Assumptions

As the poet John Donne pointed out many years ago, "No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main." Since we regularly interact with people, we necessarily communicate with them, and part of communication is the transfer of information.

How much should you assume that a person already knows? If you assume they know more than they really do, there is a breakdown in communication and something fails. In this situation you hear something like, "How was I supposed to know? Nobody told me!" If you assume they know less that they really do, you run the risk of boring them or insulting their intelligence. In this situation you might hear, "That's obvious! Do you think I'm stupid or forgetful?" (maybe using different wording or maybe they'll just think it).

So how do you walk the balance between these extremes? How do you make sure people clearly understand but don't feel like you're overdoing it? Here are a few strategies that I use, and please add a comment if you have others.

Strategy 1: Ask the person to give the message to a new person who you're sure does not know the message. Listen to the first person tell the second and check their understanding. If they miss a detail, tactfully step in or wait until afterward to correct them. The added benefit to this is that if they had in fact already known the message, it solidifies it in their mind by telling another person.

Strategy 2: Think of some new detail to tell them and ask if this is a good time to give them an update. Then give the update and explain how it fits with the larger plan. This approach acknowledges that they know the main idea, but it sneaks in a review at the same time.

Strategy 3: When you contact the person, start by explaining that you're checking with all the people involved to make sure they understand the plan or have any questions (they won't feel singled out). Let them take it from there with reciting the plan or asking questions.

Strategy 4: Send a mass communication (such as e-mail) to everyone involved. Check with each person later, for example: "You read the e-mail, right?" "Yes". "So you understand that we're meeting at 3:00, right?" "Yes." "Okay, I'll see you at three." "See you then." I like this approach because it acknowledges that you're assuming the best about them.

Many leadership resources stress the advantage of "overcommunicating" rather than "undercommunicating". I completely agree. I just happen to think that there are some creative ways of doing it when working on an individual level.