When I was a training sergeant in the army, this particular instructor never fails to instill these two phrases into our heads. “Always take cover” and “Never get exposed to friendly fire”. During one of our training missions, we were confronted by a group of rebels with heavy firepower. In the midst of our tactical advance, I was faced with a dilemma of either taking cover behind a small rock that could barely cover my face, or behind a big tree and risk myself being exposed to friendly fire. Desperate as I am, I made a choice but to my shocking surprise that instructor kicked me in the head.
I guess being in stressful situations can really cloud our decision-making skills. On hindsight, was it really my lousy decision-making skills that got me kicked or was the instructions that were unclear? In my defense, I really think that its the way the instructions was dished out by my instructor. He used 'always' and 'never' in both the phrases signify that either instruction was correct. Using extremities in language has been a taboo and one should avoid that when possible. I was faced with the two phrases that had extreme words in it. Making it difficult for me to make a decision because both phrases are true. I can hide behind both a tree or behind a rock and still be correct, so why did I get punished?
Communication to me is like an evolving virus, the more I understand it, the more complex it becomes. Passing on messages, interpreting ideas, displaying feelings and many more forms of communication have all infected our life. All of us have performed such actions before but I feel not many have fully understood it. I realized many of us have a perception that we are communicating effectively but that’s not usually the case. In a workplace context, the need to comprehend communication becomes even more obvious. The need to pass on message to other colleagues with clarity, presenting winning ideas to merchants and most importantly to convey messages to your boss (pay rise anyone?). Complex as it might be, we have to make sure our arsenal of skills in communication is fully equipped and ready to deploy.
Till now, I still have not fully grasp the idea of effective communication. Hopefully I will understand it soon enough and become a professional at the art of communication.
Oh, by the way, I chose the rock as my cover.
I guess being in stressful situations can really cloud our decision-making skills. On hindsight, was it really my lousy decision-making skills that got me kicked or was the instructions that were unclear? In my defense, I really think that its the way the instructions was dished out by my instructor. He used 'always' and 'never' in both the phrases signify that either instruction was correct. Using extremities in language has been a taboo and one should avoid that when possible. I was faced with the two phrases that had extreme words in it. Making it difficult for me to make a decision because both phrases are true. I can hide behind both a tree or behind a rock and still be correct, so why did I get punished?
Communication to me is like an evolving virus, the more I understand it, the more complex it becomes. Passing on messages, interpreting ideas, displaying feelings and many more forms of communication have all infected our life. All of us have performed such actions before but I feel not many have fully understood it. I realized many of us have a perception that we are communicating effectively but that’s not usually the case. In a workplace context, the need to comprehend communication becomes even more obvious. The need to pass on message to other colleagues with clarity, presenting winning ideas to merchants and most importantly to convey messages to your boss (pay rise anyone?). Complex as it might be, we have to make sure our arsenal of skills in communication is fully equipped and ready to deploy.
Till now, I still have not fully grasp the idea of effective communication. Hopefully I will understand it soon enough and become a professional at the art of communication.
Oh, by the way, I chose the rock as my cover.
6 comments:
Always go for the trees!
Thanks for this very personal take on the assignment, Tom. I appreciate the example you've given from your army days. I have to admit though that in your second paragraph I get a bit confused. This section eludes me (though I sort of know what you mean.): "Using extremities in language has been a taboo and one should avoid that when possible. I was faced with the two phrases that had extreme words in it. Making it impossible for me to make a decision because both phrases were right and wrong at the same time. Hence, the choice of words when communicating has got to be of utmost importance."
p.s. "It's getting too dark to see" is a line from one of my favorite Bob Dylan songs. Do you know the song? (I hope you know Dylan.)
In fact I got this from his song knockin on heavens door. Actually I got to know Bob Dylan's song thru this TV series "How I Met Your Mother". They played his song "If you see her say hello" and i loved it! I also like "Times They are a Changing", think it has some sort of significance to politics in america in the 60s.
Good for you, Tom!
Yes, Dylan has a huge catalogue of great songs, well worth exploring.
It is hard to make decision some times, but this is life. You've got to do it no matter what.
I do agree with you that it is not easy to fully get the idea of effective communication. I guess even if one knows it, it is not easy to put it into context. After all, knowing is one thing and doing is another.
Yes, I agree with you that communication evolves. People change, generations change, media change, needs change, demands change... and of course communication must also follow suit.
Your title "it's getting too dark to see" reminds me of a friend of my friend at the start of his army days. He was out in the jungle at night, then suddenly everything went completely dark. He started panicking and shouting that he could not see. Then, his group's leader knocked on his head--his helmet had slipped down and covered his eyes!
“Always take cover”, Its the common terminology we used in our army days, which we usually communicate among our officers and peers. The example you have brought out is quite relevant to the topic discusssion. Furthermore, it is worth mentioning that using extremities in communication language is definitely not useful and it may make things worst. Overall,its a nice presentation of points and ideas.
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