Avoid Cross Cultural Communication Breakdowns: Get Face-to-Face!

When the person you are speaking to is hard to understand, communication on the phone is even harder.  That’s because we as the listener rely on visual cues and reading lips to fill in the gaps with someone who is hard to understand.  While speaking on the phone, there are no visual cues so it makes understanding more difficult.  My tip for this week is to get face-to-face with the speaker who is hard to understand, if at all possible.  If it is your colleague who is difficult to understand, walk down to his or her office and chat face-to-face.  If your colleague is not in the office, try video conferencing to help you see the person.  Your effort to make the communication successful will improve relationships since you are demonstrating flexibility and accommodation to the speaker.

March is International Listening Month!