“I TOLD HIM I NEEDED some of his staff to cover things so we could have our meeting,” Ann said, “but did he volunteer anyone? No. And then today at the meeting, the supervisor asked him when he was going to have his meeting and he had the gall to say, ‘As soon as Ann loans me the staff to cover it.’ I don’t get it!”

She doesn’t get it. A lot of people don’t get it. That’s why I will urge you — for the sake of your sanity and effectiveness — to be overly clear when you talk to people because they tend to assume they understand when they don’t. It is in your best interest to be too thorough when communicating to people. It makes you more effective.

“Don’t use the one on the right,” you say. “It’s being repaired. Only use the one on the left.”

“Sure. No problem.”

Later...

“That machine didn’t work,” he tells you.

“Which one did you use?” you ask.

“The one on the right.”

“I told you to use the one on the left!”

“No you didn’t. Remember? You said I should only use the one on the right. That’s what you said, I swear!”

People sometimes aren’t listening very well. Sometimes they have other things on their minds. Sometimes they think they know what you’re going to say already, so they don’t really listen. And then there is the memory factor; human memory is certainly not the most reliable thing in the world.

You can save yourself a lot of trouble by simply repeating yourself and then questioning people to make sure they know what you said.

Be overly clear with your communication and you will experience less resentment and you’ll have fewer problems to deal with later.

How can you be overly clear? By using two simple techniques: 1) repeat yourself, and 2) ask questions to make sure people understand exactly what you’re saying. Be more clear than you think is necessary and you’ll experience less stress and more success.