What pissed you off today?

[Orema]

Originally Posted by CherryWine

It would be swell if my boss could actually write an email where I didn't have to ask 3 other people to try to interpret what he is asking. It would also be great if he could interpret my own email to him that was written in very plain and simple English.

I swear it is like communicating with an alien sometimes. It's even worse when we are face-to-face. We mostly just stand there blankly staring at each other trying to figure out what the hell the other just said.

I don’t know if your organization would be open to this, but at my job we took some assessments that helped us communicate better. Didn’t solve all the problems, but it made working with each other easier. We have the exact problem you describe: we sometimes feel like we're speaking with aliens when communicating with teammates. And these are people who thoroughly understand the English language—written and spoken.

Every member on our team at work took a DiSC Profile assessment to understand each other’s style of communication. This assessment is usually used in leadership development, but we took the test to be able to better communicate with each other.

Our team took the assessment and put the results of each person on a large board, posted it where everyone has access to it, and we consult it when necessary. We ask that new members take the test, too.

I think it’s only used as a last resort after you’re frustrated with someone (and we sometimes chuckle when we see someone consulting the chart because we know they’re probably frustrated or maybe even pissed off). But, on the whole it helps. For instance, I know who appreciates my direct way of communicating and I know when I need to have my filters in high gear. I also know and understand that someone who’s analytical may communicate differently than me.

It, or something similar, may be worth checking out if your company has a budget for training. It won’t solve everything and not even most things, but it could be helpful.

Good luck, CherryWine.