Check What Was Heard, Not What Was Said

A lot of verbal communication in business today is like the game of Telephone many of you probably experienced as a child.

The first child in a line whispers a sentence to the second, who repeats it to the third, until the last child dutifully repeats what he or she heard, generally only remotely similar to what was originally said.

When it comes to verbal communication in the workplace, much of the same situation occurs.

The first person knows precisely what she said, because she said it. When the second person repeats it to another, he also is very certain of what he said, since he said it.

What can be lost in the translation, however, is what that second person actually heard before he "repeated" the message