Author: William Kerr

…it’s common sense to speak or write in the language those we are interacting with speak and write. Whether English, French, or Mandarin, most of us would think it ludicrous to speak Japanese to any of these language preferences.

Most of us are probably quite adept at interacting and communicating at this level, but what about levels underneath or beyond this. Are we so sure we are truly speaking the same language as those we are interacting with?

Take for example a simple project meeting. Within the preferred language everyone is using, the project manager may be talking in broad strokes and vision, while others might be speaking about details and planning.

These are two distinct language patterns that, if not at least acknowledged, can cause frustration on both sides of the spectrum.

Within that same group, there are probably people who see the problems and challenges in the project while others see the possibilities and opportunities. This is the proverbial glass half-full or half-empty meme but it is a language pattern that can cloud communication. (my young daughter’s view of the old saying is they just used the wrong-sized glass in the first place)

Though these are language patterns, they do have a language of their own. One has only to look at the break in a long project or marketing meeting to notice that the detail people will be sitting chatting with the other detail people and the broad-stroke people will be having their coffee with the other broad-stroke people. Staff will be talking with staff and management will be talking with management.

This happens because people enjoy hanging out with people who speak their own language.

One area where this can be quite important is sales. If a customer is more concerned with quality than price and we interact speaking from a price and cost comparison viewpoint, we are not speaking that customer’s language and will most likely lose the sale.

I read somewhere that many of the challenges we encounter stem from communication issues. Most of them rarely seem to be the result of miscommunications but missed communications, missing the opportunity to interact with someone on their level using their preferred or customary language(s).

As there are usually a great number of language patterns and languages going on within any interaction, too many to deal with without training, just a little more listening will surface the main sub-languages going on.

And, in being aware of at least the main sub-languages in any interaction and attempting to speak to each person’s language pattern(s), even just a little, we might be able to reduce the number of missed communications.

Just as it’s easier to sell what people are looking to buy, it’s easier to communicate and interact with people with the language(s) they use.

Written while listening to contemporary Mongolian grasslands music.

A great thing I came across over the last few weeks, is the personal user manual that helps people understand better how to work with us.

…growth curve or any other right-hand ascending curve of performance is rarely as smooth as the curve on the graph indicates.

If one looks at the details whether in learning, sports, or business success one will notice that the curve is made up of a series of upward plateaus. Each of these plateaus ends with spurts of progress which immediately decline a bit to a level slightly higher than the previous plateau.

An even closer look shows that the plateaus themselves are quite irregular. Some plateaus are longer than others and have their own troughs and crests though the overall direction is slowly upward if attention is being paid.

The curve is never smooth and though we would like a steady and constant upward rise in our learning, athletic ability, or revenues/profits as we strive for that next leap of progress, it seems we spend more of our time on those plateaus than progressing to the next level.

With even a brief awareness of this, we can understand that by taking hold of the plateaus and working them with greater intention, the length of time spent on each plateau might be reduced.

If we learn to love the plateaus a little more and pay attention to them, those upward spurts of progress, which we all seem to want, may just take care of themselves.

Written while listening to Bela Bartok’s music for strings, percussion, and celeste

…can determine how organizations might change.

It seems that when we personally do something, it seems totally logical to us. When others do something we sometimes wonder, ‘what the heck were they thinking.’ We all have our own map of the world, which we’ve heard a number of times, but sometimes forget what it really means.

The way the world occurs to me is not the way it occurs to others. And how it occurs to others is not how it occurs to me. Though there might be some reality in the middle, it matters very little because what takes precedence is how the world, or the reality, is personally occurring to each of us.

If taking public transit into town occurs to someone as being too time-consuming, they will drive whether it actually is or not. The actual fact is immaterial. How the situation occurs to the person is.

And organizations, which are made up of people, work the same way. For a group of people in an office, a department, or an entire company, the world occurs in a certain way collectively and if a change or new way of working is required, no amount of pressure, training, or incentives will be totally effective until how the world occurs to the group changes.

If the way the world occurs to a group of staff members is, “no matter what happens nothing ever changes,” a new manager will find it difficult to make much headway.

When how the world and the future occur moves beyond what is expected, there’s a chance to move to a more useful place.

So, for example, if a new manager just looks at, ‘what isn’t working’ or ‘what happened to cause this,’ regarding a situation, the way the world occurs to a group of people remains intact. It harkens back to the way it was and has always been by providing proof of how it occurs to the group.

Finding a way to shift how the situation might occur in the future at the same time one is asking what isn’t working or what happened is a way to open up new possibilities.

Written while listening to Hungarian Gypsy songs.

Something great I came across over the last week or so. The MyNoise website of non-distracting sound and music to have in the background while working.