experience a misunderstanding or miscommunication, they’ll often imagine that they have not been precise enough. They will hypothesize that they need to change how they say something. And that doing so will make sure that people understand them better in the future. They assume that they have been misunderstood. They reject the idea that they misunderstood others.

The detail they don’t make themselves aware of is how “off-center” their reaction has been.

They don’t see that they might have answered a question they hadn’t been asked. Or, for example, that the information they provide doesn’t fit the context of the conversation.