The Nitty Gritty (Question #20 of 35)

Business / Entrepreneurship

What are we talking about? What problem are we solving? 

"Say what you mean, and mean what you say. Understanding is one of the greatest things in the world, misunderstanding one of the worst." I often hear my dad and my grandfather saying these to me in the back of my mind. Far too often, I think, we as people assume that others know what we are talking about as implicitly as we do, often times this is not the case. In my years of with and negotiating with other businesses I find that because of differing backgrounds, company cultures, & etc. there is often a language barrier between individual persons and/or groups of people. Often because of these barriers the parties of interest are talking about different things and have differing concepts in mind. So how do we get past these "language barriers" and begin to speak the same vernacular and get on the same page, so that everyone knows what is being talked about? Fortunately many people are have studied this phenomena and come up with systematic ways that conversations can be structured so that all parties involved have a mutual understanding of everything being conveyed. I personally have used some of these myself and must admit that most are effective, nevertheless no matter how effective a style may be some modifications must be made to fit your style of speaking and the audience you are speaking to. But something that works for me 100% is something so easy and simple to do that a 5th grader is capable of it. I know that I am not the smartest man in the world so I try to keep things as simple as possible (the KISS rule). When I am attempting to convey an idea or concept to another person I try to explain in a fashion that if I were to explain to a 5th grader that they would be able to explain it to another adult and it be understood. If I can't explain it that simplistically then my explanation is to complicated and I need to go back to the drawing board.

Another issue that I have recognized is that people are are always coming up with solutions but never really identify the problem that is being solved. Often times from the outside looking in others can see the inefficiencies, ineffectiveness of what is going on within an organization (eg. external auditors), that those within the organization are to close to see. Therefore outsiders will present solutions before insiders have conceded that there is a problem that needs to be solved. "If it ain't broke don't fix" is the mentality that many insiders have and rightfully so, would you fix a watch that wasn't broken, I think not it would be a waste of time and money. Therefore a problem must be clearly identified and agreed upon before a solution(s) can be presented.