Ambiguity places one of the biggest stresses on a human being, and there’s an amazing amount of it around!
We’re not mind readers and what a shame, imagine knowing with absolutely certainty you were on the ‘same page’ as others, all the time!
Instead, we’re constantly communicating to establish shared understanding – yet, we’re not always good at checking that understanding.
When we receive ambiguous information and we don’t seek to clarify, the risk is misunderstanding, rework and damage to relationships.
As a Team Coach I ask people to be very specific around what they are saying to dispel ambiguity. This ensures everyone shares a genuine understanding.
Here’s are examples of ambiguous statements:
- “We need to lift performance”
- “The board report has to improve”
- “We need the team to get their heads in the game”
All these statements point to an improvement, but each of them has ambiguity and is open to interpretation.
Here are some example questions to reduce ambiguity:
- “We need to lift performance” – What in your mind will lift it?
- “The board report has to improve” – Which part of the report specifically?
- “We need the team to get their heads in the game” – What would they be doing differently if their heads were in the game?
If we walk out of a meeting agreeing that ‘performance needs to lift’, yet have no shared understanding of what that looks like (measure), or an approach (how), then what’s actually been achieved could be a misunderstanding and no real solution.
Actions
Having a vague idea of what someone means can be very stressful and so ask questions until you are sure. And vice versa, be specific yourself, you want to walk away from a conversation with the confidence you’ve been understood.
- Be specific yourself – if you’re going to talk about an improvement, talk about the why, what and how
- Ask questions to clarify what they are thinking – “Tell me what you mean by that?”
- What to check and not leave ambiguous: measures, actions, method, ownership, timeframes, outcomes.
Photo by Emily Morter on Unsplash