Can You Hear Me??

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It seems that several truths about communication have become lost in our world of immediacy these days. Whether it is at work or in the home, the loss of these truths have frustrated and embittered many employees and partners. Here are two that I have experienced just today:

• Truth #1 -- You cannot be held responsible for knowledge you have not heard. If you fail to tell somebody something (even if it is a detail about something) then they cannot be held responsible for what they do not know! Too often there will be a meeting going on here at the church among a select group of individuals but the decisions made in that meeting will never be told to the staff they affect. And, as you might imagine, eventually problems start arising when the result of those decisions is made known, usually weeks after the decision was made! Sound confusing? It is!
  
• Truth #2 -- You cannot expect anyone to remember everything you have told them. This one affects relationships more than workplace situations. "I once heard that you had an Aunt Susie," I would say, "but where she lives and how old her kids are...? No idea." Women, by nature, tend to remember more details than men but where communication fails is when they expect men to remember more details, too! As I've told my beloved, "I have this little cup up in my brain. And every bit of information is like a drop of water. Eventually, my little cup gets full and information just spills over the edge! I can't retain it all. I need some grace."

Do you have any communication truths that often get ignored other than the ones I've mentioned?

Be God's!

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