Colleagues, customers, employees, you…everybody needs to communicate, to share information. And that can be a problem.

You really know your stuff. But what happens when other people need to know what you know? You can have a communication mismatch. Communicating knowledge or expertise in person, on paper, or online is not always as simple as just “talking it over,” “writing it down,” or “putting it up on the web.”

Communication needs are common topics at meetings, in cubicles, on the factory floor,  places where customers, co-workers, and other non-experts gather…

Q. “Won’t our department need training on this new system?”
A. “Well, the programming staff plans to hold a training session next Monday. Let’s hope they don’t just add to the confusion.”
Inadequate training is a communication mismatch.

Q. “Do we have any instructions for this thing?”
A. “Yeah, but they’re really confusing. A committee of programmers must have put them together. I got lost at Step 3.”
Confusing operating instructions…another communications snafu.

Q. “What do we do next?”
A. “Do you think I have a clue? The head engineer wrote these procedures. Maybe he should try to follow them.”
Hard-to-follow procedures…potentially dangerous communication problems.

Q. “Does the new formulation meet the revised viscosity requirements?”
A. “I’m not sure. The report just isn’t clear about how the evaluations were done.”
Imprecise and unclear technical reports…economically sensitive communication requirements.

What’s going on here?

The answer is simple. Columnist Sidney J. Harris wrote about the core problem years ago in the Chicago Daily News. He said, “Information is giving out; communication is getting through.” When required information doesn’t get through from the experts to the audience, what we have, boys and girls, is a failure to communicate.

People want to know what your stuff can do for them. They want to know how to run your software efficiently, operate your equipment safely, or change the settings on your gizmo. They want to avoid communication problems.

Communication is all about giving people the information they need, making it available to them when they need it, and making sure they can use it to get the results they want. Tell me what you need to communicate; I can help you get it done.