Posted by

Barry Siskind

Community Manager

 

Have you ever noticed that the more familiar people become the greater the incidents of miscommunication? In an article written by Richard Alleyne, for the Telegraph, he reports on a study published in the journal of Experimental Social Psychology that found that when two people know each other well – spouses for example – they share too much in common and therefore run an increased risk of ambiguous communications.

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/relationships/8274255/Your-wife-doesnt-understand-you-because-you-are-too-close-study-suggests.html

 

If spouses face considerable communication challenges, which in part stem from their familiarity, its not a huge leap to assume this same phenomena applies to staff, customers and suppliers who we deal with daily.

 

When we speak with people on a regular basis, often we assume that we are both on the same wavelength. Yet in fact we might not be due to a preoccupation with other matters, rushing to meet deadlines or a host of other issues that often cloud our judgment. So, what’s the solution? Perhaps it’s time to step back and reexamine how effectively your communication with the people closest to you is being perceived.  If you notice an increase in small disagreements, resentments or mistakes, these may be symptoms of what Alleyne calls the “closeness communications bias.”

 

It’s not a bad idea to step back and examine how effectively you communicate with those closest to you just to make sure what you assume is being transmitted is in actuality clear and unbiased.