Why is Communication Important?

I can answer the question “Why is Communication Important" by telling this short story.

A long time ago I was sitting in a very nice park eating my lunch.

It was a very nice day out and I often ate my lunch there because I truly enjoyed the out doors and watching the people going about their daily routines.

I had my favorite park bench that was covered by a huge oak tree, so that even on hot sunny days it was the perfect location.

This particular day it was no different than any other except I noticed on the other side of the park some park employees doing some work.

As I watched them I noticed that one of them dug into the ground and placed the dirt off to the side of the hole he was working on.

Almost immediately after he finished digging the other employee came right behind him and took that same dirt and placed it back into the hole that was just dug. He even went so far as to pack the dirt down and spread some grass seed on it.

I was very puzzled by this so I continued to watch. After about the third time I saw this routine happen my curiosity got the better of me and I decided to go over to them and ask.

After getting over there I asked the person digging the hole, what are you guys doing?

He stopped digging and leaned on his shovel to talk with me. He smiled at me and said heck we're planting trees!

I said planting trees! I don't see any trees!

He smiled again and said yes we're planting trees. Our boss sent us out this morning to plant trees in this beautiful park.

I still had this puzzled look on my face and repeated my statement again, I don't see any trees!

He said yes we are planting trees just like my boss told us to do this morning. He said I dig the holes to put the trees into. John's sick, but his job is to put the trees into the hole. Then Bill comes behind and puts the dirt back into the hole, taps it down and plants grass around it again.

I asked why your boss would send you out to plant trees without trees.

He said he never meets with us in the morning. He just leaves us a note. This morning the note told us to do the same thing today as we did yesterday. Yesterday I dug the holes and Bill filled them in. John wasn't sick yesterday, and he planted the trees!

Now do you understand why communication is important?

We may be laughing at this kind of story but in reality there are times when we do the same thing.

In an effort to get a lot done and save time we don't completely communicate what we should be. Just as the boss above left a pretty simple note that he was certain couldn't be misunderstood, yet it was.

The men followed his direction to the tee.

If your not sure why communication is important just ask for directions from someone in a very big and busy town! One wrong turn and you can be somewhere that you don't want to be. Trust me; I have lived in New York City, Los Angles, and Washington DC.

When communicating with someone, make sure you take the time to let them repeat back to you what they thought they heard. This will help you too since believe it or not we are not all perfect in saying what our minds are trying to. An example might be that you want them to take a left but you inadvertently told them to go right. Your mind knew that left was the right direction, but your mouth said right for some reason.

Or you might point right while saying left.

If you like writing notes for people, make sure you set up a system where they can question them if they have to. Stupid proof them by having someone else read them and inform you of what they understand them to say, before leaving them for someone else.